Electricity prices are and nosedive at record levels almost every day. Cold weather drives up consumption. At the same time, electricity production is under pressure. Weak winds barely manage to get the spinners moving and two out of six nuclear power reactors are at a standstill, plus one is running at half speed this weekend.
However, an acute power shortage with manual shutdowns of the power grid does not threaten. This is despite the fact that Svensk kraftnät previously warned of a real risk of patchy power cuts this winter when the circumstances are unfavorable.
Good import
It is true that Svenska kraftnät counts in its forecasts with necessary electricity imports to southern Sweden for a number of hours this weekend. But it’s nothing unusual or strange.
“The import opportunities are now good,” says Pontus de Maré, operations manager at Svenska kraftnät.
The fact that Sweden, via electric cables, is connected to the rest of the world becomes significant on occasions like this. This year, Sweden has sailed up as Europe’s largest electricity exporter, but this has also meant that Sweden’s electricity prices have thus been infected by the extra high prices on the continent.
Now Sweden benefits from the cables in the other direction, when import of electricity is needed. It will be expensive, but we will have electricity.
And the fact that Svenska kraftnät did not put the power reserve on standby is a sign that the power situation is not considered to be particularly serious, at least not at the moment or in the near future, if nothing unforeseen happens, points out Pontus de Maré.
Increased imports from Norway
If the situation becomes more critical, Svenska kraftnät can request that the oil-fired Karlshamnsverket go into standby mode, so that it can start with two hours’ notice. It’s not done yet.
— On Monday, one of the reactors at the Ringhals nuclear power plant is estimated to be back at full power again. But then consumption also goes up, so the need for imports increases further in southern Sweden, according to Pontus de Maré. But that doesn’t change anything, there is no threat of a power shortage at the moment.
He also points out that from Monday the import possibilities from southern Norway will increase.