Electricity sector in Sweden

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Majority of electricity production in Sweden relies on hydro power and nuclear power. In 2008 the consumption of electricity in Sweden was 16 018 kWh per capita, compared to EU average 7 409 kWh per capita.[1] A specialty of the Nordic energy market is the existence of so-called electricity price areas which complicate the wholesale commodity market.

The electricity supply and consumption were about equal in 2006–2009: 124–146 TWh/year (14–17 GW). Year 2009 the electricity supply included hydro power 65 TWh (53%), nuclear power 50 TWh (40%) and net import 5 TWh (3%). The Swedish use of electricity declined by 14% in 2009. Potential factors may include recession and the forest and automobile industry changes.

The industrial structural changes may have long term influence in the electricity sector in Sweden. For example, Stora Enso has moved some pulp and paper production from Scandinavia to Brazil and China. The net energy change of investments depends on energy choices in Brazil and China.

Electricity in Sweden (TWh)[2][3][4][5]
Year Use Produce Import* Hydro Nuclear Wind Other*
1990 140 142 -2 71 65 0 5
1991 141 142 -1 62 73 0 7
2000 147 142 5 78 55 0 9
2001 150 158 -7 78 69 0.5 10
2005 147 154 -7 72 70 0.9 12
2006 145 139 6 61 65 1.0 12
2007 146 145 1 66 64 1.4 14
2008 142 144 -2 66 61 2.0 14
2009 138 134 5 65 50 2.5 16
2010 147 145 2 66 56 3.5 19
2011 140 148 -7 68 58 6.1 17
2012 143 162 -20 78 61 7.2 16
2013 140 150 -10 61 64 9.9 15
2014 135 151 -16 64 62 12 13
* Other= Production-Hydro-Nuclear-Wind, Import =Import minus export

Electricity per person and by power source

As in November 2014 Swedish authorities have not published "Electricity production by power source in different countries" after year 2009.

Electricity per person in Sweden (kWh/ hab.)[6]
Use Production Import/Export Imp./Exp. % Fossil Nuclear Nuc. % Other RE* Bio+waste Wind Non RE use* RE %*
2004 16,633 16,878 -245 -1.5% 580 8,620 51.8% 6,789 890 8,954 46.2%
2005 16,726 17,546 -819 -4.9% 431 8,016 47.9% 8,174 926 7,626 54.4%
2006 16,474 16,266 208 1.3% 572 7,314 44.4% 7,383 997 8,094 50.9%
2008 16,018 16,225 -206 -1.3% 527 6,922 43.2% 7,687 1,088 7,243 54.8%
2009 14,881 14,375 506 3.4% 431 5,382 36.2% 7,008* 1,281 269* 6,323 57.5%
* Other RE is hydro power, solar and geothermal electricity and windpower until 2008
* Non RE use = use – production of renewable electricity
RE % = (production of RE / use) * 100% Note: EU calculates the share of renewable energies in gross electrical consumption

By power source

Nuclear power

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Nuclear power in Sweden include Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant and Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant and Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant in total ten reactors. Swedish nuclear power is owned by the state company Vattenfall, Finnish Fortum and German E.ON. The competition authorities and OECD have criticized the joint ownership.[7] Swedish people voted for phase-out of nuclear power plants on 23 March 1980. The outcome of the vote was that the nuclear reactors will be phased out at a feasible rate. In 1980 the Riksdag decided that nuclear energy would be phased out by 2010. Barsebäck 1 nuclear reactor was shut in 1999 and Barsebäck 2 in 2005.

Sweden imports uranium from Australia, Canada, Russia and Namibia. Vattenfall imports from Namibia and E.ON from Canada and Russia.[7]

The import of uranium by Vattenfall has been criticized in the Swedish media and the Parliament e.g. on 23 March 2010. Vattenfall imports uranium from Namibia, Rössing Uranium Mine owned by Rio Tinto. Rössing Mine do not allow any visitors in the mine area and do not answer any questions concerning the employee health and safety and environmental protection. In 2008 SOMO, the Netherlands, made a health study of the mine workers in Namibia. Vattenfall had not made any official controls for six years in 2010.[7][8]

