The Markbygden Phase II wind farm, also known as the Maximus wind farm, is an 844MW onshore wind power project under construction in northern Sweden.

It forms part of the larger Markbygden 1101 wind project that comprises a series of interconnected wind farms in the Markbygden area to annually generate up to 12TWh of electricity from wind power.

The Markbygden 1101 project, undertaken by the Swedish wind power company Svevind (now W3 Energy), was expected to be the biggest wind power complex in Europe and one of the biggest such facilities in the world.

Enercon, a wind turbine manufacturer based in Germany, acquired the Markbygden phase II project from Svevind in 2016 and reached a final investment decision (FID) on the same in November 2018.

Project Gallery

Construction works on the Maximus wind farm were started in March 2019, with the start of commercial operations expected in the third quarter of 2021.

Maximus wind project location  

The Markbygden phase two project occupies approximately 160km2 in north-western Markbygden in Pitea, Norrbotten province, Sweden.

Markbygden Phase II project background

Svevind originally proposed to install 440 turbines for a total capacity of 1.3GW in phase two of the Markbygden wind power project, and it was granted permission for the same in February 2016.

Enercon has revised the project plan to install less than half the number of turbines for a total capacity of approximately 850MW.

Wind farm make-up  

The Markbygden phase two onshore wind farm will be installed with a total of 201 E-138 EP3 wind turbines from Enercon.

With 138.25m- diametre rotor and up to 180m hub height, each gearless, variable speed wind turbine will have a rated power of 4.2MW.

The project also involves the construction of approximately 150km access road and a substation at Trolltjam, Götaland County.

The onshore wind farm is expected to deliver approximately 2,000GWh of clean electricity a year.

Power evacuation 

The electricity generated by the Markbygden phase two wind project will be evacuated into the 400kV grid through a new transformer station at Trolltjam.

Enercon entered into an agreement with Swedish state-owned electricity transmission system operator Svenska kraftnät for the construction of the transformer station in 2017.

Contractors involved

Tyréns, a consulting company based in Sweden, was engaged to conduct the environmental impact study (EIS) for the project during 2011 and 2013.

Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) of Germany was engaged to provide advisory services for the debt financing of the project, while Norwegian bank DNB was appointed as the advisor for equity and power purchase agreement for the project in 2019.

Markbygden wind cluster  

The Markbygden 1101 wind cluster also involves the 917MW phase one and 1.4GW phase two of wind power installations in and three respectively.

The Markbygden phase one project was granted approval in 2012. It comprises three wind farms namely Ersträsk 229MW, Markbygden ETT (644MW) and Skogberget (84MW).

GE Financial Services and the Macquarie-owned Green Investment Group (GIG) acquired the Markbygden ETT project from Svevind in November 2017, while China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGN) acquired a 75% stake in the project in July 2018.

Enercon acquired the Ersträsk wind farm project from Svevind in November 2018, while The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG), an investment company based in London acquired a 75% stake in the project in December 2018.

The Markbygden phase three project that comprises the Hästliden and the Önusberget wind farms with a total of 442 wind turbines was granted permission in June 2018.

German asset manager Luxcara acquired the 750MW Önusberget wind farm project from Svevind in April 2019.