Wind

Europe's largest onshore wind farm swells further to 1.1GW

Markbygden 1101 project recently surpassed Statkraft's Fosen complex in Norway as continent’s biggest

Markbygden 1101 wind farm in northern Sweden
Markbygden 1101 wind farm in northern SwedenFoto: Svevind
Europe’s largest wind farm on land – the Markbygden 1101 complex in northern Sweden – has reached a capacity of 1.12GW, its developer Svevind told Recharge.

The latest addition to the giant project in Swedish forests was the recently commissioned Markbygden-MB2 North sub-project with 252.7MW.

Another four sub-projects with a combined capacity of 1.45GW are currently under construction in the area and are expected to come online next year and in 2023. That will push the wind farm’s overall capacity to 2.57GW.

Markbygden earlier this year overtook the Statkraft-led 1.06GW Fosen wind complex in Norway near the city of Trondheim as Europe’s largest.

Fosen, however, consists of six different wind farms in the same region, while Markbygden 1101 is one single big site that only technically and permitting-wise had been divided into three stages and then multiple investment phases, Svevind chief executive Wolfgang Kropp told Recharge in a recent interview.

The CEO added that he believes Margbygden will still eventually grow into a 4GW wind farm as the power needs of consumers in northern Sweden as well as green fuels or hydrogen plants are set to grow further.

The wind power boom in Sweden and Norway has not gone unopposed.

Indigenous Sami reindeer herders recently gained in a case brought to a Norwegian supreme court that two of the sub-projects of Fosen breach their cultural heritage rights.
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Published 2 November 2021, 14:57Updated 2 November 2021, 15:31
EuropeSwedenNorwaySvevindStatkraft