This environmental impact assessment for Kriegers flak ... - Vattenfall

10 SUMMARY
2. Summary
Introduction
Sweden is in need of new electricity generating capacity
and this shall, in accordance with Chapter 2,
Section 5, of the EC, be based on renewable energy
resources. According to the Government’s planning
target, Sweden shall produce 10 TWh of wind power in
2015. In order to achieve this target, it is important to
build large, offshore-based wind farms.
Sweden Offshore Wind AB’s business concept is
to develop offshore-based wind farms. The company,
which was founded in 2002, is Swedish and is owned
by the two German companies WPD AG and Wind-
Projekt GmbH that together have developed wind
farms with a total installed capacity of over 800 MW.
Within the Group, there is 13 years of wind power
experience both on- and offshore.
Scope and location
The project that Sweden Offshore is planning is a
wind farm consisting of maximum 128 turbines. The
wind farm shall be capable of producing about 2 TWh,
which is equivalent of 20 % of the planning target for
wind power set by the parliament.
The chosen area is located on the north-eastern
section of Kriegers Flak, a raised seabed/submarine
bank in the southern Baltic Sea about 30 km south of
Trelleborg. The area lies outside of Swedish territorial
waters but inside of Sweden’s Economic Zone, where
it borders to Germany’s and Denmark’s economic
zones. The area is located only 2 km away from where
Sweden Offshore’s mother company is developing a
wind farm.
The water depth in the chosen area varies between
16 and 42 meters.
The distances between the WTG’s and the rows have
not yet been Þ xed, as they will depend on the wind
energy content and the park efÞ ciency. In general, one
can assume that the distances will be in the range of
500 – 900 meters.
Alternative locations
In a comparison between ten possible locations
around the Swedish coastline for a large-scale, offshore-based
wind farm, Sweden Offshore has found
Kriegers Flak to be the most suitable area from a
localisation point of view. The area lies on an adequate
distance from shore and is relatively shallow. Sea lanes
in the area are a sufÞ cient distance away. The seabed is
basically without vegetation. The structure is expected
to beneÞ t commercial Þ shing as feeding ground even
if individual Þ shermen may be deprived. There are no
special environmental interests in the area. Industrial
impact already exists on the Danish side of Kriegers
Flak through täktverksamhet. Similar impact is
expected through the establishment of a wind farm
on the German side. The development of the German
wind farm has resulted in Sweden Offshore gaining