Swedes plan wind farm on Świnoujście-Ystad ferry route
A new offshore wind farm (OWF) in Swedish waters, off the coast of Skåne (Skåne) in southern Sweden, is at an early stage of planning and conceptual work and will be located on the Swinoujscie-Ystad ferry route.
Public consultation on the Triton offshore wind farm project is underway, initiated by the publication, on 31 May 2021, of documents that form the basis for discussions between the developer and all stakeholders and the investment environment.
The documents include information on the planned timetable for the development and preliminary plans for the development (design, configuration).
In addition to many other aspects, the consultation includes a survey of the opinion of the community living in the Skåne region on the impact of the project on the landscape (interference with views). In the materials submitted for consultation, including visual landscape simulations, there are two considered heights of wind turbines – 270 and 370 m.
Among the considered aspects of the impact of the investment on the environment the traffic of ships in the area of the planned Triton OWF is considered.
Consultation documents for this project indicate that if the wind farm is constructed, ferries sailing between Świnoujście and Ystad will cross it almost in the middle.
The public consultation document states, among other things:
Triton borders several waterways of national importance: Falsterbo – Bornholmsgattet, Gedser – Svenska Björn and Anholt Svartgrund. Much of the traffic is ‘heavy’ sea transport, and the Ystad-Sassnitz (Germany) fairway runs through the eastern part of the project area. However, there is very little ship traffic about the wind farm area.
Perhaps surprisingly – there is no mention at all of ferry traffic between Świnoujście and Ystad, and this is one of the more significant ferry routes in the Baltic Sea. Two operators operate on it – Unity Line (PŻM and Euroafrica ferries) and Polferries (PŻB).
From the preliminary topographical plans included in the consultation materials it appears that there will be a gap in the eastern part of the planned OWF, but quite close to its centre, in the location of the Świnoujście (and Sassnitz) – Ystad shipping lane. This gap is approximately 4 to max. 5 km (2.2 to 2.7 NM) wide.
This is sufficient width to allow the two ferries to pass each other safely if necessary.
However, in the event of some mishap and unfortunate coincidence (severe weather conditions, loss of propulsion and/or manoeuvrability in an unfavourable location within or close to the OWF, drift / drifting of the vessel under strong winds) a potentially very dangerous situation (including collision of the ferry with a wind turbine) could occur.
The consultation is due to close at the end of this summer.
Once the consultation is complete, a Natura2000 permit application will be submitted and permit applications will be created and submitted in accordance with the requirements of SEZ (Sveriges ekonomiska zon – SEZ / Swedish Economic Zone) and KSL (lagen om kontinentalsockeln – KSL / Continental Shelf Act).
The Triton OWF, planned by Swedish investor OX2 AB, is to be located less than 30 km south of Ystad, within the Swedish exclusive economic zone.
The Triton project is calculated to generate 7.5 TWh of electricity per year, reducing CO2 emissions by 4.5 million tonnes per year. It will meet the electricity consumption needs of 1.5 million households.
Up to 129 wind turbines are planned for the Triton 68 project with a maximum considered height of 370 m above sea level.
OX2 is so far responsible for the commissioning and/or operation of onshore and offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 2.4 GW in wind Energy. It manages 45 wind farms. The developer of wind and solar energy projects employs 200 people in Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Italy, Lithuania and Poland.