Response to interpellation 2022/23:207 on permit processes for wind power and electricity grids

Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I have been asked what I am doing, within my area of responsibility, to realize the proposals from the Climate Justice Inquiry and the Environmental Assessment Inquiry to shorten the permit processes for new energy and when proposals will come to the Riksdag to shorten the permit processes.

Increasing the expansion rate for fossil-free energy production and for the national power grid is a top priority for the government. In addition to the national work, I first want to highlight that the government is leading negotiations in the EU on new legislation for faster permit processes for renewable energy production and energy infrastructure through the Renewable Energy Directive and the EU Regulation on the expansion of infrastructure for alternative fuels.

One point in the Tidö Agreement concerns shortening permit processes, and a review will therefore be carried out to clarify which simplification measures are possible.

The report of the Environmental Assessment Inquiry has been referred, and the matter is now being prepared in the Government Offices. A number of measures are being taken aimed at streamlining the environmental permit process and creating more predictable and flexible processes. The permit-granting authorities have, for example, received more resources in the budget for 2023, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has been tasked with developing more detailed guidance on environmental assessment.

Regarding the Climate Justice Inquiry's proposals, the preparation is still ongoing there in the Government Offices. Some proposals from the inquiry concern legislative changes, and we will therefore return to the Riksdag after the preparation is completed. Other proposals from the inquiry are based on tasks being given to agencies or further investigation taking place in another way. The Government has already moved forward with the inquiry's proposal on improved guidance through assignments in the regulatory letters to Boverket and Naturvårdsverket.

The Government is also awaiting the report of the inquiry on strengthened incentives for expanded wind power, which is to be submitted on March 31, 2023. The inquiry shall submit proposals that strengthen the municipalities' incentives to contribute to the expansion of wind power in order to meet the climate transition and the increased electrification of society.

Additionally, I can mention that Svenska kraftnät, which builds and manages our backbone grid, is working to streamline its internal work with the goal of halving its lead times. Energimarknadsinspektionen has also been tasked with developing and testing new working methods to better coordinate the management of the permits and rights required to reinforce the Swedish electricity grid. That work is to be reported by May 1, 2023, at the latest.

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Monica Haider (S)

Mr. Speaker! Swedish industry is clear that more electricity production is needed both in the short and in the long term. Industry sees a doubled need for energy in the slightly longer term. With the increased re-industrialization taking place in our country, consumption is assessed to increase significantly in the coming years, and the absolute fastest way is to expand wind power both on land and at sea. If we are to manage the transition, we need all types of power, and here the permit processes are an important part for us to get the energy production in place on time. This also applies to the grid expansion, which also takes too long.

Wind power has shorter lead times than other power sources, and we can observe, now that the smoke has settled after the election campaign, that even the Minister of the Interior is talking about the fact that we need to build more wind power and not just nuclear power. That is good. Now it is just a matter of getting the work done as well.

The Social Democratic government began the work of shortening the lead times for the permit processes, among other things with the bill Faster permit processes for electricity grids. We also produced an electrification strategy, produced the Climate Justice Inquiry and the Environmental Assessment Inquiry, and appointed the inquiry Strengthened incentives for expanded wind power, which is to be completed on March 23 this year. There, the sitting government has now added supplementary directives that it is the operator who shall finance the incentives.

Both the Environmental Assessment Inquiry and the Climate Justice Inquiry have been fully referred and are now on the government's desk or, as the Minister says in his response, are being prepared in the Government Offices. There are a number of proposals here that are just lying and waiting. When will the proposals arrive?

The Social Democratic government also tasked the authorities with carrying out pilot projects involving running the process in parallel and having an early dialogue in the projects with all involved, which has yielded a good result. The authorities also received larger grants to fulfill the mandate they were given. The mandate to them was to halve their lead times.

The permit processes in Sweden take too long, we all agree on that. Onshore wind power is what can be built absolutely fastest. Unfortunately, many municipalities say no to requests for projects, and therefore the upcoming proposals from the incentives investigation are very important.

Mr. Speaker! It is important that the government makes decisions regarding more offshore wind farms. There are applications for approximately 500 terawatt-hours of offshore wind power. Not all will be built, but according to Svensk Vindenergi, wind power production can increase to 120 terawatt-hours by 2035 if all projects currently in the permit process are granted permits. Repowering can also contribute an additional 45 terawatt-hours, which would mean a total of 165 terawatt-hours in 2035. This can be compared with Sweden's entire electricity production, which was an all-time high last year: 170 terawatt-hours. We have never exported as much electricity as we did last year. There, wind power produced 33 terawatt-hours, which is an increase of 20 percent.

Right now, however, the companies feel that it is a somewhat uncertain situation. They are waiting. What does the new government want? Do they want new wind power? The long permit processes are, of course, also a part of this.

My question is therefore: When will the proposals arrive?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I want to be clear in thanking you for the question. It provides an opportunity for the media and not least those who sit at home and watch the interpellation debate to get a somewhat unified overview of what is happening.

