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ENERGY

How Sweden wants to ramp up nuclear energy production in next 25 years

Sweden's government pledged to make the country 'a strong nuclear nation again' as it presented a new plan for energy production.

Published: 17 November 2023 06:25 CET
How Sweden wants to ramp up nuclear energy production in next 25 years
Forsmark, one of Sweden's existing nuclear power plants. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

The government presented a new roadmap outlining increased production equivalent to two nuclear reactors by 2035 at the latest, with a “massive expansion” to follow by 2045.

Energy minister Ebba Busch said the plan would be a further step towards Sweden “becoming a strong nuclear nation again”.

“In the next 25 years, we must double Sweden’s electricity production,” she added at a press conference.

The government insisted the plan would also ensure the success of its energy transition.

It estimates the country will need the equivalent of 10 new conventional nuclear reactors by 2045 to achieve these goals.

Sweden currently operates six reactors in three different power stations, with the government announcing in August that it would remove obstacles to the construction of new reactors.

Finance minister Elisabeth Svantesson said the cost of the project would be looked into “as quickly as possible”.

Greenpeace spokesperson Rolf Lindahl warned of possible spiralling costs, pointing to similar projects in France, Finland and the UK which had “suffered major cost increases and delays”.

The announcement comes as EU countries prepare for another winter with reduced supplies of Russian gas, which has led electricity prices to soar.

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NORTHVOLT

Northvolt warns work permit salary threshold could jeopardise Sweden’s green transition

Sweden’s minimum salary threshold for work permits has increased by almost 120 percent in less than a year, and there are plans to increase it again to the median salary next summer. Battery manufacturers Northvolt warns that this could stop the company from hiring and retaining key workers.

Published: 3 July 2024 12:32 CEST
Northvolt warns work permit salary threshold could jeopardise Sweden's green transition

“Northvolt’s extensive labour requirements in northern Sweden cannot currently be met by permanently established workers in Sweden or within the EU,” the company wrote in a response to the government’s proposal to raise the salary threshold to the median salary, currently 35,600 kronor.

“This applies in particular to machine operators and technicians, whose minimum wages under collective bargaining agreements are lower than the median wage, and therefore are particularly vulnerable in this context.”

The EU has highlighted qualified machine operators and technicians as professions which are particularly hard to source within the bloc, meaning companies often have no choice but to source these workers from non-EU countries.

Northvolt has the added complication of being located in northern Sweden, an area which in general often struggles to find key workers in a number of industries, and the company isn’t convinced that enough is being done to fix this.

“Northvolt does not believe that the government and the Public Employment Service’s measures to promote geographic mobility in the Swedish labour market is going to be able to cover the company’s need for labour,” it wrote, while adding that it believes the proposed hike to the work permit salary threshold could have “significant consequences” for its facility in Skellefteå.

“Aside from the direct effects on the company, Northvolt sees a risk that staffing in healthcare, services and infrastructure in northern Sweden could be negatively affected by the salary threshold, which would indirectly affect Northvolt’s expansion.”

In addition to this, the company deems the proposed exemptions to the salary threshold – these would be put forward by the Migration Agency and the Public Employment Service based on professions where there’s a labour shortage – to be insufficient and unpredictable.

Northvolt’s criticism highlighted the fact that the exemptions are based on a model which is currently under development and which may not be ready by the time the law is due to come into force, as well as the fact that professions with a labour shortage will be defined using a so-called SSYK code.

Some key roles for Northvolt to do with battery production do not have one of these codes, as they are relatively new roles.

“It remains to be seen how the proposed model would effectively be able to identify professions with a labour shortage when they don’t have an SSYK code,” the company wrote, adding that this all makes it harder for the company to plan, for example, will an employee who is granted a work permit once be eligible for renewal two years later?

“The employee in that situation would risk being deported from Sweden. If that were to happen, it would be deeply unfair for the employee who has contributed to supporting Swedish society in a role where there is a shortage, and a catastrophe for the employer who has invested years of education and talent in the employee.”

“This lack of predictability can be compared to earlier notorious so-called kompetensutvisningar (talent deportations), and will further complicate the recruitment or necessary talent,” it wrote.

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