Sweden is setting out to become fossil-free and running completely on renewable energy by 2040. With 57% of its resources in 2016 coming from hydropower, wind and other natural sources, the country is well on target to meeting its goal. Part of their plan includes tapping into the huge potential of land-based wind power, and eventually phasing out all nuclear power plants. The country’s Director of General Energy recently commented: "Nuclear is quite an expensive energy source due to safety regulations and funding for long-term nuclear waste management among other things. On the other hand, renewables – meaning large-scale wind in Sweden – are much less expensive to commission and to run.” She added: “We have a lot of good places to put land-based large-scale wind turbines.”

To pre-empt any issues surrounding the sporadic nature of wind power, Sweden plans to team it up with a combination of hydropower and interconnection with other countries in order to “safeguard capacity even on cold winter days when the wind is not blowing”. Sweden’s declaration comes hot on the heels of news that other northern countries continue to lead the way in sustainable energy. Denmark is already producing 140% of its electricity through wind power alone, and exports the energy it doesn’t need to Germany, Sweden and Norway. In Iceland almost 100% of their electricity is generated from renewable hydropower and geothermal energy.