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The simplest explanation of why Sweden is not plagued by regular massive blackouts is that your facts, math, and assumptions are wrong/incomplete. Simply put,

The simplest explanation of why Sweden is not plagued by regular massive blackouts is that your facts, math, and assumptions are wrong/incomplete. Simply put, it's not a closed system. Sweden is connected to the rest of Europe. So, German, Danish, British, Norwegian, etc. grids can import and export power as needed. The entire continent of Europe produces wind (and other power) at a pretty steady and predictable pace. Power is big business since selling it in the market is pretty lucrative. And since wind is pretty affordable, a lot of the supply is wind based these days. Basically, Sweden can produce cheap power locally most of the time and import more expensive power when they need to. Having a surplus means they export more power than that they import over time. It's just market dynamics. Because the way weather works, if there is no wind locally, that just means there definitely is some wind elsewhere. That's why Europe gets away with having so much wind power. The amount of wind power it produces fluctuates but not nearly as dramatically as you seem to believe. It's a rapidly growing market because as you note there is plenty of demand for more power. Hence, the rapid roll out of the cheapest way to produce it world wide: wind.

tmikaeld 5y ago
Yes, it is connected, which means that when multiple countries are at a loss, then other can help out - but when all countries area at a loss or when the frequency don't match, which is currently happening, prices sky-rocket, electricity cannot be transported and black-outs are bound to happen unless turning to regional shut-downs. Which, by the way, is what happened in Germany recently [0], they had to be saved by multiple countries, shut down of large industry (Costing a lot in damage) - all to prevent black-outs. How will that be handled when Germany shuts down 10GW of nuclear power 2022, if it's already not enough? If you have 0% wind and you add 0% more wind, you get 0% wind... [0] https://eike-klima-energie.eu/2021/09/05/deutschlands-beinahe-blackout/ https://eike-klima-energie.eu/2021/09/05/deutschlands-beinah... Not sure how different facts would help, when issues are actually happening.
- lima 5y ago
  You probably didn't realize, but EIKE is a right-wing climate change denier "think tank", falsely claiming that antrophogenic climate change does not exist[1]. Their claims are widely discredited and considered pseudoscience[2][3]. The linked article is an alarmist piece about the alleged risks of renewables and does not quote any reliable sources. I couldn't find any independent claim that anything unusual or alarming happened on August 14. Load shedding is a normal procedure and almost certainly didn't cause "a lot of damage" - it's industrial customers buying electricity at a discount in exchange for disconnecting from the grid when needed. This is only done for industrial processes that can be safely interrupted (like aluminium processing plants). If anything, it shows that the mechanism works as intended. There wasn't any notable frequency deviation on Aug 14 in the European grid. All the graphs look normal - there was a ~15 GW deficit in Germany which was compensated[4], well within normal operating parameters. In spite of the increasing complexity of managing the power grid due to renewables (a real problem which requires significant investments to solve), the German power grid is more reliable than ever[5]. [1]: https://eike-klima-energie.eu/die-mission/grundsatzpapier-klima https://eike-klima-energie.eu/die-mission/grundsatzpapier-kl... [2]: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europ%C3%A4isches_Institut_f%C3%BCr_Klima_%26_Energie https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europ%C3%A4isches_Institut_f%C... [3]: https://www.quarks.de/podcast/quarks-science-cops-der-fall-eike-so-dreist-tricksen-klimawandel-verharmloser/ https://www.quarks.de/podcast/quarks-science-cops-der-fall-e... [4]: https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=de&c=DE&week=32&legendItems=11111111111111100&stacking=stacked_absolute_area https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=de&c=DE&... [5]: https://app.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/energie/energiewirtschaft-dauer-der-ausfaelle-auf-rekordtief-das-deutsche-stromnetz-ist-so-zuverlaessig-wie-nie/27541356.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-de-DE&ticket=ST-9678295-m2k2U3L9VJI3exOepQDr-cas01.example.org https://app.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/energie/energiewirt...
  - tmikaeld 5y ago
    Thanks a lot for the clarification, I was unsure if the claims where as bad as they seemed. It IS a problem in Sweden though, since we transport large amounts electricity over an under-dimensioned grid from the far north to south.
    - 5y ago
Gravityloss 5y ago
Nordic countries have had a really advanced electricity trading market for a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Pool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Pool There are custom ERP:s for example that are developed for power companies.
tomp 5y ago
No, the simplest explanation is that they’re supplementing the (unpredictable) “green” power by oil/gas.
natmaka 5y ago
> The entire continent of Europe produces wind (and other power) at a pretty steady and predictable pace Indeed: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/180592/european-cooperation-could-provide-more-stable/ https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/180592/european-cooperation-...

