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In Denmark, you still have to look hard to find a new onshore wind turbine, but in the neighboring country of Sweden, it is the opposite. A long line of projects are either under construction or headed in that direction in Sweden – not least because of favorable policies in the area and a Nordic electricity price which has started to rise after hovering at a record low.
This development has been noticed by London-based equity fund Glennmont Partners, which has otherwise invested in green projects solely in the UK and southern Europe thus far.
“We consider Sweden an exciting market, both as a place to raise capital and a place to invest in wind. The Swedish wind market offers interesting projects under a very stable regime. Of course, the prices in Nordpool have made life difficult for Swedish projects in recent years, and if the prices had not been so low, we probably would have already entered the Swedish market. But now we see improvement and I would deem it very likely that within a not-far-off future, we will invest in our first projects in Sweden,” says Peter Dickson, founding partner and technical director of Glennmont Partners.
As such, Glennmont is on the same path as Danish pension fund Sampension, which invested in several onshore wind farms in Sweden and Germany last October in a DKK 1.4 billion investment (EUR 188 million), justified on the basis of a stable regime and attractive framework conditions.
Sweden’s good conditions – in part in Finland and Norway as well – were also reflected last year in several wind turbine orders. Not least Denmark’s Vestas was successful with orders in Sweden, Norway, and Finland totaling more than 1.5 GW.
Peter Dickson is not surprised that onshore turbines are doing well.
“We’re very close to seeing onshore turbines which are now competitive without support. It’s only a matter of time. We will soon see this here in the UK, but we also eye exciting opportunities in, for example, Norway and Sweden. The competition here is good, there are many exciting projects, and these are very stable and predictable regimes,” says Dickson.
Glennmont Partners is working on launching a third fund in the foreseeable future. As to how big the fund will be, the company is not yet ready to talk about.
You can read the full article here: Energy Watch EU