I begin by saying that there were many good initiatives taken by the previous government, as the Member of Parliament very rightly points out. Some of those initiatives and investigations have landed on this side of a change of mandate but also a change of government.

I see an intrinsic value in that we in Sweden, in matters that require long-term thinking, seek as broad an agreement as possible. It is also important for industry and the green transition, which is entirely dependent on what happens. Within industry, one must know which rules of the game one has to abide by. Therefore, it is positive that in large parts there is a great consensus on the need to shorten the permit processes and do what we can to pave the way for the transition.

There are those who wonder: Is there a concrete answer? What is the answer for those who are present here in the chamber today to the question: When will a proposal be on the Riksdag's table? The very dull but straightforward answer is: I have no date. It is very much the case that this is being prepared. Part of this shall also be rendered in legislation. It is a neighboring task. It must hold up for reality.

It is not a question of whether we intend to complete what we have received on the table, both in the Climate Justice Inquiry and in the Environmental Assessment Inquiry. We are working at the highest pace we can. It is truly prioritized. I had a hope of perhaps being able to set some kind of date, at least between my thumb and forefinger. But I do not dare to do that, by way of experience. We will simply return to when exactly a proposal will reach the Riksdag's table.

I also want to say something briefly about a question. Do we have an electricity shortage in Sweden or not? It is very true that we exported a lot last year. We have done so even during this winter. At the same time, we do not have enough electricity where it is needed and when it is needed. It is sometimes a bit difficult to keep up with. It is a common question I receive. How can it be that we do not have enough electricity where it is needed and when it is needed?

We do not have so much electricity and energy production that we can manage to be less vulnerable and withstand the high prices that exist on the continent. It is because we have a capacity shortage. We have four electricity price areas. We do not have as large a part of our population in electricity area 1 and 2. But there we have an important part of our electricity production. At the same time, we have a fairly large consumption of electricity and high electricity usage in electricity area 3 and 4 in the southern parts. There, quite a lot of electricity production has disappeared in recent years.

It also applies if weather-dependent electricity production and power production, such as wind, has been added. No one is as happy as I am when it blows. But we have days when it does not blow as much. Then we do not have enough electricity where it is needed and when it is needed. That is what we are now trying to remedy.

Electricity support in all its glory. It is a relief in a difficult time. But there is no other way out of this than to build Swedish energy production strong again, make it larger and strongly shorten the lead times and the times for the long permit processes we have, and there we agree. We will return to the dates.

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Monica Haider (S)

Mr. Speaker! That is what we truly agree on. You said in your response that alongside the national work, the government is now leading the negotiations in the EU to develop new legislation for faster permit processes for renewable electricity production and energy infrastructure.

I really hope that the government will succeed. This would mean shorter lead times. It is important that things are not dragged out, as was the case, for example, with the revenue cap for electricity producers and the electricity price support for companies. No one knows at all when it will arrive. Does the Minister believe that the proposal will be finalized during the Swedish presidency?

Mr. Speaker! The Government has a point in the Tidö Agreement stating that you shall review which simplification measures are possible. You have also signaled an additional investigation that shall review the permit processes.

What is possible is already on the table. Start with that instead, is my advice. Will you review it yourselves and see what you should do? Or do you mean that the proposals on the table are not possible? In that case, the Minister may gladly state which proposals are not possible of those already on the table.

The Minister also states that a number of measures are being taken aimed at streamlining the environmental permit process and creating more predictable processes. The Minister mentions the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency in his response. It has received more resources and a mandate to develop more detailed guidance for environmental assessment.

When I try to find the assignment, the only one I can see is an assignment to produce a guidance on the impact on birds of different types of power lines. Is it this assignment that the Minister refers to? Or is it what is stated in the regulatory letter regarding a developed guidance concerning environmental review and environmental assessment? It is a good assignment. But I think there are more low-hanging fruits in the proposals that already exist.

Yesterday, we Social Democrats presented nine proposals for faster permit processes. We want to see action on the issue. It is urgent if we are to meet the needs of industry and keep industry here in Sweden, but also to be at the forefront in the green transition.

Some of our proposals are, for example, that the national interest for energy distribution shall be prioritized. A socio-economic prioritization shall be made when connecting to the electricity grid, which is not possible today. The Armed Forces should be tasked with developing guidance for faster permit processes, and amendment permits shall become the rule.

If we do nothing, we risk Swedish jobs and continued high electricity prices for the next 15 years. I wonder if the Minister is prepared to proceed with some of our nine proposals that we presented yesterday?

I listened when you said that you welcome broad agreements. I cannot help but ask the question: Will you invite [others] to a new energy agreement?

I would also like to comment on what you said about wind power being good when it blows. If you look at the wind maps, you can see that it is blowing somewhere 90 percent of the time. It is completely correct that it does not blow everywhere and equally much all the time. But it blows significantly more than what is portrayed in the debate, I would like to assert.

I repeat my question. When will the proposals from the investigations that are already completed arrive?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I begin where Monica Haider finished. It concerns the question of how much it is blowing.

