Under the terms of the agreement, Alight will develop, build and co-own solar parks on Sveaskog’s land. Sveaskog, which is a state-owned company, will co-invest between 30% and 49% in the solar parks and offer sustainable management initiatives during the development process.
Development of the first two projects has already begun. They consist of a solar park spanning approximately 150 hectares in central Sweden and another PV array across 70 hectares in southern Sweden. An Alight spokesperson told pv magazine that the two projects are in areas with the largest electricity deficit in Sweden.
Sveaskog owns 14% of Sweden’s forests, covering approximately 3.4 million hectares, of which 3 million hectares is productive forest land. Estimates from Alight suggest that if 10,000 hectares, or 0.2% of Sveaskog’s land, could be converted into solar projects, it could generate around 5 GW of energy, which would more than double Sweden’s current installed solar capacity. Approximately 18% of Sweden’s total installed wind power capacity is located on Sveaskog’s land.
“Solar power is a fast and affordable solution to combat the climate crisis, especially given Sweden’s increasing demand for renewable electricity,” said Alight CEO Harald Överholm. “We are impressed by Sveaskog’s high ambitions in sustainability and look forward to jointly building and managing solar projects that strive for the best balance of ecological, economic and social values.”
Earlier this year, Alight announced plans to build a 90 MW solar park in southwestern Finland. It also secured a grid connection for a 100 MW project in western Finland. The company has set a target of installing at least 5 GW of solar by 2030.
Sweden added around 1.6 GW of solar last year, taking its total cumulative installed capacity to approximately 4 GW.