tmikaeld 5y ago

Yes, it is connected, which means that when multiple countries are at a loss, then other can help out - but when all countries area at a loss or when the frequency don't match, which is currently happening, prices sky-rocket, electricity cannot be transported and black-outs are bound to happen unless turning to regional shut-downs. Which, by the way, is what happened in Germany recently [0], they had to be saved by multiple countries, shut down of large industry (Costing a lot in damage) - all to prevent black-outs. How will that be handled when Germany shuts down 10GW of nuclear power 2022, if it's already not enough? If you have 0% wind and you add 0% more wind, you get 0% wind... [0] https://eike-klima-energie.eu/2021/09/05/deutschlands-beinahe-blackout/ https://eike-klima-energie.eu/2021/09/05/deutschlands-beinah... Not sure how different facts would help, when issues are actually happening.

lima 5y ago
You probably didn't realize, but EIKE is a right-wing climate change denier "think tank", falsely claiming that antrophogenic climate change does not exist[1]. Their claims are widely discredited and considered pseudoscience[2][3]. The linked article is an alarmist piece about the alleged risks of renewables and does not quote any reliable sources. I couldn't find any independent claim that anything unusual or alarming happened on August 14. Load shedding is a normal procedure and almost certainly didn't cause "a lot of damage" - it's industrial customers buying electricity at a discount in exchange for disconnecting from the grid when needed. This is only done for industrial processes that can be safely interrupted (like aluminium processing plants). If anything, it shows that the mechanism works as intended. There wasn't any notable frequency deviation on Aug 14 in the European grid. All the graphs look normal - there was a ~15 GW deficit in Germany which was compensated[4], well within normal operating parameters. In spite of the increasing complexity of managing the power grid due to renewables (a real problem which requires significant investments to solve), the German power grid is more reliable than ever[5]. [1]: https://eike-klima-energie.eu/die-mission/grundsatzpapier-klima https://eike-klima-energie.eu/die-mission/grundsatzpapier-kl... [2]: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europ%C3%A4isches_Institut_f%C3%BCr_Klima_%26_Energie https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europ%C3%A4isches_Institut_f%C... [3]: https://www.quarks.de/podcast/quarks-science-cops-der-fall-eike-so-dreist-tricksen-klimawandel-verharmloser/ https://www.quarks.de/podcast/quarks-science-cops-der-fall-e... [4]: https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=de&c=DE&week=32&legendItems=11111111111111100&stacking=stacked_absolute_area https://energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=de&c=DE&... [5]: https://app.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/energie/energiewirtschaft-dauer-der-ausfaelle-auf-rekordtief-das-deutsche-stromnetz-ist-so-zuverlaessig-wie-nie/27541356.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-de-DE&ticket=ST-9678295-m2k2U3L9VJI3exOepQDr-cas01.example.org https://app.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/energie/energiewirt...
- tmikaeld 5y ago
  Thanks a lot for the clarification, I was unsure if the claims where as bad as they seemed. It IS a problem in Sweden though, since we transport large amounts electricity over an under-dimensioned grid from the far north to south.
  - 5y ago

Gravityloss 5y ago

Nordic countries have had a really advanced electricity trading market for a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Pool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Pool There are custom ERP:s for example that are developed for power companies.

tomp 5y ago

No, the simplest explanation is that they’re supplementing the (unpredictable) “green” power by oil/gas.

natmaka 5y ago

> The entire continent of Europe produces wind (and other power) at a pretty steady and predictable pace Indeed: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/180592/european-cooperation-could-provide-more-stable/ https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/180592/european-cooperation-...