Was blacklisted in the USA - no one reacted here

Wolfgang Hansson 

Do we want China to own Swedish wind power?  

Published: Less than 1 hour ago  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

COLUMNISTS  

PITEÅ. Why is China buying into Swedish wind power?  

No one knows for sure the answer to that question. But just the fact that the Asian dictatorship owns vital infrastructure in Sweden is now a warning signal.

By the end of the year at the earliest, there will be a law that can stop the takeovers.  

The Chinese-owned wind turbines in Markbygden's wind farm outside Piteå are easy to recognize. They have a square box where the rotor blades are tied together instead of a round one.  

The Chinese nuclear company CGN did not build the wind turbines. They were bought by the American company General Electric and Green investment group, who wanted to quickly take home their profit.  

The purchase meant that CGN took over ten percent of the wind farm. It happened around the same time that the company was blacklisted in the United States accused of stealing American nuclear technology for military use.  

But in Sweden, no one reacted.  

One of the Chinese-owned power plants in the park. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

Svevind, which runs the park, had already sold the area in question to General Electric and Green Investment Group, which in turn sold to CGN. For them it was a pure business deal. 

I call Oscar Almén, a researcher at the Defense Research Institute, FOI, who specializes in mapping Chinese investments in Sweden. 

- Sweden does not yet have a review mechanism in place for foreign investments. At the earliest at the end of the year, such will come provided that the necessary political decisions are made. 

Not even he can answer why China invests in Swedish vinkraft and other Swedish infrastructure. 

- It must be assumed that there is a business interest that is both financial and strategic. We do not know if there are other purposes, such as for example intelligence gathering.  

Oscar Almén, researcher at the Defense Research Institute, FOI. Photo: FOI 

But it would be naive of Sweden to assume that China's interest is purely business-related. As Oscar Almén puts it: 

- After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was a different reality. The world has changed since then. It is clear that there are certain vulnerabilities and in the current world situation one wants to reduce that vulnerability. 

In an investigation into Chinese investments in Sweden that Almén made in 2019, it appeared that half of the 65 companies that China bought up at the time were in high-tech areas where China has ambitions to become a world leader. 

In some cases, it has also found a possible military use. 

- Regardless of intention, it is a fact that whoever has control and influence can use it in different ways, says Almén. The question is what happens in a situation where the level of conflict increases and whether we want to put ourselves in that situation. China can use its ownership to exert pressure on Sweden. Ownership becomes a tool.

Markbygden's wind farm, with its almost 800 wind turbines on an area the size of two Stockholms, is Europe's largest land-based wind farm, according to the company. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson 

Sweden is not alone in turning a blind eye to Chinese investments in strategic infrastructure.  

Britain is trying to wriggle out of a deal in which China's CGN would build a new nuclear power plant, Sizewell C, in Suffolk. Instead, they try to find other financiers. 

It's not just about the ownership itself providing control and influence over the business. It can also give insight into how computer programs and other things work that can be used to manipulate how a facility works.  

That fear was behind the fact that Sweden, the United States and a number of other Western countries excluded the Chinese telecom company Huawei from building the new 5g networks. The suspicion was that China could put in software that could at a later stage be used for espionage and sabotage.  

Against the fear of letting China invest in Swedish wind power is the interest in speeding up the expansion. The Swedish need for electricity is expected to increase very strongly in the future when we have to convert to a carbon dioxide-free industry.  

Land-based wind power is today the only type of energy that can be expanded relatively quickly. Wind power can be equated with emergency care for the Swedish electricity system. Nuclear power only becomes relevant in the long term and offshore wind power only in the medium term. 

If Sweden misses China, it is important to find other, more "harmless" countries that are prepared to invest in Swedish wind power when interest from Swedish investors seems to be strangely low.