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*Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR
BKW is acquiring three wind farms from the Swedish company Eolus Vind AB. The installations – Tjärnäs, Skallberget/Utterberget and Rosenskog – are located in southern Sweden (electricity price area SE3) and comprise 19 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 125 MW. They will go into operation in the fourth quarter of this year and will produce around 330 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity every year. This acquisition increases BKW’s installed capacity from new renewable energies to around 980 MW. This means that it has essentially met its target of 1,000 MW, which it was aiming to reach by 2026 at the latest. “We’re proud to have reached this milestone ahead of time and we'll continue investing in the expansion of renewable energies – and that goes for Switzerland in particular,” says Robert Itschner, CEO of BKW.
BKW has an extensive project pipeline in Switzerland. This includes the Trift and Grimselsee hydropower projects, the Tramelan and Jeanbrenin wind farms, the freestanding solar installation BelpmoosSolar, along with a number of alpine PV installations, particularly in the canton of Bern. “We want to carry out these projects that are so crucial to winter energy production, and the sooner the better,” says Robert Itschner. Plans for the hydropower plants and wind farms are well advanced, but have been blocked by objections for years. The Bern cantonal parliament recently granted the concession for the dam and power plant at Trift. This autumn, BKW will, together with Energie Thun, also commission the Augand run-of-river power station, which will produce electricity for around 7,700 households.
Contributing to decarbonisation
The acquisition of the three wind farms in southern Sweden represents an expansion of BKW’s Scandinavian presence. This results in synergies in the operation and maintenance of the installations, in particular with the nearby Marker wind farm in Norway, which BKW commissioned in 2019. With the three wind farms in Sweden, BKW is also contributing to the decarbonisation of industry and society in Europe. “We are delighted with the acqusition of newly built wind parks with state-of-the-art technology from an experienced developer like Eolus. With this investment we remain on track with our contribution to a decarbonized future based on sustainable energy infrastructure and we strengthen our presence in the attractive Scandinavian market with further assets and services,” says Margarita Aleksieva, Head of Wind and Solar at BKW. “There's strong interest in investing in renewable energy, and we're excited to welcome BKW as a partner as they undertake their first investment in Sweden. With over 100 years in the energy sector, BKW is a significant player in the European energy sector, and we look forward to our cooperation,” says Per Witalisson, CEO of Eolus.