Sweden
Table 12: Key renewable and biomass energy statistics, Sweden
|
Electricity from biomass |
Heating and cooling from biomass |
% of total energy |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mtoe |
% of total electricity |
% of ren electricity |
Mtoe |
% of total heat/cool |
% of ren heat/cool |
Biomass |
All renewables |
|
|
2009 |
0.87 |
7.2% |
12.3% |
7.11 |
51.9% |
81.6% |
23.8% |
48.2% |
|
2016 |
0.84 |
6.8% |
10.4% |
7.85 |
54.7% |
79.8% |
24.7% |
53.8% |
|
Annual average growth |
-0.5% |
1.4% |
0.5% |
1.6% |
||||
|
2020 target |
49.0% |
|||||||
Source: Eurostat SHARES database, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/data/shares.
Note: Biomass as a percentage of total energy does not include solid biomass used for transport fuel (volumes are not yet significant).
Demand for woody biomass
Sweden is a major user of biomass for energy, ranking third in the EU in 2016 for total power and heat from biomass, behind Germany and France, and second as a proportion of total power and heat, behind Finland. The country also has the highest Renewable Energy Directive target, at 49 per cent by 2020, which it reached in 2011; it is projected to achieve over 56 per cent by 2020.181
Like other Scandinavian countries, Sweden invested heavily in district heating systems after the oil crises of the 1970s in order to reduce the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels; district heating is a major user of biomass. It also developed nuclear power, which in 2014 generated over 40 per cent of the country’s electricity.182 Four of the country’s ten nuclear stations are currently being phased out, however, and no replacements are expected to be built.183
In 2016, the Swedish coalition government concluded an agreement on long-term energy policy, setting out a road map for a transition to an entirely renewable electricity system, with a target of 100 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2040.184 The country had already reached 65 per cent by 2016, mostly from hydro (accounting for 46 per cent of total electricity) and wind (11 per cent).185
In 2017, Parliament adopted a new Climate Act, with the target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. It was estimated that this would require at least an 85 per cent cut in domestic emissions from 1990 levels, with remaining emissions being offset through strategies such as additional tree planting and possibly investing in offset activities abroad.186 The act, which entered into force in January 2018, requires the government to present a climate report every year in its budget bill and draw up a climate policy action plan every four years to describe how the climate goals are to be achieved.
The use of biomass for energy has increased steadily since the early 1990s. The largest end-use sectors are industry (mainly pulp and paper mills) and district heating (see Figure 27).
Figure 27: Sweden’s biomass energy use by sector 1983–2014 (TWh)
— Source: Swedish Energy Agency (2016), ‘Energy in Sweden – Facts and Figures 2016 available now’, http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/news/2016/energy-in-sweden---facts-and-figures-2016-available-now/ (accessed 20 Jan. 2018).
Figure 27: Sweden’s biomass energy use by sector 1983–2014 (TWh)
In 2013, biomass accounted for 38 per cent of all energy use in industry. Overall, in 2016, biomass supplied about 80 per cent of the total of renewable heat, which itself represented almost 70 per cent of total heat consumption. Sweden possesses a very large district heating network, extending for about 20,000 km, which meets most of the country’s urban heating needs, particularly in multi-dwelling buildings and non-residential premises.187 Biomass use in district heating more than doubled between 2000 and 2014, and now accounts for most of the energy used. Alongside electric appliances, biomass is also a major contributor to heating in smaller residential dwellings not on district heating networks.
There is much lower use of biomass for electricity generation. Although, in 2016, renewables supplied almost two-thirds of total electricity, hydro provided over 70 per cent of this; wind supplied a further 16 per cent, having grown very rapidly since 2009, and biomass about 10 per cent, having fallen steadily (in both absolute and relative terms) since a peak in 2009–12.