Wind power

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In 2008 Wind power was produced 2 TWh.[1] As of 2008, Sweden produced 1.6% of electricity with wind power. The European average was 4.1%.[9] [6] At the end of 2010 installed wind capacity met 3.2% of Swedish and 5.3% of the EU’s electricity needs. According to the Swedish National Action Plan (2010) for the European Union 2009 Renewable Energy Directive the Swedish government plan is 8% wind power of electricity (12.5 TWh) in 2020.[10]

The Swedish Energy Agency recommended in 2007 a target of 30 TWh of wind power in 2020.[11] The annual electricity use was in average 146 TWh in 2000–2009. According to the Swedish National Action Plan (2010) the electricity use will be 156 TWh in 2020 giving 7% rise from the period 2000–2009 average (12.5TWh wind power is 8% of total = 12.5/0.08=156TWh)[10]

Hydropower

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A very large amount of the electricity is produced by Hydroelectric power plants. The largest ones are predominantly located on the Lule River in the northern part of the country, but a few large and a lot of medium plants are located in the middle part of the country. Throughout the whole country are also more than 1100 smaller plants. Today there's about 46 plants with a capacity of 100 MW and over, 18 with 200 MW and over, and 6 with 400 MW and over. The largest one is very close to 1000 MW. No new plants other than ones owned by private persons are planned, mainly because of that the unharnessed rivers are protected by law and the regulated ones do not have more rapids to regulate. Most plants were built between 1940-1980.

Name River Capacity
(Megawatts)
Harsprånget Lule River 977
Stornorrfors Ume River ~600
Porjus Lule River 480
Messaure Lule River 460
Letsi Lesser Lule River 440
Kilforsen Fjällsjö river ~415
Trängslet Dam Dal River 330
Vietas Lule River 325
Ligga Lule River 324
Ritsem Lule River 320
Porsi Lule River 280
Krångede Indal River 248
Olidan Göta River 235
Storfinnforsen Fax River 227
Seitevare Lesser Lule River 225

Biofuels

In 2008 the supply of biofuel in electricity production was 12.3 TWh in 2008 and 13.3 TWh in 2009. The volume of biofuels has increased since 1998 (4 TWh in 1998).[1]

Fossil fuels

In 2008 the fossil fuel supplies for electricity production were: oil 1 TWh, natural gas 1 TWh and coal 3 TWh.[1]

Peat

The IEA and EU classify peat as fossil fuel. The IEA tables combine peat energy and coal energy.[12] Peat is not classified as a renewable fuel in Directive 2001/77/EC on the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources in the Internal Electricity Market.[13] The Swedish energy data reported e.g. in 2008 often combine peat with biofuels instead of hard coal. This is in contradiction with the international statistical standards.

Electricity production from peat in 2007 amounted to about 0.7 TWh. Peat imports amounted to 379 000 tonnes in 2007 equivalent to 0.9–1.1 TWh.[14] but was used also in the district heating plants 2.8 TWh annually in 2007–2009.[15] From 1 January 2008 (valid in the year 2009) the tax of peat was 1.8 öre/kWh compared to the tax of hard coal 39.5 öre/kWh.[16] Standard emissions are (g CO 2 / kWh): hard coal 341 and peat 381.[17]

According to the Swedish statistics review the peat harvesting destructs the vegetation including all original plants and animal life. The peat ditching increases the suspended materials in the drainage water. In the peat combustion there is a risk of sulphur and nitrogen oxide emissions. Radioactive substances exist naturally in the peat and are released during combustion and are found in the heavy metals in the ashes.[18]

By sector

In 2009 electricity use was by sector:[19]

  • residential, services etc. 72.9 TWh
  • industry 48.8 TWh
  • district heating, refineries 3.6 TWh.
  • transport 2.9 TWh.

Transport sector

The transport sector used in 2009 petrol 41.7 TWh, diesel 40.6 TWh, renewable fuels 4.6 TWh and electricity 2.9 TWh. The use of electricity in the Swedish transport sector is practically unchanged since 1980 (2.3 TWh). The total final energy use in the transport sector including aviation, international transports and renewable fuels has increased from 1990 to 2009 39% (91.4 TWh / 126.8 TWh) and from 2000 to 2009 21% (104.4 TWh / 126.8 TWh).[20]

Import and export

The annual electricity import and export was 10–20 TWh in 2006–2009. Sweden imported 8–10 TWh hydro power from Norway in 2006–2009 and exported some electricity back. Electricity export and import was (TWh)[21] – in 2009 import: Norway 8, Denmark 3, Finland 3 – in 2009 export: Norway 3, Denmark 4, Finland 2, Germany 1, Poland 1 – in 2008 import: Norway 9, Denmark 2, Finland 4 – in 2008 export: Norway 2, Denmark 7, Finland 4, Germany 3, Poland 2

Companies

Nord Pool Spot is the power market for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The electric producers in Sweden include: Vattenfall, Fortum, E.On and Sydkraft.

