Short answer
Yes. If it wasn't, no one would build or invest. Together with solar power, wind power is considered the cheapest and most competitive source of electricity globally. An individual wind park is profitable if the revenue over the lifetime of the asset exceeds the costs of investment, operation and maintenance. An individual wind park subsidiary (a "special purpose vehicle" or SPV) may report weak or negative profit in certain years, especially early in it's lifetime when the largest expenses occur, while still creating significant value for the owner over time.
Why is this discussed?
The profitability of wind power is debated because the situation can seem contradictory. A study of annual reports from Swedish wind power project companies written by Sandström and Steinbeck is said to show that the entire industry is chronically unprofitable, and spectacular individual bankruptcies occasionally receive significant media attention. Despite this, sophisticated investors such as pension funds, infrastructure funds, energy companies and banks continue to finance Nordic wind power projects. How can this be reconciled?
The explanation is that the long-term value of an asset cannot be directly inferred from averages in subsidiaries’ annual reports. Investors assess the value of a wind park based on all expected future cash flows, financing terms, risk and their return requirements.
Common misconceptions
"A wind park that reports a loss is worthless"
That is rarely true. Generally, you need to either know or assume much more that what can be found in the annual report to assess the value of a particular wind park.
"Wind power losses are covered by subsidies and tax money"
This is untrue. Today, no public financial support is distributed to wind power projects in Sweden. Since 2021, no new renewable energy certificates are issued to wind parks and the market price for them hover around 0 and is expected to do so until the scheme is retired in 2035. Onshore wind power is a mature technology that, according to the IEA, is the most competitive energy source globally. Onshore wind does not need subsidies to be profitable and any losses are absorbed by the owners.
"Power prices are too low for wind power to be profitable"
Power prices are, together with volume of production, what determines a wind park’s revenue. The LCoE (“levelized cost of energy”) is a measure of the required break-even price for a particular energy source.
According to IRENA, onshore wind is the cheapest source of energy in LCoE terms in the world. That means that wind power has better opportunity to reach profitability than most technologies.
In a report from IFN from 2025, it is estimated that the LCoE for Swedish onshore wind power is approximately 23-50 EUR/MWh. The same report estimates that nuclear power has an LCoE of around 100-200 EUR/MWh.
Sweden is divided in to four electricity bidding zones between which prices vary according to supply and demand and transmission capacity. In recent years, the wind power build-out has been particularly strong in the two northern-most bidding zones, while demand has grown more slowly han anticipated. This has caused electricity prices in these zones to drop below those in the southern bidding zones, leading to decreased revenues for wind power. Even so, there are indications that Swedish electricity demand and prices will rise in the future.
What affects the assessment?
- Geographical location
- Terms in offtake agreements (such as PPAs)
- Wind resources and its correlation with other electricity generation
- Production availability
- Grid fees and other operating costs
- Financing structure
- Ownership structure
- Return requirements
Conclusion
Wind power and other renewable energy projects require large upfront investments, while revenues are generated over a long period. In addition, ownership and financing structures affect the numbers reported in publicly available annual reports.
For that reason, the result for a single year rarely tells the full story about the profitability of a park or the value it creates for its owner. Value is primarily determined by expected future cash flows, risk and return requirements.