Sweden hits 1 GW milestone

Sweden’s operational PV capacity increased from 698 MW at the end of 2019 to 1.09 GW a year later, according to provisional figures released by the Swedish solar energy association, Svensk Solenergi, which are based on data from the Swedish Energy Agency.

“A barrier is broken, it is wonderful that we can finally start counting Swedish installed power in gigawatts,” the association’s CEO, Anna Werner, said.

The figures showed 2020 was the country’s best for solar deployment, with more than 400 MW of generation capacity added to the grid. The nation had added 287 MW in 2019 and 180 MW in 2018 after connecting 91 MW, 13 MW, 37.6 MW and 36.2 MW, respectively, in the previous four years.

Sweden now boasts around 66,000 PV arrays, with around 22,000 added last year. In the previous year, newly deployed installations had been around 19,000.

Most of Sweden’s PV capacity is represented by residential and commercial arrays that are being supported by a rebate scheme that was expected to expire at the end of last year and was then extended to 2021, although only for municipalities and businesses. Homeowners will be excluded, but they will still have access to, unspecified, tax breaks.

The Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) has devoted around SEK4.5 billion (€438 million) to the solar rebate program for the 2009-21 period. In March 2020, it revealed that solar generation will likely surge in the 2018-22 period, in line with an anticipated rise in wind power output.

*The article was updated to specify that the figures released by Svensk Solenergy are based on data from the Swedish Energy Agency.