Response to interpellation 2023/24:595 on incentives for wind power
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L believes that Sweden needs a powerful expansion of fossil-free electricity production where land-based wind power can provide the majority of the upcoming production 1. L argues that land-based wind power has low production costs 1 and that wind power companies should finance compensations rather than taxpayers 2. L emphasizes that wind power has a shorter operational lifespan than nuclear power 3 and that one must ensure that financial compensation contributes to a sound expansion 4. S argues that wind power is a fast and cheap way to increase electricity production 5. S believes that Sweden needs more wind power on land and at sea to accelerate the climate transition 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Malin Larsson has asked me how I believe we should reach an increased level of acceptance for the expansion of wind power. She has also asked me whether I and the government intend to present any proposals regarding local incentives and how I view also reviewing compensation to municipalities and residents for already built wind power.
Initially, I want to emphasize that Sweden needs a powerful expansion of fossil-free electricity production. We need different types of power that can interact for a robust and secure electricity system. New nuclear power is needed to meet the future electricity needs and to increase the security of supply in the electricity system. Hydropower has a special position through its ability for storage and controllable electricity production. Wind power can, in the short term, account for the majority of the upcoming electricity production. Solar power can also be expanded and, with short lead times, has great potential to grow, which we see already today. This is highlighted in our energy policy direction proposal, which the government submitted to the Riksdag in March.
In the energy policy direction bill, the government proposes a goal, the planning goal, that the Swedish electricity system shall provide the conditions to deliver the electricity needed for increased electrification and to enable the green transition. Wind power can in the short term contribute to this by accounting for the majority of the upcoming electricity production.
Wind power already plays a significant role in the electricity supply in our country today. It helps us keep down electricity prices for our households, and it is, as the interpellator points out, important for the green transition within industry. Wind power thus contributes to creating the jobs of the future and to our ability to reach our goal of net-zero emissions by 2045 at the latest.
We also see today a strong expansion of wind power in Sweden. In 2026, it is estimated to deliver nearly 50 terawatt-hours, which is an increase of over 80 percent since 2021. This corresponds to just over one-third of the electricity we are estimated to consume then. A continued expansion of wind power is therefore particularly important so that we do not lose momentum in the electrification.
As we have noted in the government's bill, land-based wind power has a relatively low production cost in öre per kilowatt-hour compared to other electricity from new facilities. More measures need to be taken to improve the conditions for an efficient expansion of wind power.
With a large amount of wind power in the electricity system, it needs to be able to contribute to the capabilities of a secure electricity system to an increased extent, among other things by being combined with batteries and other energy storage. These technologies are, however, not judged to be available on a large scale in the short term.
We can be glad that we live in a country that, thanks to its geography, has good conditions to produce electricity through wind power. But a continued expansion of wind power is not uncomplicated. It places demands on increased acceptance among those who are affected by new wind turbines in their immediate environment.
In April, I received the report The Value of Wind (SOU 2023:18). The investigator was tasked with providing proposals for compensation and incentives in the future expansion of wind power. In the directives, it was emphasized that the local benefit of expanded wind power needs to be strengthened. When the new government took office, we agreed with this and chose to let the investigation continue. Additionally, the government gave a supplementary directive that the investigation's proposals shall be financed by the operators instead of by the taxpayers.
The investigation's proposals include, among other things, revenue sharing to neighbors and the buyout of adjacent properties, which is proposed to be financed by the industry. The report has been subject to a broad consultation, and the preparation of the proposals is currently ongoing in the Government Offices.
Malin Larsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answer! I would, however, like to take the opportunity to point out that the answer comes far too late. I submitted this interpellation at the end of February, and we are now in the middle of May.
All of northern Sweden shall grow, and it is happening fast. My home county of Västernorrland is one of the counties that now has a major competitive advantage because we have invested in renewable energy. Through this, we are also involved in and leading the development for green growth through new jobs in industries that enable the green transition, so that the jobs stay and are added here in Sweden and not abroad. This long-awaited growth depends largely on a wise and bold climate policy, where we in Västernorrland take a great responsibility for Sweden's energy supply.
For a long time, the county's rivers and watercourses have provided our country with energy, and in recent years, there has been a major expansion of wind power in Västernorrland. But while Västernorrland is at the top in wind power expansion, it is unfortunately moving slower in other parts of the country. Even in our county, there are many planned areas that are now being slowed down while awaiting a decision from the government regarding precisely incentives.
The expansion rate is judged to slow down significantly after 2026 because new permits are not granted by the relevant municipalities at the same pace as before. The proportion of rejections of applications at the municipalities has increased markedly, and a full 72 percent of the relevant wind turbines have been stopped over the last four years.
Nearby residents are often concerned. Those who have primarily received the economic benefits are the landowners, who furthermore rarely live in the location where the wind farms are constructed. Municipalities and nearby residents are waiting for decisions on compensation, and the industry is currently waiting.
