Ensure a functioning energy system
- Plan for nuclear power - build gas turbines and stop wind power.
Prosperity requires access to cheap energy
Building material wealth requires inventive people, cheap inputs and a limited bureaucracy. Energy is the most important, as it is needed in all production. Agriculture, forestry, the steel mill, the IT agency, the car repair shop and the hair salon all run on energy. A country's prosperity is directly proportional to its access to cheap energy. Therefore, to maximise our prosperity, we need to increase the supply of cheap and environmentally friendly energy, not cut it off.
From horsepower to nuclear power
The history of Sweden's wealth runs parallel to the development of our energy sources. When agriculture moved from hand to horse power, we were able to farm larger areas. Harvests increased. The grain needs to be milled, which is hard work. Water-powered mills freed up labour time and increased prosperity. Forests had long been a source of power, but with industrialisation they were cleared for a period to power more and more smelters and steam engines. Charcoal was replaced by the more compact - but imported - energy sources of coal and oil. The forest was then able to recover. The rivers in Norrland were then dammed and the country was electrified without being dependent on foreign energy resources.
In the 1960s, nuclear power came along. For the first time, we had really cheap energy without making major inroads into nature. A person's lifetime need for electricity can be extracted from an amount of uranium the size of 30 sugar cubes. Sweden is one of the world's most uranium-rich countries, but since 2018 the Environmental Code has prohibited the extraction of uranium in our country. Importing from other countries is fine, however. We now had one of the best electricity systems in the world. Swedish industry was running at full speed. Ordinary people got electricity from two holes in the wall, without having to think about whether the spot price was suitable for baking a sponge cake.
A number of political decisions have since destroyed our robust electricity system. Electricity has become significantly more expensive, while the price has become more unstable. In southern Sweden, it is difficult to build new industries, as the power supplied cannot be guaranteed.
The 1980 referendum decided to abolish nuclear power
The result of the 1980 referendum, political punitive taxes on nuclear power and government activism without an impact assessment have led to the closure of six out of twelve nuclear power reactors.
Liberalisation of the electricity market in 1996
The hope was that with liberalisation, electricity production and prices would be like in a real market, i.e. higher quality and lower prices. However, for this to work, both the supply side (production) and the demand side (sales) must be liberalised. Then rising demand will lead to rising prices, which is a signal that encourages more production, which brings the price down again. Unfortunately, building new baseload power is bureaucratic and difficult, which means that in practice only the price has been liberalised - but not the supply.
Subsidies for wind and solar power 1991 - 2021
Government subsidies led to the large-scale construction of unprofitable wind and solar power, as a supposed replacement for decommissioned nuclear power. Wind and solar produce electricity depending on the weather. In a real market, this type of electricity would have been considered a lower quality product with its own pricing. Now it is sold on the same market as dispatchable power. It is then subsidised by the dispatchable power, which has to step in and stabilise the grid by compensating for wind and solar variations. This leads to more wear and tear on hydro turbines and higher costs, which so far have not burdened wind and solar power.
The total cost of electricity, consisting of electricity prices, grid costs and taxes, have all risen sharply since the last reactor at Ringhals was shut down in 2020. Weather-dependent power can never replace dispatchable power on a large scale.
The EU and the 70% rule
Sweden used to have a national pricing system for electricity. We could then distribute and price electricity as it suited us best. As members of the EU's internal electricity market, we are no longer allowed to use our own electricity to do what is best for us in Sweden. We are not allowed to have a national electricity price, but we have been authorised to have four electricity areas, with in practice four national prices.
According to the EU, foreign electricity buyers must be allowed to bid for Swedish electricity on the same terms as Swedish buyers. To enable them to transport electricity out of the country, we have built a number of power cables to foreign countries - and more are on the way. The EU requires 70 per cent of the capacity of all cables to be made available to foreign electricity buyers. This, of course, drives up the price for Swedish buyers as electricity prices on the continent are usually much higher.
Wind power - a scourge for people and nature
Our energy needs once led to the devastation of forests and the damming of rivers. Then came nuclear power, which has minimal impact on animals and nature. With the construction of wind and solar power, we have gone backwards in development and are once again using large areas of land and sensitive wilderness to produce low-quality electricity.
Where wind power is built, nature is destroyed and wildlife is affected. Those living nearby suffer from noise, harmful infrasound, a loss of horizon and depreciation of their properties. The loss of value is thus a transfer of capital from private individuals to a large, partially subsidised, billion-dollar industry - usually owned by foreign interests.
Ambition Sverige will work for:
- Swedish energy production should primarily secure Sweden's energy needs. We continue to export our surplus to other countries via existing cables but are restrictive about new capacity that raises our electricity prices.
- That Sweden should build new nuclear power and thus return to the well-functioning electricity system we had before 1999. In this way, Sweden can offer electricity at low, predictable prices for industry, societal functions and private individuals. Vattenfall should be tasked with ensuring the rapid expansion of nuclear power.
- Transitional solutions pending new nuclear power should be increased power output from CHP and gas turbines, especially in southern Sweden. Increased capacity and electricity production in existing plants are encouraged on market terms. All restrictions on existing hydroelectric power due to environmental assessments will be cancelled.
- That no more wind power is built, neither on land nor at sea.
- That existing wind power industries are checked to ensure that they meet the requirements set in operation. Also investigate the environmental effects of wind power, for example with regard to the spread of microplastics and infrasound.
- That all expansion of large solar power plants on agricultural land is put on hold while waiting for a new regulatory framework to be in place.
- The governance of the state-owned utility Svenska Kraftnät (SVK) and the state-owned company Vattenfall should be reviewed. SVK should become the system operator for the entire electricity system.
- That the number of bidding zones is reviewed with the aim of equalizing electricity prices across the country.
- That no subsidies or special support are given for so-called green transition or electrification.
- That energy storage in hydrogen and batteries is not subsidised by the state as these are not sustainable solutions for the energy system (not cost-effective).
- That the consequences of increased use of biomass are carefully analysed, as much is currently imported into Sweden.