Biomass supply
Sweden is the EU’s largest producer of roundwood, producing over 74 million m3 (under bark) in 2015, 7 million tonnes of which was classified as wood fuel.188 Total annual biomass production was estimated at 76 million oven-dry tonnes in 2014, corresponding to approximately 1.4 exajoules (EJ) of energy, but more than half of this was left at forest sites due to market, technical, environmental, and economic constraints.189
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, waste from Sweden’s forestry industries provided an easily accessible and attractively priced source of biomass energy.190 Increasing demand led to higher prices in the 2000s, which increased extraction from the forests. Figure 28 shows solid biomass use by fuel type in 2014; the main categories are wood chips, residues and wastes (‘undensified wood fuel’) and black liquor. Pellets (‘densified wood fuel’) accounted for only 8 per cent, but given the scale of biomass energy, this is still a significant amount; Sweden is the second largest producer of pellets in the EU after Germany, producing 1.7 million tonnes in 2016.191 Pellets are used mainly for heating, in small and medium-scale facilities in individual households and commercial premises, and to a lesser extent for district heating; they are not widely used for electricity generation.192
Figure 28: Solid biomass use in Sweden by fuel type in 2014
— Source: Swedish Energy Agency (2016), ‘Energy in Sweden – Facts and Figures 2016 available now’, http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/news/2016/energy-in-sweden---facts-and-figures-2016-available-now/ (accessed 20 Jan. 2018).
Figure 28: Solid biomass use in Sweden by fuel type in 2014
Direct and indirect biomass imports have supplied an increasing share of Sweden’s energy needs, and the country is currently a net importer of wood fuel, chips and residues (see figures 29 and 30), mainly from Norway, Latvia and Finland.193
Figure 29: Sweden’s imports of woody biomass potentially for energy, 2010–16
— Source: Generated from Eurostat data at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/newxtweb/mainxtnet.do.
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Figure 29: Sweden’s imports of woody biomass potentially for energy, 2010–16
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Imported wood chips and residues are primarily used in large and medium-sized district heating utilities, generally located near ports.194 Until recently Sweden was also a net importer of pellets, mainly from Russia and Estonia, but its exports, almost entirely to Denmark, have climbed with increasing domestic production, and from 2015 the trade in pellets has been relatively balanced. Concerns over illegal logging may lead to a tendency to reduce imports from Russia in the future.
Figure 30: Sweden’s exports of woody biomass potentially for energy, 2010–16
— Source: generated from Eurostat data at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/newxtweb/mainxtnet.do.
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Figure 30: Sweden’s exports of woody biomass potentially for energy, 2010–16
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
The government’s National Renewable Energy Action Plan foresaw an increasing use of domestically sourced biomass, consistent with the estimate that more than half of the available biomass is currently left in the forest. Clearly this will be affected by the falling prices of competing renewables, notably wind (Sweden’s climate means that solar is unlikely to play a major role).
Support for biomass energy
Woody biomass use has been encouraged in particular through a tradable electricity certificate system and taxation. Sweden’s Energy Tax Act of 1994 introduced a series of taxes on fossil fuels, carbon dioxide emissions, and sulphur emissions. Biomass has been exempted from all these taxes since the 1990s (peat is exempt from ‘higher energy’ and CO2 taxes, though it incurs a tax on its sulphur emissions).195 The energy tax is based on the energy content of the fuel, while the carbon dioxide and sulphur taxes are based on emissions. These taxes have been seen as largely successful in promoting renewable energy in general, for both electricity and heat.
The use of biomass has also been supported by the electricity certificate scheme, introduced in 2003, which aims to increase the proportion of renewables in electricity generation.196 A certificate is given for every unit of electricity produced by an approved facility from a renewable energy source, which is then sold to suppliers that are required to buy a certain proportion of certificates in relation to their electricity sales or use.197 In 2014, the average price of an electricity certificate was just under SEK 180 (€18); this represented about half the price in previous years, due to an oversupply of certificates. In terms of generation, about 17 TWh of renewable electricity was generated in 2014 under Sweden’s electricity certificate scheme.
