Swedish government approves two offshore wind power farms

Sweden’s government announced on Tuesday that it had approved two offshore wind power facilities off the country’s west coast, totalling 100 turbines while emphasising that it was not abandoning nuclear power. When the two farms are finished, which the government estimates will take seven to ten years, they are expected to produce up to 6.5 terawatt-hours. Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall was granted permission for the “Kattegatt Syd” park, which will have 80 turbines, while renewable energy business OX2 was granted permission for the “Galene” park, which will include 21 turbines. “These two parks at sea, are roughly equivalent to one normal-sized nuclear power plant,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference. At the same time, Kristersson stressed that nuclear power was part of the government’s strategy to expand Sweden’s production of “fossil-free energy” and noted that parliament was about to change its goal of 100 per cent “renewable” energy to 100 per cent “fossil-free” energy. “For the first time in 43 years, nuclear power will be part of Swedish energy policy in the long term,” Kristersson said. The Scandinavian country voted in a 1980 non-binding referendum to phase out nuclear power. Since then, Sweden has shut down six of its 12 reactors and the remaining ones, at three nuclear power plants, generate about 30 per cent of the electricity used in the country today. But Sweden has struggled to find viable alternative energy sources to replace its nuclear power, with renewable energies not yet able to fully meet its needs. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.