Sweden has blocked more than a dozen offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea over fears they could make the country more vulnerable to attacks from Russia.

Defence minister Pål Jonson said 13 applications had been rejected over concerns they would have “unacceptable consequences” for national security. 

Mr Jonson said the structures could interfere with missile detection systems, halving the time with which Sweden had to react to an attack from two minutes to just 60 seconds. 

The decision follows a study by the Swedish Armed Forces, published by public broadcaster SVT last week, that showed that the projects could significantly disrupt sensors used by the military.

The towers and rotating blades of the wind turbines emit radar echoes and generate other forms of interference. Wind farms obstructing signals would leave less time for counteracting ballistic and cruise missiles, Mr Jonson said, and leave Swedes with less time to seek shelter in the event of a threat. 

The country’s proximity to Russia and responsibility within Nato to protect against threats in the Baltic Sea meant security must be prioritised over clean energy, Mr Jonson said.  

Mr Jonson said on X: “The wind farms could lead to reduced intelligence-gathering capabilities and disrupt sensors used to detect submarines. 

“Based on the assessment of the Armed forces, building offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea would have unacceptable consequences for Swedish security.” 

The government in Stockholm has granted only one application for a wind farm on the Swedish west coast where as many as 81 wind turbines will be built. 

Mr Jonson said that with “war in close vicinity”, Sweden was forced to give “significant weight” to defence interests. 

Sweden’s capital Stockholm is only 500km from the Russian exclave Kaliningrad, which sits by the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.  

Mr Jonson added: “It is especially important for the Swedish Armed Forces to be able to operate at full capability in those areas of the Baltic Sea where applications now have been rejected. The proximity to the heavily militarised Kaliningrad area is also important in this context.”

The Industry Association for Wind Power in Sweden said the decision was “surprising”.

A spokesman said: “It is problematic that the government categorically closes an entire area to potential electricity production without a proper overall assessment.”

The decision comes as the British Government seeks to quadruple offshore wind power production by the end of the decade.

One of Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship policies includes the creation of Great British Energy, which will work with the private sector to ramp up investment into renewables such as offshore wind.