Sweden started an oil-fired reserve power plant after Poland said it needed help from its neighbors to meet soaring electricity demand as freezing weather spread across Europe.
The plant in Karlshamn, which is part of a winter reserve, was ordered to start after Poland asked for assistance to cover a deficit of as much as 1,700 megawatts for some hours on Monday, the Swedish grid manager said in a statement. The two countries are connected by a 600-megawatt direct link.
“Even if Sweden has relatively high consumption on Monday, it will be possible to support Poland,” Pontus de Mare, head of operations at Svenska Kraftnat, said in the statement.
Polish power prices rose to 240.59 euros ($272) per megawatt-hours for Monday, the highest since February launch of its day-ahead market on Nord Pool, with temperatures in Warsaw expected to fall to -9 degrees Celsius this week. Prices in the south of Sweden, where the Karlshamn plant in located, surged to a record 290.06 euros. Stockholm will see temperatures as low as -15 celsius this week.
The Uniper SE-operated plant was due to produce 330 megawatts between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday, according to a filing with Nord Pool.
Europe’s energy crunch saw the Karlshamn facility — usually the last reserve in the Swedish power system — already pressed into service in September after record power prices spilled over into Scandinavia.
The only country not hurting overtly from the power crisis is France, who on the other hand is hurting from compensating for everyone else’s poor planning, coal-huggers and windmill-lovers alike.
Sweden is importing from Poland and Denmark, though
How_dare_you.jpeg
Thank you from Poland
Interestingly, Poland also exported electricity to Germany this morning. But it’s reversed now.
Thank you Swedish Green party, this environmentally friendly option would not be possible without you. /s
I have never understood why the “environmental” party here in Sweden loves fossil fuel so much.
Nuclear is the solution.
European electricity market has proven to be an utter disaster. Prices have quadrupled, in some places octupled (8x) in a year and on some hours crashing above €1,000/MWh from UK to Baltics. The CO2 quotas have skyrocketed, imported gas is more expensive it has ever been and this is what many “reserve production” relies on, while renewables simply stand idle because of cold weather.
It’s a mire of political absurd theatre, unbalanced production capabilities and the shocking part is that the European Commission is literally doing nothing. Just waiting for the winter to pass. Honestly, if the EU can’t even handle such basic life needs as power supply, I have a hard time understanding why it even exists.
Last week: Sweden wants to ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns
Thank you Sweden!
r/europe at it again
Before people start saying “But Sweden has a lack of electricity themselves!” or “But muh green politics!?”.
In very simple terms:
Europe is connected to more or less one grid. That grid needs to maintain a frequency of 50hz +/- 0.1hz (although at a steady deviation of 0.1 there are already brown pants in control rooms across europe) or the lights will start flickering and precision machinery will become very sad. Ultimately if things are not rectified the grid will shut down and you’re no longer being kept warm.
This isn’t out of the kindness of our hearts, this is because if Polands grid starts tanking (less electricity = lower frequency) and no one is around to pump enough power in to it, there’s going to be a frequency collapse that affects more countries than Poland.
You can disconnect parts of the grid to isolate the issue and prevent a frequency emergency, but this is not something you want to happen.
This is why Russias reduction in gas exports is dangerous to a lot more of Europe than the east.
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Sweden started an oil-fired reserve power plant after Poland said it needed help from its neighbors to meet soaring electricity demand as freezing weather spread across Europe.
The plant in Karlshamn, which is part of a winter reserve, was ordered to start after Poland asked for assistance to cover a deficit of as much as 1,700 megawatts for some hours on Monday, the Swedish grid manager said in a statement. The two countries are connected by a 600-megawatt direct link.
“Even if Sweden has relatively high consumption on Monday, it will be possible to support Poland,” Pontus de Mare, head of operations at Svenska Kraftnat, said in the statement.
Polish power prices rose to 240.59 euros ($272) per megawatt-hours for Monday, the highest since February launch of its day-ahead market on Nord Pool, with temperatures in Warsaw expected to fall to -9 degrees Celsius this week. Prices in the south of Sweden, where the Karlshamn plant in located, surged to a record 290.06 euros. Stockholm will see temperatures as low as -15 celsius this week.
The Uniper SE-operated plant was due to produce 330 megawatts between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday, according to a filing with Nord Pool.
Europe’s energy crunch saw the Karlshamn facility — usually the last reserve in the Swedish power system — already pressed into service in September after record power prices spilled over into Scandinavia.
The only country not hurting overtly from the power crisis is France, who on the other hand is hurting from compensating for everyone else’s poor planning, coal-huggers and windmill-lovers alike.
Sweden is importing from Poland and Denmark, though
How_dare_you.jpeg
Thank you from Poland
Interestingly, Poland also exported electricity to Germany this morning. But it’s reversed now.
https://www.agora-energiewende.de/service/agorameter/chart/power_import_export/29.11.2021/06.12.2021/today/
Thank you Swedish Green party, this environmentally friendly option would not be possible without you. /s
I have never understood why the “environmental” party here in Sweden loves fossil fuel so much.
Nuclear is the solution.
European electricity market has proven to be an utter disaster. Prices have quadrupled, in some places octupled (8x) in a year and on some hours crashing above €1,000/MWh from UK to Baltics. The CO2 quotas have skyrocketed, imported gas is more expensive it has ever been and this is what many “reserve production” relies on, while renewables simply stand idle because of cold weather.
It’s a mire of political absurd theatre, unbalanced production capabilities and the shocking part is that the European Commission is literally doing nothing. Just waiting for the winter to pass. Honestly, if the EU can’t even handle such basic life needs as power supply, I have a hard time understanding why it even exists.
Last week: Sweden wants to ban Bitcoin mining due to environmental concerns
Thank you Sweden!
r/europe at it again
Before people start saying “But Sweden has a lack of electricity themselves!” or “But muh green politics!?”.
In very simple terms:
Europe is connected to more or less one grid. That grid needs to maintain a frequency of 50hz +/- 0.1hz (although at a steady deviation of 0.1 there are already brown pants in control rooms across europe) or the lights will start flickering and precision machinery will become very sad. Ultimately if things are not rectified the grid will shut down and you’re no longer being kept warm.
This isn’t out of the kindness of our hearts, this is because if Polands grid starts tanking (less electricity = lower frequency) and no one is around to pump enough power in to it, there’s going to be a frequency collapse that affects more countries than Poland.
You can disconnect parts of the grid to isolate the issue and prevent a frequency emergency, but this is not something you want to happen.
This is why Russias reduction in gas exports is dangerous to a lot more of Europe than the east.