Ei R2026:06 Nettonollteknik och Regulatoriska Sandlådor (2026)

Ei’s final report (June 2026) delivering the government assignment in Ei’s 2026 regleringsbrev (decision 18 December 2025) on regulatory sandboxes for net-zero technology under the EU Net-Zero Industry Act (Regulation 2024/1735) — the outcome of the deliverable previously tracked only via Source - Ei Regulatoriska Sandlådor Nettonollteknik Uppdrag (2026).

Report number: Ei R2026:06

Legal basis: Regeringsuppdrag per 2026 regleringsbrev (dnr KN2025/02354 delvis, KN2025/02401); EU Regulation 2024/1735 (nettonollförordningen), esp. Art. 4 (technology list), Art. 33 (regulatory sandboxes)

Deadline: Extended to 20 June 2026 (from original 20 May 2026)

Related: Source - Ei Regulatoriska Sandlådor Nettonollteknik Uppdrag (2026) (Feb 2026 assignment announcement)

Key findings

Method: open web survey to market actors, an external reference group (one physical + one digital meeting), an internal reference group, plus experience carried over from Ei’s own 2023 sandbox project (Ei R2023:03) and its innovationscenter.

Net-zero technologies within Ei’s remit: of the 19 technologies listed in Art. 4 of the regulation, only a limited subset falls directly within Ei’s domain — those tightly integrated with electricity/gas infrastructure: grid technology, renewable-energy technology, energy storage, and (eventually) hydrogen. Most others sit earlier in the value chain (R&D/manufacturing) and only become Ei’s concern once they mature enough to affect grid function or market regulation.

Two prioritized policy areas for sandboxes — chosen because both sit at the intersection of fast tech development, heavy investment need, and regulation still under construction:

1. Connection and transmission capacity — grid capacity is today’s central bottleneck for electrification and net-zero-tech siting (battery factories, electrolysers, industrial electrification). Ei flags exploring the N-1 criterion, network tariffs, and congestion-income use as areas for sandbox-style guidance.
2. Hydrogen — no Swedish national regulatory framework exists yet beyond the already-in-force EU gas market regulation provisions; Ei sees sandbox-style guidance (and, if needed, exemptions under the still-pending gasmarknadslagen) as a way to lower entry barriers ahead of a Swedish hydrogen market.

Ei’s institutional position — guidance over exemptions: Ei’s central conclusion is that the regulation’s aims can largely be met through expanded guidance and dialogue via innovation centers, rather than actual regulatory carve-outs. Evidence cited: UK Ofgem’s “Fast, Frank, Feedback” service received 430 inquiries but resulted in exemptions for only ~10 projects; Ei’s own innovationscenter (since March 2024) has logged only ~50 inquiries and has not yet identified a clear need for exemptions.

Ei’s proposed six-part national structure:

1. Kontaktpunkt (contact point) — strategic/coordinating function handling sandbox calls-for-applications; Ei suggests Vinnova given its cross-sectoral innovation mandate, though notes Regeringskansliet could alternatively anchor it
2. Samverkansaccelerator (collaboration accelerator) — the competent authorities convened as needed to handle cross-sectoral issues; Ei proposes Accelerationskontoret as convener
3. Behöriga myndigheter (competent authorities) — assess applications, draft plans, supervise testing within their own domains
4. Innovationscenter at each competent authority, for guidance-first engagement
5. Policydrivna regulatoriska sandlådor (policy-driven sandboxes) — time-limited calls combining top-down policy focus with bottom-up input from innovation-center inquiries; can be exemption-granting where a clear need is identified
6. Referensgrupp — industry/academia/other-agency representatives feeding in needs and market perspective

Critique of Vinnova’s parallel May 2026 proposals: these are two separate Vinnova documents, both delivered around 20 May 2026, proposing different structural models — this page previously conflated them as one proposal. Vinnova’s original implementation report (dnr 2024-03522) proposed Vinnova itself as kontaktpunkt under a “huvudansvarig myndighet” model, and it is this report that Ei challenges for proposing a sandbox-application rejection carry no right of appeal — Ei says the consequences of removing appeal rights need dedicated study, not just an efficiency assumption. Vinnova’s separate, revised structure proposal (dnr 2025-03959) instead proposed Tillväxtverket as contact point plus a dedicated innovation-center coordinator role for itself and Tillväxtverket; it is this revised proposal that Ei is skeptical of on added-value grounds — sees limited value in a separate coordination function (believes the samverkansaccelerator already covers this) and questions the need for a mandatory “utmaningsformulerings-workshop” per application (too many parties for the value delivered).

Concrete market-identified regulatory blockers (from the open survey) tied to specific ellagen provisions: virtual energy sharing (blocked by absence of legislation permitting virtual — as opposed to physical — sharing between meters); flexibility/conditional-contract products; storage/resilience services offered as network services (currently not considered permitted nätverksamhet); EV charging infrastructure at network substations (unclear whether permitted nätverksamhet); TOTEX/kapitalbas treatment of higher-cost net-zero materials (no cost recovery under current revenue-cap model); refurbishment/repair/recycling (constrained by depreciation-period rules).

Ei’s own innovationscenter case-load 2024–2025: ~50 inquiries total; top actor categories were DSOs (26.7% in 2024) and, in 2025, an increasingly diverse “other” category (19%) including facility owners, consultants, battery-storage advisors; top subject categories flexibility, distribution, energy communities (2024), with virtual energy sharing and regulatory sandboxes themselves appearing as 2025 topics.

No decision yet on Ei as behörig myndighet: at time of writing, no EU implementing acts (genomförandeakter) under Art. 33 had been adopted, and the Swedish government had not yet formally designated Ei (or anyone) as behörig myndighet. Ei’s structural proposal is contingent on that designation; it recommends a follow-up government assignment to develop innovation-center methodology across all competent authorities if and when designated.

Relevance to existing wiki topics

• Ei — this is the concrete outcome of the assignment in Ei’s 2026 regleringsbrev already documented on the Ei page; resolves the open “outcome of Ei’s 20 May 2026 deliverable” data gap
• Accelerationskontoret — new entity page created from this source; proposed convener of the samverkansaccelerator
• Congestion Management / grid-connection-capacity topics — Ei’s #1 prioritized sandbox policy area is connection/transmission capacity, directly overlapping with existing congestion-management and connection-queue content
• Hydrogen-market pages (if/when created) — Ei’s #2 prioritized area; ties to the pending gasmarknadslagen and Ei’s June 2025 “gasrapporten” (Ei R2025:10, not yet ingested as a wiki source)