Source - Svk Anslutningsprocessen Rapport (2026)

Type: Government assignment report (57 pp) Author: Svenska kraftnät Reference: Dnr 2025/5008 Date: 2026-04-29 Title: Se över anslutningsprocessen till elsystemet och tillträdet till elmarknaden

Summary

Svenska kraftnät’s report on a government assignment to review the connection process to the electricity system and access to the electricity market. The report proposes significant structural reforms to how TSO-level grid connections are allocated, covering both the physical queue problem and the broader question of how new large-scale electricity users should contribute to system balance.

Key claims and proposals

Anvisningssystem with kapacitetszoner (Chapter 4)

Svk proposes introducing an anvisningssystem (allocation system) with kapacitetszoner (capacity zones) for certain customer categories — extending the existing offshore wind allocation model to land-based connections.

A kapacitetszon is a geographically defined area around one or more transmission connection points, with:

• Reserved capacity for a specific customer category or for connections providing system benefit
• A kapacitetskarta showing available capacity at current, 5-year, and 10-year horizons
• Defined maturity criteria (intressentpooler) through which competing projects advance

Intressentpooler replace queue logic: projects within a zone compete on tillståndsmässig mognad (permit maturity) rather than arrival order. For customer categories where permits are unnecessary or insufficient as a criterion (e.g., data centers), supplementary åtaganden (binding commitments) serve as selection criteria. Svk explicitly rejects auctions of connection rights as disadvantageous to smaller actors and likely to create a secondary capacity market.

The anvisningssystem is intended to generate locational signals — guiding specific customer types toward connection points that are systemically beneficial (i.e., where surplus generation exists or where local flexibility can reduce transmission needs). A fictive example given: a large-scale hydrogen production zone located near generation surplus areas with conditions on flexibility provision and voltage regulation capability.

Requirements for fossil-free production (Chapter 5)

Svk proposes investigating whether large-scale new electricity users should be required to contribute new fossil-free production as a condition of connection (e.g., via a PPA or equivalent binding agreement). This addresses the structural risk that new electricity-intensive industries establish themselves faster than new generation is built, creating a growing national energy deficit.

Proposed criteria: (a) annual energy from new fossil-free production matching a specified percentage of consumption; (b) production with a similar load profile, particularly during high-load periods; (c) geographic proximity to reduce transmission needs; (d) potential to limit the requirement to high-speed, price-insensitive categories (data centers named) where the risk of displacement of traditional industry is highest.

Svk notes it has not completed a legal or economic feasibility analysis of such requirements and intends to continue analysis after the report.

Coordination improvements (Chapter 6)

• Linked applications (matchning): Production and consumption applicants can file jointly, sharing capacity costs and reducing grid expansion needs. Svk will develop principles for affärsmatchning (business matching).
• Ansökningsplattform: Svk reverses its 2024 position (opposing a central application platform in its remiss response to Ei R2024:05) and will now investigate whether a central platform for information exchange about connection queue applicants would facilitate matching. Stakeholder dialogues confirmed demand for increased transparency.
• Tidig guidande dialog: Svk will introduce early guidance dialogue with large prospective applicants before a formal application is submitted to the regional grid company.
• Obligatorisk trepartsdialog: Mandatory three-way dialogue between Svk, the regional grid company, and its large customer will be introduced for major connection applications, to clarify prerequisites and alternatives.

PPAs as verification of connection conditions (Chapter 7)

Long-term PPAs (or equivalent binding agreements) can serve as verification that the conditions set within the anvisningssystem are met — e.g., demonstrating that new fossil-free production will be added, with geographic proximity, and temporal profile matching. Svk states that such agreements do not in themselves constitute an undue burden, since the conditions they prove would require commercial agreements to exist in any case. Business confidentiality aspects are acknowledged as unresolved.

Capacity thresholds and harmonization (Chapter 8)

• The existing Svk planning thresholds (100 MW for a new 220 kV station; 300 MW for a new 400 kV station) are not hard thresholds for direct application to Svk — they are internal planning benchmarks for when grid reinforcement becomes feasible.
• All applications must still go through the lowest appropriate voltage level first, consistent with Ei’s ställningstagande 2025:05 (Hänvisning till underliggande nät).
• Svk recommends Ei analyse whether ellagen requires amendment to ensure the “särskilda skäl” standard for referral is consistently applied — a non-binding ställningstagande cannot ensure system-wide compliance.
• Svk recommends Energiföretagen develop a standardized referral template to supplement Branschpraxis Mognadsgrad, ensuring consistent handling of cross-voltage-level referrals across all grid companies.

New principle for capacity allocation based on actual utilization profiles

Svk and regional grid companies have begun work on principles for effective capacity allocation based on actual utilization profiles, not contracted maximum capacity. This addresses situations where combined solar + wind capacity is over-reserved (full peak of each), locking out other applicants from capacity that is rarely simultaneously used. Principles will be published after a branschremiss, expected during 2026.

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