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Stockholm – An acute electricity shortage threatens this winter in Sweden. If it gets too cold, there is a significant risk that the electricity will not be sufficient.
The reason is that there is a lack of a power reserve since Svenska Kraftnät had to cancel the procurement.
In recent winters, the oil-fired power plant in Karlshamn has served as an electricity reserve, but that contract expired last season.
And ahead of the new procurement of electricity producers who would take on this task, new rules have applied, where the EU’s state aid rules set limits. It simply cannot cost too much.
“Three bidders submitted proposals, all were above the ceiling price,” says Pontus de Maré, operations manager at Svenska Kraftnät.
Thus, Svenska Kraftnät is canceling the procurement of the electricity reserve, or strategic reserve as it is more accurately called.
According to him, the question is now with the government and the EU to quickly try to fix the regulations.
“It will be very challenging to get this done before the upcoming winter,” says Pontus de Maré.
“There are two scenarios that are a bit dangerous, one being that it gets extremely cold across Europe, no wind, and limited import opportunities, and the other being that there are disruptions,” says de Maré.
Such disruptions could, for example, be that one or two nuclear reactors break down, which is not at all particularly unusual. There could also be unplanned disruptions in the power grid, according to de Maré.
The last time the reserve was activated seriously was in 2012.
(October 7)