Svk Forskning Uppdrag 3.5 (2026)

Government assignment report (regleringsbrevet för budgetår 2026, uppdrag 3.5). Submitted to Regeringskansliet (Klimat- och näringslivsdepartementet) on 12 June 2026. Ärende nr: SVK 2026/466. 48 pages. Swedish only.

Assignment basis: Regleringsbrev 2026, uppdrag 3.5 Forskning

Summary

The report fulfils three sub-tasks set in Svk’s 2026 regleringsbrev:

1. Describe the significance of Svk’s self-funded research for its operations
2. Analyse how externally funded research (Energimyndigheten) can be better utilized
3. Describe how the two funding streams complement each other

Main conclusion: Svk’s own research is operationally close, concretely valuable, and mandated by law. External research from Energimyndigheten is relevant but not systematically utilized — a structural issue requiring a more disciplined process.

Research and innovation framework

Legal mandate

Förordning (2025:782) med instruktion för Affärsverket svenska kraftnät mandates Svk to promote research and development of significance for operations, including demonstration of new technology, and to promote research, development, and knowledge dissemination in the dam safety area.

Budget

Four R&D areas

The report names four areas tied to operational needs — Nätteknik, hållbarhet och säkerhet, Elmarknad, Systemutmaningar, Digitalisering — but does not define each area’s scope; the examples below are the report’s illustrations, not an area-by-area mapping.

Research types

International cooperation

Svk participates in: ENTSO-E Research, Development and Innovation Committee (RDIC); Nordic R&D Group (SE, NO, FI, DK TSOs); CIGRE; SEK Svensk Elstandard; IEEE; Energiforsk (Svk is a part-owner).

Key research examples and results

Nätteknik

• Arbete med spänning (AMS) — Live-line working methods (maintenance, measurement, repair without outages). Roughly a hundred such measures per year are estimated to be needed; planned outages for step/touch-voltage measurements alone exceed 200 days per year. Value lies in avoiding planned interruptions (lost transfer capacity, market and operational-security impact). Developed with contractors, industry and other Nordic system operators.
• Drone- and sensor-based condition monitoring — Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) via optical fiber for cable and substation monitoring. Enables condition-based maintenance, early fault detection.
• Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) — Capacity assessment based on actual weather conditions rather than static assumptions. Studies and demonstrations showed capacity assessments based on actual weather give a more nuanced and accurate basis than static assumptions, clarifying the method’s potential and limits and strengthening the basis for how and when it could be used in operation and planning. The report does not state whether DLR is operationally deployed.
• Flödesstyrande utrustning (power flow controllers) — Analysis shows potential to redistribute power flows between lines and relieve bottlenecks; pilot studies recommended.
• High-temperature conductors (högtemperaturlinor) — External research led to concrete investment decisions; in one case where a line was a bottleneck, the research showed capacity could be raised by re-conductoring, later carried out as a construction project.
• Energy storage for transmission capacity — Analysed as complement to grid reinforcement; value is highly location- and system-condition dependent; cannot replace grid investment as general solution.

Elmarknad / Digitalisering

• AI-based forecasting — Implemented as operational decision support in the control room: wind power, consumption, and rotational energy (inertia) forecasts using AI + physical models. Nordic TSO collaboration. Enables proactive reserve activation and shift from reactive to predictive system operation.
• Market design research — Machine learning and market design analysis used in FCR product design and implementation timelines.
• Meteorology and wind power — Industrial doctoral students; improved SMHI data exchange; enhanced control room weather handling.

Energimyndigheten relationship

• Energimyndigheten finances broad technology development and demonstration (call-based programs, competence centres).
• Svk’s own research is operations-close: test, verification, and implementation in the Swedish power system.
• Identified gap: uptake of external research is not always systematic — in practice largely ad hoc and dependent on individual initiatives. The report calls for established processes for identifying relevant projects early, participating where strategically justified, and translating results into operations, and notes Svk has already been developing its working methods and coordination in this direction.
• Recommendations: more structured dialogue on research needs relevant to transmission and system operation; Svk role in shaping Energimyndigheten program calls; more active participation in strategic investments.
• The two streams are complementary: Energimyndigheten covers knowledge breadth and tech development; Svk covers operational translation and system-specific implementation.

Relevance to existing wiki topics

• Svenska kraftnät: budget and R&D structure; Förordning 2025:782 (new instruction); four R&D areas
• Balancing Markets: external research on market design and machine learning that influenced FCR design and rollout timing; AI forecasting as operational tool (the report calls the forecasts a central design prerequisite of the Nordic balancing model)
• Congestion Management: DLR as congestion tool; power flow control equipment; energilager analysis for transmission capacity
• Digitalization and Smart Grid: AI/ML forecasting in the control room; DTS/DAS condition monitoring; digital substations (process bus); ENTSO-E RDIC participation
• Flexibility: explicit research priority — methods for identifying, valuing, and activating flexibility resources; market model development across timehorizons and geographic scales