- Swedish Energy Agency says in 2021, Sweden installed 503.43 MW of new solar PV capacity
- This was an increase of over 28% from the previous year, and took the national aggregate to 1.59 GW
- The agency attributes growing interest in climate change and soaring electricity prices are helping increase the demand for solar
The aggregate grid connected solar power capacity of Sweden at the end of 2021 grew by more than 46% annually to reach a total of 1.59 GW. Sweden added 503.43 MW in 2021, according to the Swedish Energy Agency Energimyndigheten.
At the end of 2021, the country had 92,360 grid connected solar power plants including 26,500 systems having come online in 2021 alone.
Having grown by over 28% from 391.63 MW in 2020 to 503.43 MW in 2021, Gothenburg municipality reported the largest addition of 18.6 MW during the year. Total operational capacity of the region at 58.4 MW represented close to 3.7% of the national total.
Along with Gothenburg, 9 other municipalities of Uppsala, Linköping, Stockholm, Jönköping, Malmö, Västerås, Strängnäs, Kungsbacka, Norrköping, together represented 330 MW of the annual total in 2021. The agency says 50% of last year’s installations came from system sizes of more than 20 kW, 42% from 20 kW to 1 MW, and only 8% from less than 1 MW projects.
Administrator for Statistics at the agency, Johan Harrysson attributed the growing interest in solar systems in Sweden to general masses wanting to contribute to arresting climate change, and to deal with sharp rise in electricity prices of late.
Sweden aims to become 100% renewable energy powered by 2040 and achieve net zero carbon emissions status by 2045. The country was one of the top 10 European Union (EU) nations for its solar power capacity installations, according to the SolarPower Europe (SPE), thanks to the residential tax incentive scheme. Long term energy contracts as power purchase agreements (PPA) are also fueling demand (see EU Installs Record 25.9 GW Solar In 2021).
