Vattenfall and Skandia agree to build four wind power farms
Vattenfall and Skandia, a Swedish pension fund, are jointly investing almost two billion Swedish kronor (US$261.7 million) to set up four wind farms in Sweden with a total output of 141 MW.
The farms will be run by a jointly owned company. This is the first time that a Swedish pension company is directly financing the construction of new Swedish wind power capacity, and the cooperation enables faster expansion of a sustainable energy system.
Magnus Hall, Vattenfall's CEO, stated:
"Vattenfall is investing in renewable energy, and the joint investment with Skandia will allow its expansion in Sweden to take place at a faster rate. That is good for our respective customers, and it's good for Sweden,"
The four wind power projects are Hjuleberg (Falkenberg municipality), Höge Väg (Kristianstad municipality), Juktan (Sorsele municipality) and Högabjär-Kärsås (Falkenberg municipality). The first of these is already in operation and will be handed over to the joint holding company on 1 January 2015. The other wind farms are being built by Vattenfall and will be handed over to the joint company in the first quarter of 2016.
Bengt-Åke Fagerman, Skandia's CEO, commented
"We have been investing increasingly in infrastructure for several years, since that has given our customers a stable and long-term return. For our customers it is possible to benefit from the investments in the future as well as short term as they can create sustainable value for society at large. Vattenfall is a strong operating partner and wind power is a sector with good growth."
The two parties will own equal shares in the joint company.