Vattenfall is a 100% state owned company. It produces electricity in several European countries. Vattenfall is 5th top electricity producer in Europe.[7]

In Central Sweden, there is also a single-phase AC power grid operated with 16.7 Hz frequency for power supply of electric railways, see Electric power supply system of railways in Sweden.

Transmission

File:Hou710 ElectricityPriceArea.svg
Sweden is subdivided into four price areas: Malmö (SE4), Stockholm (SE3), Luleå (SE2) and Sundsvall (SE1) (as of winter 2015).

Svenska Kraftnät is the national electricity transmission grid operator.

Sweden was one big grid price area until November 2011, when it was divided into four different bidding areas. Most of the consumption is in the South (SE3 & SE4) while the production takes place in the North (SE1 & SE2), mainly by generated by hydro plants.[22]

In some areas, tall trees are trimmed by helicopter saws to avoid falling onto power lines during storms or snowfall.[23]

See also

Regional:

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 i siffror 2009[dead link] Energimyndigheten Sweden, Table 25: Specific electricity production per inhabitant with breakdown by power source, 2008, kWh/person Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "EM2009" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "EM2009" defined multiple times with different content
  2. Energy in Sweden, Facts and figures 2010[dead link], The Swedish Energy Agency Table 21 and 22
  3. Energiläget 2011
  4. Elåret 2013. Previous: Elåret 2012, and Elåret 2011. Statistics Sweden, 2013 Svensk Energi. Publisher: Svensk Energi. Table 16, page 36.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Energy in Sweden, Facts and figures Energiläget i siffror,The Swedish Energy Agency, Specific electricity production per inhabitant with breakdown by power source, (kWh/person) Source: IEA/OECD 2006 T23, 2007 T25, 2008 T26 2009 T25 and 2010 T49
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Vattenfall brister i kontroll i Namibia Namibias uran bakom Svensk kärnkraft 13 September 2010[dead link] Swedwatch report 36 (Swedish) and English summary Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Swedwatch36" defined multiple times with different content
  8. SOMO: Center for Research on Multinational Companies.
  9. Pure Power[dead link] December 2009 p. 26-27
  10. 10.0 10.1 Wind in power 2010 European statistics EWEA February 2011 page 11
  11. Nytt planeringsmål för vindkraften år 2020 ER 2007:45 Swedish Energy Agency page 27[dead link]
  12. Key world energy statistics 2010[dead link] IEA page 6
  13. Energy in Sweden 2008, Swedish Energy Agency p.37
  14. Energy in Sweden 2008, Swedish Energy Agency 2008: page 111-113. Page 153: 1 tonne peat is equivalent to 2.5–3 MWh
  15. Facts and figures – Energy in Sweden 2008–2010, Table for figure 40: Use of biofuels, peat etc, in district heating 1980–2009 (TWh)
  16. Facts and figures – Energy in Sweden 2009 p. 36-37
  17. Energy statistics in Finland, Annual year book 2006, Helsinki 2006
  18. U.S. Geological Survey Peat 2005 (Minerals yearbook), table 9 Peat: World production by country, page 29: International production (no production in Asia?) page 34 Summary (Swedish)
  19. Energy in Sweden, Facts and figures 2010, The Swedish Energy Agency,Table 21: Use of electricity in Sweden 1970–2009 (TWh)
  20. Energy in Sweden, Facts and figures 2010, The Swedish Energy Agency Table 19: Final energy use in the transport sector 1970–2009, including international transports (TWh)
  21. Preliminary data 2009 Statistical center 2010. Table 7.2 Exchange of electricity between the Nordic countries and other countries
  22. Four bidding areas Sweden Nord Pool Spot. Accessed: 30 December 2011.
  23. Harnesk, Tommy. "Helikoptermonterad motorsåg snabbkapar träden" Ny Teknik, 9 January 2015. Accessed: 12 January 2015.