Sweden has approved Universal Wind Offshore’s plans to construct Scandinavia’s largest offshore wind farm.

The wind farm will be built in the Kattegatt strait about 30 kilometres off Sweden’s southwestern coast and cover an area of about 60 square kilometres. Once completed the wind farm will be one of the largest in Europe.

The wind farm will consist of a maximum of 108 wind turbines with a height of 200 metres and a capacity of 860 megawatts (MW). The wind farm is expected to produce three terawatt hours (TWH) a year and will double the Swedish wind power output.

But there is still a long way to go until completion.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will first carry out an extensive study to determine whether marine life in the area would be affected by the project. They will also work with Universal Wind Offshore to decide where each of the 108 wind turbines will be placed. A government proposal will also need to be accepted by the parliament early next year before the projects gets a “real” go-ahead.

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