Facts: Wish list for new energy policy
Swedish Business and Industry has presented a wish list for a new energy policy to the government that takes place in Rosenbad after the election on Sunday.
In short, it reads:
— Remove restrictions on new nuclear power
— Save hydropower from shutdowns due to environmental tests
— Accelerate the expansion of wind power with faster and simpler permit processes
Like the Moderates, Svenskt Näringsliv places a large part of the blame for the crisis on the government’s energy policy.
“The Swedish electricity crisis is essentially home-made,” write chairman Jacob Wallenberg and CEO Jan-Olof Jacke in a debate article in Dagens Nyheter.
Transfers of electricity to Europe have pushed up Swedish electricity prices a lot recently, according to Jan-Olof Jacke. But he still thinks the basic problem is Swedish and that the solution can be found at home.
And it is not about any type of ceiling for Swedish electricity exports.
“We also periodically import electricity,” says Jacke.
— The available transmission capacity obviously affects the price picture in Sweden. But our solution lies in significantly expanding our own production – not least the planable one, he adds.
Dissatisfaction with energy policy
According to Svenskt Näringsliv, dissatisfaction with Swedish energy policy is growing rapidly right now. In a business panel conducted by the organization last week – in which about 20 percent of the panel’s approximately 13,000 member companies participated – 83 percent of the participants stated that they have little or no confidence in “the current energy policy”.
In the corresponding panel in May, the level of dissatisfaction was 68 percent.
Dissatisfaction is strongest in southern Sweden – where electricity prices have risen the most during the crisis. There, six out of ten panelists state that they have no confidence at all in energy policy today.
TT: Is that also where the biggest problem is getting permits for new wind power?
— It is quite a natural reaction. The more densely populated it is, the greater the challenge, says Jacke.
— I really believe that we need to do everything we can to increase the level of acceptance for the different types of power and remove the obstacles for them to come into place. Politics must send clear signals and then it is clear that you as an individual must have a certain level of acceptance, he adds.
TT: Would you like to see more elements of central control when deciding where to build wind power?
— You shouldn’t think of any alternatives now. We are facing an enormous challenge. We must take control of our own destiny. We can only do that by building both weather-dependent power and planable power.
Plenty of land for windmills
According to Jacke, there are a number of planned offshore wind farms, which do not disturb any views from land.
— Then the acceptance level should reasonably be significantly higher. And after all, we have plenty of land with Sweden’s large areas, where land-based wind turbines can stand without ending up in the middle of communities. But then the transmission capacity must follow, he says.
Protracted permit examinations and a declining percentage of planned wind power projects that actually get permission to build, worry Jacke.
— The approval rate for new wind power projects has gone from about 50 to about 25 percent in just a few years. It is quite alarming, he says.
And when it comes to obstacles to new nuclear power, Jacke wants to see the go-ahead for more than a total of ten reactors and for the door to be opened for smaller modular reactors to be built even outside the three locations where reactors are currently allowed to be built – at the existing nuclear power plants in Forsmark, Oskarshamn and Ringneck.
“We need every watt”
At the same time, hydropower facilities are threatened by environmental tests that force reduced production, according to Jacke.
TT: Do you want new hydropower to be built?
— There is a lot of small-scale hydropower that you can imagine. But there are also upgrades to the existing hydropower and, above all, conservation.
He states that hydropower today accounts for approximately 45 percent of Sweden’s electricity production.
— When we double our need (in 20 years), that will decrease to 20–25 percent of the total. We need every watt we can get out of hydropower.
However, he does not believe in any large-scale new dams and hydropower plants at the moment.
— A fantastic first step is to secure all the power that is currently produced by hydropower.