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Sweden proposes fourfold increase
in windmills - to up to 6,000
Nov 30, 2007 - The Associated Press
Sweden's energy officials on Friday
proposed a more than fourfold increase in wind power,
which would mean building thousands more windmills
in the Nordic country - in a move to meet EU goals
for increasing renewable energy.
The proposal, by the government-run
Swedish Energy Agency, was part of a national plan
for wind power use in 2020. It said the measure might
be necessary to reach the European Union's target
of using renewable energy sources for at least 20
percent of the bloc's power needs by that year.
"An ambitious renewable target for Sweden
... could mean a need to build up to 30 terawatt hours
of wind power in Sweden," the report said. "This means
that the number of windmills needs to increase from
nearly 900 to between 3,000 and 6,000."
Sweden's previous target was set at
10 terawatt hours of wind power by 2015.
The EU has yet to decide how to share
the responsibility of increasing renewable energy
among the 27 member states, but Sweden could expect
a big increase, said Sara Bjursell, a senior adviser
at the Swedish agency.
"This is because we have such good prerequisites
for it, especially when it comes to wind power," Bjursell
said. "It's a large country with long coastlines,
mountains and a lot of space."
The agency's general director, Thomas
Korsfeldt, said wind power would play a "key role"
in increasing Sweden's share of renewable energy.
"An extensive expansion of wind power
in Sweden is definitely a contribution to reducing
the fossil fuel need on a European level," Korsfeldt
said, according to the Dagens Nyheter daily.
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