Sweden pays EUR 67m to municipalities with wind power

Sweden is going reward municipalities with installed wind power capacity, according to a press release from Sweden’s Ministry of Climate and Enterprise.

The money will be distributed to municipalities that have onshore wind farms within their borders. The Swedish Energy Agency has been tasked with paying out SEK 340m for 2025 and SEK 370m (a total of EUR 67m) for 2026 during the spring.

“We are now delivering on our promise to compensate municipalities that establish onshore wind power in Sweden,” says energy and business minister Ebba Busch in the press release.

The government justifies the scheme with the need for increased local acceptance of further expansion of renewable power production. The compensation is intended to both provide incentives to municipalities considering new projects and reward those that have already said yes to wind power.

The support will be distributed according to installed capacity. The funds will be divided by the total number of megawatts of wind power that was in operation in the country’s municipalities in 2025, and each municipality will receive an amount based on the number of megawatts of installed capacity that was in operation before 2026 and had been granted a license before 2025.

The government states that the compensation scheme is intended to be long-term and that a separate regulation is now being prepared to facilitate payments in the coming budget year as well.

As EnergiWatch has previously reported, Trønderenergi CEO Ståle Gjersvold proposes a solution where the neighbors of the turbines receive money “straight into their pockets,” pointing out that neighbors in England and Scotland receive tens of thousands of kroner if they look directly at the turbines.

(This article is provided by our Norwegian sister media, EnergiWatch.no)