The Social Democratic government appointed the very important and long-awaited investigation that the Minister mentioned. It was to submit proposals on systems for compensation to local communities and proposals to strengthen the municipalities' incentives. The new government issued additional directives which meant that some concrete proposals on compensation and incentives could not be submitted, and the investigation submitted its report in April 2023.
It has now been over a year since the investigation *Värdet av vinden* was presented, without any proposals for incentives for municipalities to allow wind power. Many municipal representatives and industry representatives are frustrated precisely because of the missing decisions regarding reimbursements to municipalities that allow wind power. The question is, after all, why it is taking such a long time.
When will some proposals come from the government, and what is the Minister's message to all those neighbors and to municipalities and contractors who are just waiting today?
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Let me begin by repeating what the government's supplementary directive to the investigation actually was. What emerged from our supplementary directive was that the investigation's proposals shall be financed by operators, not by taxpayers. To say that this is to tie the hands of the investigation and to ensure that it does not have the conditions to investigate exactly what the Social Democrats want is, I believe, somewhat exaggerated.
The directives for the Value of the Wind inquiry were designed by the Social Democrats or the red-green government. There were various limitations regarding what could be examined, which made it very difficult for the inquiry to look at things that, for example, a liberal bourgeois government would have been interested in. It is a simplification to claim that it is this government's additional directives that have caused the inquiry not to come further than it did – something that the investigator himself, moreover, considered to be insufficient.
This means that the investigation needs to be properly prepared before one can move forward. It is not lying around gathering dust anywhere; rather, there is work ongoing with very committed people who are working on this to design the proposals in the best possible way. But the fact that the investigator did not receive as much free rein as the investigator themselves desired was a consequence of the red-green government having given strict directives on what they wanted it to come up with, and then a new government came along that had an additional directive, namely: The taxpayers will damn well not take the bill, but the wind power companies shall! It is this that has prompted the result. I must say that it is very simplified to say that it would entirely be this government's fault.
The investigation has delivered in every case, and the basis in the investigation is very well-elaborated. I know that the investigator had a very great commitment and much dialogue with many different people who are to a large extent affected by these issues – that is, not just the classic representatives that one usually turns to in such matters. I think that is noticeable in the investigation.
The government is working full out to move forward with the proposal. But it takes time, and it is simply a consequence of how the Government Offices' work is structured. Social Democrats, who often sit in government, are well aware that this can cause some frustration among us eager politicians. I want to be clear, however, that the investigation is not lying around gathering dust, but that this is an issue that is high up on the agenda, because this government really wants more wind power in Sweden.
We see that incentives are needed for a continued expansion of wind power. This is something that the Prime Minister has stated and which I myself have also stated very clearly previously. We see that incentives are needed for land-based wind power, and we are working to produce the right proposal that can provide good incentives for land-based wind power in Sweden also in the future.
Malin Larsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I hear what the Minister says, but I actually think that more than a year is a very long time. We are, as said, still waiting for a proposal to be presented.
Just as the Minister said, there is a solid investigation with a number of good proposals and also many referral responses with important proposals and views from municipalities, organizations and several others. In many referral responses, one can read that they agree with the investigation's conclusion that increased municipal support for wind power establishments can only be achieved through financial compensation to municipalities, but also that economic incentives need to apply both for future establishments and for municipalities that have taken great responsibility for the transition with already completed establishments.
Then local acceptance is not just about money, but also about dialogue and understanding so that one can resolve the goal conflicts that often exist and find solutions that are accepted by all concerned. The construction of wind turbines affects residents, landowners, outdoor life, and municipalities.
As I said, I live in Västernorrland myself. I have seen firsthand how the wind power issue engages people. I have seen the worry, the conflicts, and the fears that can actually arise when one discusses wind power and its establishment. But I also see the opportunities that wind power creates – the faith in the future, the growth, and the jobs that wind power, with its much-demanded renewable electricity, contributes to.
Many municipalities, especially in the north, where we have a large expansion of renewable energy, also see many new large establishments with new green jobs today because there is good and secure access to renewable energy from wind and hydropower. It is often precisely renewable energy that they demand.
Land-based wind power together with solar power is today, without competition, the fastest and cheapest way to increase electricity production. Research is being conducted extensively in the area. We constantly see new solutions, new efficient wind turbines, new batteries, and so on. It is about how we in the future will be able to produce more renewable energy and also store the energy from wind and sun.
In Ånge municipality, where land-based wind power has been built for many years, there are now actors planning to build a giant battery park for electricity storage, precisely in order to be able to support the power grid by selling the battery storage capacity on the frequency reserve market and create the possibility to store surplus energy to be distributed at a later time.
Construction can actually start as early as this autumn. In his answer, the Minister states that such things cannot be available in the short term, but this is actually happening here and now.
People speak many times about short-sightedness and a short-sighted investment when talking about wind power - that was exactly what we heard the Minister say when she read out her answer. I see this in the longer term. Wind power is here and now, and it can solve many of today's needs. But wind power is here to stay. How does the Minister view wind power in the longer term?
