A colossal wind power project under construction in the far north of Sweden is expected on completion to generate energy equivalent to the output of two nuclear reactors, writes AFP's Marc Preel.
While community opposition often blocks or hampers new wind power projects, Sweden has managed to break ground for Europe's largest wind park counting more than 1,000 giant turbines, with barely a whisper of protest.
The secret? The giant Markbygden wind farm -- covering more than 500 square kilometres, or the equivalent of five times the size of Paris -- is being built in a virtually uninhabited, desolate stretch of Sweden's great north.
"If I were to try the same thing in Germany, it would take me 20 years to get everyone's agreement," Wolfgang Kropp, the German head of the project, told AFP.
Standing on the shores of the Baltic Sea at the Piteå harbour near the wind park site, he added: "For the same area, you would have 10,000 land owners. Here there are three.
"That's why we came here to Sweden in search of a good location," he said.
"In the south of the country, it is very difficult. There are farms, and vacation homes. Here in the north, there is no one," he said.
Kropp's company Svevind, a client of German wind power giant Enercon, is leading the construction of the park, with 1,101 wind turbines scheduled to be built by 2022.
