Taking advantage of government incentives and declining costs, the share of wind and solar energy combined have reached almost 14% in Sweden’s generation mix. While the country’s solar PV sector is still in a nascent stage, GlobalData notes that rising support from the Swedish Government and the country’s push towards clean energy are expected to expand both wind and solar PV sectors over the next decade to support the country towards achieving its target of 100% renewable energy (RE) by 2040.

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Sweden’s strongest bet towards achieving its ambitious RE target is wind and solar PV, which can compliment its hydropower generation. GlobalData estimates that wind and solar will see rapid growth by the end of the decade due to their cost-effectiveness in comparison to other technologies. Presently, wind, solar PV and hydro together represent around 55% of the Swedish generation blend, and this is set to reach approximately 66-67% by the end of 2030.”

The existing solar PV projects are small in scale, with further small-scale plants in the works. GlobalData’s database highlights that wind formed 20.6% of the overall capacity with solar PV having a scanty 1.7% last year.

Das concluded: “To ensure significant growth of the sector, the Sweish Government will need to shift its focus to large-scale installations in the future.”

As Sweden plans to shut its nuclear power plants, almost half of the existing capacity will be shut or decommissioned by the end of 2020. A further six more large reactors are scheduled to undergo nuclear decommissioning process over the next decade, removing almost one-third of the nuclear generation from the generation mix.

Das added: “The void in generation created by the shut down of nuclear power plants in Sweden is predicted to be bridged by expanding wind and solar PV generation due to their cost-effective nature and speed of installation.”