Sweden Sees Red Over Google and Ikea’s Green Goals
- Renewables surge is crashing renewable-certificates market
- Wind development means 2020 renewables target met before plan
Vattenfall wind turbines in Aggersund, Denmark.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The quest to supply everything from data server halls, insurance companies to large furniture stores with green electricity has flooded the Nordic region with wind power and crashed a $100 million renewable-certificates market.
While that’s good for the environment and the image of companies from Google Inc. to Ikea Group, the growth in renewable energy has been faster than Sweden and Norway expected. That’s pushed certificate prices down 45 percent this year, undermining the incentive to invest in new wind power projects.