The County Administrative Board rejected Vattenfall's waiver application. Within the municipality of Gävle, a majority of politicians opted for an approved dispensation after going against their own officials, who warned of the risks associated with the transformer station.
The application also caused protests outside the County Administrative Board building in Gävle.
Vattenfall now plans to build the transformer station outside the water protection area, but this will mean that power lines need to be pulled over several private properties. In addition, the possibility of supplying electricity to Microsoft is delayed.
SVT has searched Microsoft for a comment.