Google, Ikea’s Nordic wind crush comes too soon for Sweden

epaselect epa05003054 Wind turbines during sunrise over a wind farm near Gembloux, southern Belgium, 30 October 2015, a month before the UN Climate Change Conference COP 21 taking place in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

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 US$100mil (RM444.55mil) 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% this year, undermining the incentive to invest in new wind power projects.