Sweden: State takes out checkbook to get wind turbines accepted

Source : https://actionecologie.org/2024/09/11/suede-letat-sort-le-chequier-pour-faire-accepter-les-eoliennes/

The Swedish government is being inventive in getting people to accept what fewer and fewer people want.

On Monday, September 9, the Minister of Climate and Environment, Romina Pourmokhtari, announced at a press conference new financial support for municipalities that deign to agree to install wind turbines on their territory for an amount of more than one billion crowns, or approximately 97 million euros by 2027.

And the latter justifies this measure by explaining that “one of the obstacles to the development of wind energy is the lack of acceptance on the part of the local population”. Oddly enough, fewer and fewer people seem to be satisfied with the presence of giant windmills next to their homes… But as if by magic, with a few million, everything should be fine. No need to rack your brains with haphazard justifications: just get out your checkbook!

Yet it’s not as if we don’t already know how catastrophic a solution wind turbines are: in addition to their intermittency due to wind variability, which makes their electricity production unreliable and requires backup sources like gas or coal, they also have a negative environmental impact and disrupt local wildlife. Not to mention that they disfigure natural landscapes and pose recycling challenges, especially for non-reusable materials like blades. But who cares, as long as subsidies cover up the reality…