We get very different results from our power sources. Some have a fairly high degree of what can be called delivery security, which is not a completely correct technical term. You have a possible capacity of x, and you can get out 80, 90, or 95 percent. That is where we have nuclear power and hydropower, while wind power is significantly lower.

That is what makes it a bit difficult to keep up when one hears good news that there are applications for a very large amount of land-based wind power corresponding to double the demand in additional energy needs. But you also need to take into account.

It is quite true that the government has set as a mantra that now all good forces are needed. We are for sun, wind and water. What has happened is that we have added a very forward-looking attitude towards nuclear power compared to a more backward-leaning attitude and a government base that was split on the issue of nuclear power.

Here I see that the coalition parties and I as a Christian Democrat have good conditions to reach an agreement with the Social Democrats on many of these issues. I now hear clearly from leading Social Democrats that all types of power are welcome and that nuclear power is a part that will be needed even for a long time to come. Accordingly, I have reasoned that it is better for us to move from words to action and steer through the proposals in the Riksdag that will reach the Riksdag's table this year.

It concerns, for example, the goal of moving from 100 percent renewable to 100 percent fossil-free. It is that movement and that sobriety we also notice within the EU; it is carbon free and fossil free, that is to say emission-free, one needs to move over to if we are to reduce our dependence on Russia in a difficult security policy situation and reduce our dependence on the fossil power sources. It is about managing the double equation of having high-set climate goals and achieving the green transition combined with a strong welfare and more jobs when our companies are given better conditions.

Questions were asked regarding Boverket and Naturvårdsverket. There may be more assignments when we have finished processing the two investigations raised in the interpellation, namely the Climate Justice Investigation and the Environmental Assessment Investigation. The answer is, as stated, that we are working as quickly as we can on these matters and intend to follow up.

Quite rightly, we lead many EU negotiations during the spring. It is difficult to predict anything exactly, but we have good hopes of being able to bring several of those processes to port during the spring – or at least move the positions significantly in parts of this before Spain takes over the presidency.

We also had the great honor of welcoming all of the EU's energy ministers to Stockholm at the beginning of last week. We noted there unanimously that things have moved and that there is a much greater demand to strengthen the EU's competitiveness in the long term - as well as that the permit processes are recurring in this. There, we would, of course, like to lead by example.

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Monica Haider (S)

Mr. Speaker! What we can see is that both the companies and their industry organizations are writing columns and appearing in TV news and TV broadcasts where they urge the government to proceed with the proposals that are already on the table. Why, then, is the government doing nothing? We have not received any notification here today either as to when the proposals will arrive.

I also have a question regarding the Armed Forces' regulation letter. In the 2022 regulation letter, there was a point 21 that has been removed in this year's regulation letter. According to that, the Armed Forces were to continue to develop the capability for early dialogue and cooperation with relevant authorities and organizations in planning and testing processes for renewable energy production. This was to be reported back in February this year, so I wonder if the government has received any report. I also naturally wonder why the Armed Forces no longer have this assignment. Is it just because it said "renewable"? In that case, it could have been replaced with "fossil-free," if one now thinks that it is an important assignment.

The Social Democratic government presented an electrification strategy with 67 proposals. Several of the proposals have been started, and some are completed. When I search on the government's website, I find no electrification strategy. It is gone. I understand that one might not want to stand by old governments' proposals, but that it is not even on the website seems a bit strange to me. Another question, therefore, is where the electrification strategy went. Does it exist?

The Minister says that all good forces are needed and that she wants to move from words to action. She wants us to be able to reach an agreement, and she wants to present the proposals that she believes we Social Democrats can agree to. The answer to the questions will therefore be that we are not to have any new energy agreement; that is how I shall interpret the Minister.

I repeat my question once more: When will the government present proposals for shorter permit processes?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! The question regarding the Armed Forces could almost become the subject of another interpellation debate or be posed as a question in another form, so that it can receive a full and proper answer.

I want to return to a question that I did not have time to answer earlier, namely the one regarding the fact that a new investigation has been announced in addition to the Climate Justice Investigation and the Environmental Assessment Investigation.

Even there, we will return with proposals for investigation directives, but it can be stated that the Climate Justice Investigation looks at some parts and the Environmental Assessment Investigation looks at much that concerns our authorities' processes. One could argue that, in addition to that, there is a need for a holistic approach – there is much related to land use and other things. Regarding the proposals that have been presented by several other parties, including the Social Democrats, one will of course need to be responsive to the good proposals that emerge in the debate.

We have high climate goals in Sweden, and this government's plan to reach them is electrification. It is electrification of the transport sector and electrification of industry. This has now become the basis for this government's work with climate issues, which perhaps is part of the answer to the question why it is no longer a settled matter.

Finally, I would like to thank again for the interpellation. I also want to say something to those who are listening and perhaps wonder why there is no date if this is now on the government's table. Why is it not just finished? I can understand that frustration, but these are complex issues. We have an order where one investigates and where the proposals are referred for consultation. Then one takes in the consultation responses and processes them to see how the proposal should be tweaked - and only after that should it be presented. That is what preparation is, and that is the phase we are in. We are working as quickly as we can.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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