The answer does not mention anything from the Minister regarding existing wind turbines. What is the Minister's view on also reviewing compensation to municipalities and residents for already built wind power?
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! There are many parts of this to discuss. It is of course fantastic with all the new fossil-free electricity that we can get, and wind power is a part of that.
There is often a simplified discussion about power sources, where one chooses either one power source or the other. That is not how this government wants to work. We welcome all fossil-free power sources. We therefore also welcome wind power – both land-based and offshore.
Here we encounter a number of different problems. Regarding offshore [wind power], it concerns the process. It is very complicated to apply to build offshore wind power. Several different actors apply for the same location, and everything must be handled in parallel processes. They are long and legal, often protracted. This is a problem that this government quickly addressed. We saw that the applications were piling up, and therefore we allocated 15 million to increase the pace of their handling.
Then we have the land-based wind power. It is not the same situation. Land-based wind power is a type of power that is very volatile and which affects our price market to a very high extent. My colleague Ebba Busch can certainly elaborate on this in detail. But there are effects that land-based wind power contributes with, which differ from other types of power. It has an important role in our mix of power types, but it does not have the same role as other types of power. Therefore, it is not possible to just say: Land-based wind power shall be expanded - so we meet the future's electricity needs.
It doesn't work like that. We must have something else for it to work.
I have also met Swedish actors in the frequency reserve market. I have had long and fantastic discussions with representatives from those companies. But the fact remains. There are still no examples, that is, in reality, that one can build up the amount of battery parks needed to compensate for effects in the same way as nuclear power.
I am the first to welcome such a development. We hope that Swedish actors will be able to contribute to building up the flexibility of power sources such as wind power. But it is not there yet. This must be kept in mind when, for example, developing a plan for energy policy. Of course, one looks with optimism and confidence toward future solutions, but as long as they are not established on the market on the scale I mean is needed, given Sweden's needs, we cannot include that in the political considerations at that level.
Then we need to see how we can develop onshore wind power in terms of incentives. In that case, several things need to be taken into account. One thing is that unlike, for example, offshore wind power, onshore wind power already accounts for 20 percent of our energy mix. What does that mean, considering that there is also a certain level of saturation?
The Chairman refers to the fact that the reason why wind power is decreasing is that the municipalities do not grant land-based wind power to the same extent. So that is for several reasons. One is that there is wind power in many places, and therefore it is not granted to the same extent. One therefore needs to keep several things in mind here.
Of course, it is about financial compensation. As I have said, we in the government have clearly stated that we want to arrange this. But the question is: How do you ensure that it lands correctly and actually contributes to wind power being scaled up and expanded in a sound way in our elongated country?
Malin Larsson (S)
Madam Speaker! We know that Sweden needs more electricity production in a short time to accelerate the climate transition, meet the uncertain global situation, and strengthen the industry's competitiveness.
In the Minister's response, I heard nothing regarding compensation for existing wind turbines and how the Minister views that issue. This concerns precisely those municipalities that have taken the lead and taken responsibility. When one reads the referral responses, one sees that many are highlighting just that part from these municipalities.
Sweden needs more wind power on land and especially offshore – it will take longer. This is good for the climate, for security and for jobs. Above all, it is simply the fastest way to produce the cheap and renewable electricity required to be able to ramp up the green transition and get a share of the green jobs.
We also want to see long-term conditions for the energy industry. Swedish industry in Sweden needs good access to electricity at competitive prices. Our country has unique conditions for renewable energy, and we have great potential to expand this over a long period ahead.
We Social Democrats actually want to see a country where we come together to develop common solutions. A stable and expanded energy supply with reasonable prices is also important for a safer and stronger society.
I think I will finish where I started. I really hope that the government, in a very near future, will present proposals on incentives so that we do not lose momentum in the transition and so that we achieve increased acceptance.
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Let me answer the member's remaining questions as clearly as I can. It was only for reasons of time that I did not address those parts.
Regarding what the incentives entail and exactly how we should handle questions about incentives, I cannot be clearer than to say that it is being prepared within the Government Offices. I cannot anticipate those processes, so to speak.
Then there was the question of this with the short term and why we point out that in the short term it is very important to expand wind power. Yes, but it is because it is fast to build wind power. But there is also another factor that makes wind power unique - there is a difference there compared to, for example, nuclear power. It is about the operating life. This is the member certainly well aware of. But it is not that wind power is here to stay forever, rather wind turbines have an operating life of 20-25 years. Nuclear power does not. Nuclear power has been pushing on since the 80s in Sweden. It is still running at full speed, even though it obviously also has an operating life.
It is simply for this reason that we refer to it being important to expand wind power in the short term. It is because it goes quickly, and we need clean electricity now. That is the reason we refer to short-term. But there are also the physical realities, such as that there is a shorter operating life for land-based wind power compared to, for example, nuclear power. It is precisely for that reason we need both.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.