Sweden blocks 13 offshore wind farms over defence worries

Sweden's government said it had blocked the construction of 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea, after the country's military claimed they could impair defence capabilities.

Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari told a press conference that construction permits for the planned wind farms were denied because they "would have an unacceptable impact on defence interests".

All 13 projects were planned in areas off NATO's newest member's southeastern Baltic Sea coast - directly opposite the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The decision follows a study by the Swedish Armed Forces, published by public broadcaster SVT last week, which showed that the projects could significantly disrupt sensors used by the military.

The towers and rotating blades of the wind turbines emit radar echoes and generate other forms of interference.

"In this serious security situation that Sweden is now in, the interests of defence need to carry extra weight," Defence Minister Pål Jonson told reporters.

Mr Jonson said offshore wind farms in the area could disrupt military radars and delay the detection of incoming cruise missiles, cutting the warning time from two minutes to 60 seconds.

"One of the experiences from Ukraine is that Russia uses many long-range systems, both cruise missiles and ballistic missiles," Mr Jonson said.

The Industry Association for Wind Power in Sweden said the decision was "surprising".

"It is problematic that the government categorically closes an entire area to potential electricity production without a proper overall assessment," it said in a statement.

Mr Jonson said areas off Sweden's southwestern and northeastern coasts were better suited for offshore wind projects.

Kaliningrad

The minister said the relative proximity to "highly militarised" Kaliningrad had been "central in the assessment."

Tensions in the region have risen following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

NATO in late October opened a new naval base in the Germany city of Rostock to coordinate the forces of the military alliance's members in the area.

Russia summoned the German ambassador to Moscow the day after the inauguration to protest the new naval command centre.

Russia called the centre a "blatant breach" of the treaty on the reunification of Germany in 1990 that said no foreign armed forces would be deployed in the area, a claim Germany denied.

Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment in the wake of the Ukraine invasion and joined the US-led military alliance.

The Baltic Sea has thereby become surrounded by alliance members, with some analysts dubbing it a NATO lake.

Mr Jonson also said that Sweden had a "special responsibility" as an alliance member when it comes to the Baltic Sea, "where we have unique abilities that are also important for the whole alliance."

At the same time, energy needs, particularly from renewable sources, are high on the agenda.

A government memo seen by AFP noted that other countries have found workarounds for offshore wind power, such as the use of special "gap filling radars" placed in the vicinity of the parks.

However, it noted that Sweden's military geographic location "means we consider different trade-offs".

The same memo noted the pressing need for increased energy production as electricity demand in Sweden could more than double by 2045.

The government stressed that the expansion of wind power was still a priority and announced that it was giving the green light to an offshore wind power park off Sweden's west coast.

The Poseidon wind power park will utilise floating windmills and will be able to deliver up to 5.5 TWh of energy per year.

Another 10 planned offshore wind power parks are currently being considered by the government.