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Introduction

Swedish power system has been described by Byman Karin, IVA as “an integrated part of the Nordic one and there is constant energy exchange between the countries” (6). The power systems complement one another since the power system are not the same in the countries. Exchange of energy with some nearby countries within the continent also takes place. Energy exchanging occurs every time having transactions taking place in the Nordic countries. Electrical energy trading takes place in European energy market having the transmission capacity taking place through cables. The main source of energy in Sweden is the Nuclear power because the study from the Sweden Energy Agency indicates that 80 percent of electricity production in Sweden is accounted by Nuclear power. About 10 percent is accounted by CHP and Wind power.

Electricity Generation mix

Different energy sources have got different traits hence work best when combined with each other. Electricity generation mix gives a representation of how the various energy sources are combined to give an installed capacity. The stability and delivery reliability of the energy system is influenced by the total capacity of the different energy sources.

The table and the graph below illustrates the installed capacity of some energy sources in the different years starting 1996 to 2014. Source: Swedish Energy Agency

Power system network

The Swedish electricity network is composed of cables which are about 564,000km.The electricity network is subdivided in three distinct classes which are the local networks, regional networks and transmission network. Each of the networks serves its own purpose. The trasmisional network usually supply power at a high voltage over a long distance, the regional network supply power to the local networks whereas the local networks supply electricity the consumers

Power system network can be represented using the single line diagram, a single line diagram is symbolic representation of power system. A single line diagram of a power system indicates the network of the main connections having components arranged in systematic manner. The data values are also indicated in the systems components, the data values may be voltage, output values resistance and also reactance. On a single line diagram it is usually not a must to indicate all the components. An example of a component which need not to be included in the system load but is essential for cautionary purposes is the circuit breaker. For a single line diagram, the components of the system are drawn is usually sketched in form of their respective symbols, which are typically; Transformer and Generator connection, delta and neutral earthing & star. The circuit breaker are shown by blocks which are rectangular in shape.

The diagrammatic representation shown below shows the single line diagram of a block system. Source: power network system engineering

Source

Electricity market

The Swedish electricity network market is operating as a monopoly. For past 15- years, Consumption of electricity has decreased greatly, but starting the year 2015 the consumption rate has increased so much that Sweden has reported higher level of electricity since that time up to no. Statistics from the energy agencies of Sweden shows that the amount of electricity consumed summed to a total of 137 TWh for year 2015. Surely this is a very slight increase as compared to the previous year where the record shows that the consumption was about 135TWh. In the year 2001 electricity consumption was at its highest level about 150 TWh, after which from that period the consumption rate has decreased so much but as from 2015, electricity consumption has increased drastically, whereby the consumption of electricity mainly occurs in the residential areas of individuals and the service sector and also the industrial sectors.

The rate of annual consumption is shown in the following table as from the year 1970

Source: Swedish Energy Agency

Several factors have impacted on the rate at which energy is being consumed in the above sectors, factors such as changes in the population has influenced consumption rate in such a way that an increasing population has led to increased rate of consumption of electricity. Another factor that has influenced consumption of electricity is the structural advancement of different industries, electricity being the main source of heat in Sweden has impacted in its consumption rate. The other factors is the changes in the economy and technology.

Renewable energy

Swedish electricity production majorly relies on nuclear power and hydro power, during the 2000s renewable energy has expended greatly. Renewable capacity which are installed globally has shown a drastic increase since the year 2010, the records of 2017 indicated renewable capacity amounting to 167 510 was installed across the region, wind and solar shown the largest rise.

Renewable energy generation from wind power has steadily increased over the past years, approximately it is equivalent to one tenth of the total generation of electricity. The source is advantageous as it is giving out large volume of energy, the limitation it faces is that the output of its power is limited.

Solar energy is also continuously developing because of the reduction in the purchasing price of the solar power modules. Personal interest of ones owns production of electricity among individuals and other property owners has also impacted on the growth of the use of solar power. Solar energy is advantageous because it produces most energy during day time when the consumption of electricity is at high level by different sectors and individuals. On the other hand, during winter seasons when the load peaks are a bit higher the generation of power is limited hence it is not given any form power value.

“Sweden has ambitious goals for energy and climate adaptation. It has set a target of 50% more efficient energy use by 2030, and 100% renewable energy production by 2040.” (Gray Alex, 004). This is one of the greatest ambition which the Energy Agency forecasted as indicated in the following graph; source: Swedish Energy Agency

Sweden is focusing at archiving a bigger target, aiming at adding at least 18 TWh of energy coming 2030. Considering the amount of the wind turbines already constructed and developed, it is clearly evident that Sweden is really dedicated to reach its 2030, if possible coming the end of this year. By the end of 2018, Sweden is targeting to make installation of about 3,681 wind turbines, with a capacity of 7,506 MW. It is estimated that the renewable energy source will be making a production of 19.8 TWh amount of electricity, this is a future goal which the energy agency claims will be executed with much effort. The Agency acknowledges that, the future target which are formulated for renewable energy source production have a great possibility of being archived during the specified period of time, this is true because there are already around 15.2 TWh of renewable energy projects undergoing construction today, having 11.6 TWh as the wind power. Selin Markus, analyst at Swedish agency argues that, “After the decisions on the increase in ambition was reached, a lot of investment decisions have been taken and many wind turbines are set to be completed in the upcoming years,” (3).

Summary and conclusion

Based on electrical power system of Sweden it is observant that many structural advancement and changes are taking place in the European countries, the small scale power plants are taking over the power plants which are centrally located, this particular trend is clearly evident in Sweden taking a good example of the fast growing production of the wind power while the nuclear power tends to be decreasing in its profitability. The big challenge that the electricity market in Sweden is going through is on the management of the rising of the share variable and intermittent generation of power in the system, it has also been forecasted that in the coming next 10-15 years the nuclear reactors will be decommissioned.

The most important property of the various renewable energy sources depends on whether the electricity generation can be planned and its reliability, or if the production can only be generated at certain weather conditions. The weather energy sources of production are variable since they depend on the variation of the weather conditions. Hydropower is the most common energy system used method in generation of energy. It gives almost half of the Sweden’s energy load production and it is the well efficient energy balancing resource. ‘’Modern hydropower turbines have an efficiency level of 92–96 percent.’’ (Elforsk 2014).

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