The Barents Region, centred on the northern Baltic Sea, has set a new wind power record in 2013, generating some 1600 GWh in figures recently released by Patchwork Barents - a data pool for the region.
It says that further growth can be anticipated in Barents Region wind energy, due largely to Sweden. This is because the Swedish county of Vasterbotten registered the highest single output of 541 GWh, with one the most powerful wind farms, Stor-Rotliden, located there. This tops three years of growth for Swedish wind power from 3.5 percent of total electricity production in 2010 to 6 percent in 2013.
A new energy policy set out by the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) is seeking to make Swedish wind power "a large and important renewable energy source besides hydropower and bioenergy".
Although 2014 was far from smooth for the wind industry in Sweden, with low energy prices and the stalling of the 1101-turbine Markbygden project in July particularly problematic, the Swedish government is still committed to attaining its targets of 30 TWh by 2020, of which 20 TWh would be on land and 10 TWh offshore.