Swedish state-owned power company Vattenfall has announced a new investment plan for the period 2017–2018, which includes a “tangible increase in investments in solar energy”.
The 28 billion SEK ($3.16 billion) plan for growth investments, which will be mainly devoted to renewable energies, includes 17 billion SEK ($1.92 billion) for onshore and offshore wind power and 2 billion SEK 2 billion SEK ($226.3 million) in solar and storage energy projects.
The remaining 6 billion SEK ($678.9 million) will be used for fossil fuel projects and heat production. The company stressed that the budget for these conventional technologies has been almost halved from the previous two-year period, for which 11 billion SEK ($1.24 billion) had been invested.
“A more sustainable energy system is currently being created as the electricity market continues its shift towards fossil-free generation. This system is closer to customers and combines efficient, large-scale production with decentralized solutions. Today we are exceptionally well positioned to develop Vattenfall’s business in line with these trends,” said the company’s CEO Magnus Hall.
Vattenfall, which has mainly been active in the renewable energy sector as wind project developer in the past, built its first and only large-scale solar project in the UK last year. The 4.99 MW Parc Cynog Solar Farm was installed close to the company’s Parc Cynog wind power station in Carmarthenshire County Council, southern Wales, UK. The 50 million SEC ($5.6 million) project was completed in March 2016, after two months of work. The plant is sharing the grid connection already utilized by the wind farm.
In 2016, Vattenfall divested its lignite operations in Germany. The company said that, through this operation, its fossil-based production decreased from approximately 50% of total in 2015 to 25% in 2016.
Vattenfall also operates, among others, coal-fired power and nuclear plants in Denmark, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom
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