Swedish energy giant Vattenfall wants to expand its existing hydropower in Sweden, Vattenfall stated in a press release on Tuesday, an initiative positively received by the Swedish government.
Vattenfall is a Swedish energy company founded as a state-owned enterprise that remains under government ownership. It is currently owned by the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation but operates independently as a commercial company in the energy market.
The increasing electricity demand led state-owned Vattenfall to expand existing hydropower in four places in Northern Sweden, namely close to the cities of Umeå and Luleå.
“Feasibility studies are now underway,” said Johan Dasht, head of Vattenfall’s Nordic hydropower to Sverige Radio, adding that there are already large hydropower plants in Northern Sweden, although they are all relatively old as the last plants in Sweden were built in the 1970s and 1980s.
“In Juktan, where there is also a small hydropower plant today, we are investigating whether it is possible to convert it into a large pumped storage plant, which means that we can pump up water when there is a lot of overcapacity, for example from wind power,” he said, adding that hydropower can become more flexible that way.
The expansion will provide an additional 720 MW, representing an additional capacity corresponding to about nine per cent of Vattenfall’s total hydropower production. Today, hydropower production represents 40% of Sweden’s energy production.
In Stockholm, the decision received positive reviews.
“This is very welcome news,” said Swedish Environment and Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari, adding that all fossil-free energy production needs to be expanded in Sweden and the pace needs to increase.
“I think it’s important to be clear that the political support is there,” she said before a meeting with EU environment ministers in Stockholm.
According to Johan Dasht, the environmental impact appears to be limited, but Vattenfall will only be able to assess this more in detail when the feasibility study is completed.
“I can promise that Sweden will continue to consider our strong environmental laws and that we will make balanced considerations – the natural environment versus the expansion of our energy production,” Pourmokthari emphasised when asked about the environmental impact of the project.
But authorisation processes can take a long time as the impact on Sweden’s Northern pristine nature must be thoroughly assessed. One of the projects could be in operation as early as 2026, whereas the others by 2031 at the earliest.
(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
