Swedish gov't to reform energy policy to prevent power shortage

Photo shows a power plant facility in Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/He Miao)

Although the country already has "more power production capacity installed than ever before, we still have higher electricity prices than usual and continuing constraints in the (transmission) system," Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch said at a press conference.

STOCKHOLM, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish government said on Tuesday that it aims to reform the country's energy policy to ensure that the strained power supply situation of last summer and winter will not be repeated.

In order to make the country's electricity transmission system "more reliable and robust to ensure cheap electricity at all times," the government has tasked national power grid operator Svenska Kraftnat with producing a new standard for measuring the reliability of the system to increase transparency and with identifying the transmission grid and electricity production facilities where further investments are needed.

This photo taken on March 8, 2023 shows a snow-covered commuter train station in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

Although the country already has "more power production capacity installed than ever before, we still have higher electricity prices than usual and continuing constraints in the (transmission) system," Minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch said at a press conference.

"Without sufficient operational reliability, it does not matter how much electricity is produced if it is not transported to its destination at all hours of the year," she said.

She said that transmission capacity bottlenecks between the northern and southern parts of the country have increased electricity prices in the south to considerably high levels.

Sweden's electricity system is still in a strained situation, the government said. During the summer and winter of 2022, the situation was exceptionally strained with very high electricity prices and risks of power shortages. The decommissioning of nuclear power plants and closure of other power sources in southern Sweden have pushed electricity prices higher.

People spend time on a lake during a heatwave in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 21, 2022. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)