In 2012, Sweden and Norway introduced a common electricity certificate market through a collaboration mechanism under the EU Renewable Energy Directive that allows countries to trade renewable electricity certificates.198 Together, they aimed to generate 26 TWh of renewable power in 2020, with each contributing on average 13 TWh annually thereafter until 2035. In April 2017, the two countries announced their agreement to extend the joint scheme to 2030, and Sweden increased its annual target to 18 TWh to 2030.199
Taxation is the main instrument for supporting renewable heat. As well as the tax exemptions discussed above, income tax deductions are also available for installation works in apartments and single-family houses when replacing conventional heating with heating supplied by renewable energy sources.200
Sustainability criteria
Power plants and CHP plants that use wood biomass from forests certified by either the FSC or PEFC schemes are entitled to higher levels of financial support than otherwise available.
181 Swedish Energy Agency (2016), ‘Energy Indicators in figures 2016 – Follow-up of Sweden´s energy policy goals’, http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/news/2016/energy-indicators-in-figures-2016–follow-up-of-swedens-energy-policy-goals/ (accessed 26 Jul. 2016).
182 International Energy Agency (2009), Cities, towns, and renewable energy: Yes in my front yard, http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/cities2009.pdf (accessed 12 Jul. 2016).
183 Reuters (2016), ‘Sweden on track to meet 100-percent renewables target by 2040 – regulator’, 25 October 2016, https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-sweden-renewables/sweden-on-track-to-meet-100-percent-renewables-target-by-2040-regulator-idUKKCN12P0E8 (accessed 29 Jan. 2018).
184 Eurobserv’ER (2017), Renewable Energy Policy Factsheet: Sweden, https://www.eurobserv-er.org/pdf/renewable-energy-policy-factsheet-2017-sweden/ (accessed 29 Jan. 2018).
185 Eurostat SHARES database, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/data/shares.
186 Government of Sweden (2017), ‘The climate policy framework’, http://www.government.se/articles/2017/06/the-climate-policy-framework/ (accessed 29 Jan. 2018).
187 European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Sweden’, https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/national-action-plans (accessed 28 Jul. 2016).
188 Eurostat data at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/forestry/data/database.
189 Hektor, B., Bruce, L., and Andersson, S. K. (2014), Country Report Sweden, IEA Bioenergy Task 40 Report, http://www.bioenergytrade.org/downloads/iea-task-40-country-report-2014-sweden.pdf (accessed 27 Jul. 2016).
190 Swedish Energy Agency (2015), Energy in Sweden 2015, https://www.energimyndigheten.se/globalassets/statistik/overgripande-rapporter/energy-in-sweden-till-webben.pdf (accessed 26 Jul. 2016).
191 FAOSTAT data at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FO.
192 Hektor, B. et al. (2014), Country Report Sweden.
193 Indirect biomass imports refer to by-products that derive from imported timber for industrial purposes. The Swedish Energy Agency considers indirect biomass imports as ‘domestically produced fuel’.
194 Hektor, B et al. (2014), Country Report Sweden.
195 Swedish Energy Agency (2015), Energy in Sweden 2015.
196 International Energy Agency (2013), Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Sweden 2013 Review, Paris: International Energy Agency, http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/Sweden2013_free.pdf (accessed 27 Jul. 2016).
197 Swedish Energy Agency (2015), Energy in Sweden 2015.
198 Swedish Energy Agency and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (2013), The Norwegian-Swedish Electricity Certificate Market: Annual report 2013, https://www.energimyndigheten.se/globalassets/fornybart/elcertifikat/sv-norsk-marknad/electricity_certificate_market_annual_report_2013.pdf (accessed 31 Jul. 2016).
199 Eurobserv’ER (2017), Renewable Energy Policy Factsheet: Sweden.
200 Ibid.