A big problem with the "green energy transition" is that we're more than happy to build large wind-parks and promote solar (well, not in Sweden so much, it's dark in the winter), but we build little to no storage for it where surplus energy can be stored.
Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
51–60 of 129 posts
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#52This blame game is all about supporting current political narratives about nuclear power etc. It's not really about the energy crisis. Sweden's energy mess is all about 'free markets'. Back in the old days the state-run energy companies in Sweden produced an overabundance of electricity, mostly from hydro, making Sweden one of the cheapest electricity countries in the world. It was really common to replace wood burne…
It's the same situation as Norway. We also have a lot of hydro electricity, but the politicians decided to join the European energy market, and the prices have gone through the roof. I don't understand why the Germans closed down nuclear power plants without also building a viable alternative. There are lots of people in Sweden and Norway that don't have a lot of money, and have to skip showers and live in the cold b…
Germany has a viable alternative.
Renewable energy with large scale gas power plants (and lots of other types of storage/temporary energy sources and coal for now).
It's just that energy is cheap when renewables are strong and high when they are not (and have to be filled with gas (green in the future), nuclear and coal, which is expensive and partly will be even more expensive in the future, thanks to CO2 pricing (which is good).
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#53How hard it is to build North South transfer capacity? I mean intra-Sweden capacity. My understanding is that Finland can buy power from the north and then move it to south effectively... And we don't even produce that power...
Building and reinforcing HVDC interconnects is happening all over Europe now. Certainly part of the solution. Note that the transformer shortage makes that more difficult.
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#54In Sweden, I've been in contact with several companies and associations which are raising small solar farms and selling stocks on them (so, there is a primary market for stocks on renewables). Investment is affordable and transparent and it feels "grass-roots democratic". The problem with solar farms is that this time of the year, they don't produce power. The only green alternative that would produce power is nuclear, and that one is out of reach for small private investors.... I don't even know if nuclear power stocks would be available in a secondary market .
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#55Title is misleading. She criticizes Swedish energy policy. Her gripe with Germany is that they only have one price zone.
So it's clickbait about a polarizing issue of nuclear. In that case this is actually a fair criticism. There is a lot of talk within Germany that this should change, and there should be multiple zones. A lot here means "people in the energy business have talked about it for some time". I believe the northern states have already requested it, but states like Bayern are very much against.
The main issue is that on occasion the markets get out of whack, the price is cheap because a lot of renewable energy is produced in the north, but there isn't enough capacity to transport it to the south. There they then have to fire up e.g. coal plants but this gets paid with other mechanisms and doesn't affect the price. At the same time they refuse to invest in grid upgrades, so they have low transmission costs as well, and also block windmills etc. So in a lot of ways they get to have their cake and eat it.
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#56Swedish government: "We'll only use electric cars!" Also swedish government: "Please don't vacuum or do laundry on cold days when everyone has extra heaters on" Also swedish government: "Everyone's income is public record!" Also swedish government: "We'll give money to people with large homes. The larger the home the more money they will get, because they have more costs for heating." Also swedish government: "This m…
Sounds like The Netherlands. Hypocrisy. White supremacy. Living off of the image of a before time. Corrupt yet not willing to admit it. Blaming everything on immigrants. I live in NL and a lot of what you say about Sweden sounds very similar.
Almost every violent street crime, street robbery, or armed robbery is perpetrated by people with some form of immigrant background. Both in the NL and in Sweden. (I'm a swede living in the NL).
Also western supremacy (the notion that western culture is superior in the world) is not the same as white supremacy.
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#57Would have been a great opportunity to make money then by exporting their own nuclear power... if they hadn't shut a bunch of it down. Then they could have chosen to refund their own consumers, if that's what they wanted.
As you can see in France, you don't make money with nuclear power. Nuclear power is basically taking a loan (national security and trash which has to be stored at least thousands of years) with a huge risk (nuclear disaster like Chernobyl or worse).
France is literally making billions by exporting in electricity.
https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/electricity/r...
It's France 9th biggest export.
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#58In Sweden, I've been in contact with several companies and associations which are raising small solar farms and selling stocks on them (so, there is a primary market for stocks on renewables). Investment is affordable and transparent and it feels "grass-roots democratic". The problem with solar farms is that this time of the year, they don't produce power. The only green alternative that would produce power is nuclea…
What about wind power which is strong in winter?
What about energy storage systems, e.g. using green gas?
There seem to be more green options than nuclear power.
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#59This blame game is all about supporting current political narratives about nuclear power etc. It's not really about the energy crisis. Sweden's energy mess is all about 'free markets'. Back in the old days the state-run energy companies in Sweden produced an overabundance of electricity, mostly from hydro, making Sweden one of the cheapest electricity countries in the world. It was really common to replace wood burne…
Which privatisations are the cause of this energy conundrum?
When infrastructure is privatized, they become for-profit enterprises. Things like energy and clean water should not be for-profit.
Re: Swedish minister eyes energy crisis steps, blames German nuclear phase-out
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Enough time? A nuclear reactor takes much longer than she's been at the office to build, and the Germans would still siphon off most of that electricity driving the price high nevertheless. Wind obviously wouldn't solve it (since, you know, the energy prices were so high because the wind didn't blow). The other actual solution would be something drastic like break away from EU energy market, is that what you're sugge…
The more obvious answer would have been to invest in national infrastructure to connect the hydro in the north to the consumers in the south rather than nuclear. Either way, she's responsible. The Germans are not. Their actions are an external factor she should have compensated for.
As others have commented on, it's not enough to just lay new cables and the lack of nuclear energy (or hydro or coal...) in the south is why the energy from the north can't reach the south.