Nordic independent power producer (IPP) Alight and French developer Neoen have commissioned the 100MWp Hultsfred Solar Farm, located at Hultsfred Airport in Småland, southern Sweden.
The fully operational project, which purportedly becomes the Scandinavian country’s largest solar installation, is expected to generate roughly 100GWh of electricity annually.
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Alight and Neoen signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with multinational fashion retailer H&M in December 2022. Under the PPA, Neoen committed to supplying the company with 95% of the renewable electricity and guarantees of origin generated by the solar site. The agreement supports H&M Group’s commitment to sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
“Bringing this solar farm into operation with our partner Neoen and PPA offtaker H&M represents a milestone for us and demonstrates that the Swedish market can deliver large-scale, unsubsidised renewable energy fast. It’s a landmark achievement in Swedish renewable power production,” said Warren Campbell, CEO at Alight.
The project was supported by structured debt financing from Danske Bank. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works were undertaken by a consortium of the construction firms Bouygues Energies & Services and Solkompaniet.
PV Tech Premium spoke to Campbell in late 2023 about the company’s ambitions to expand operations in the Nordics. In that conversation, he described the potential of the Scandinavian solar market as “massive and largely untapped”. “While winters tend to be dark, summers are very light and overall, there is good solar irradiation,” he said at the time.
Alight Energy aims to reach at least 5GW of installed capacity across Europe by 2030. The company is developing several large-scale solar parks and has recently expanded into Finland, Denmark, and Germany.
Neoen too is expanding its presence in Sweden, with Hultsfred marking the company’s fourth asset entering operation in the country, alongside a wind farm and two battery installations. The company now has a 304MW operational. “With these complementary three technologies at scale, we are actively contributing to Sweden’s competitive and clean energy transition”, said Laetitia Prot, managing director for Neoen Sweden.
