Sustainable Electrification - Making the vision into reality

Electrification is a must to slow down the climate change. Through cooperation between producers, network owners, construction companies and consumers we can create favorable conditions for renewable energy production. On this point everybody agreed when Nexans held Climate Day at Fotografiska in Stockholm.

Professor Tomas Kåberger, moderator at Nexans Climate Day, promised a day of solutions, without the doom scenarios. Today wind power is so efficient that it is profitable even without subsidies and the production of solar power in countries like Saudi Arabia is extremely cheap. Increasing production and improving the distribution of renewable electricity is a cornerstone when battling climate change and there are huge opportunities for companies interested in this area.

Nexans´ CEO Christopher Guérin explained Nexans´ investment in electrification, which is based on the realization that it is the best way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He said that the gigantic investments that have been decided on in the USA and China and that are underway in Europe have led Nexans to abandon old focus areas for a concentrated investment in electrification.

The day was built on panel discussions on production, distribution and consumption of energy. In the conversation about production, Ulrik Stridbæk, vice president at Ørsted, spoke about the company's huge investment in offshore wind power in the North Sea, estimated at a cost of SEK 5,000–6,000 billion until 2050. The expansion in the North Sea is being carried out in collaboration with, among others, Statnett and Nexans.

Ragnhild Katteland, EVP Nexans, spoke about Nexans´ contribution to making wind power profitable.

The distribution of electricity also requires huge investments, when electricity use in Sweden according to the panel participants can be expected to increase by 100-150 percent by 2050.

In Norrland, use will increase sixfold, according to Niclas Damsgaard, chief strategist at Svenska kraftnät. But if Sweden is to be fossil-free by 2045, we have to hurry, according to the panel participants. With construction, but also with permits.

- We estimate that around SEK 500 billion will be invested in power grids in Sweden until 2050. We expect to invest SEK 100 billion in our network over the next twenty years, said Kenneth Johansson at Ellevio.

But new times require new rules, with faster permission from the authorities, said Annika Viklund CEO Vattenfall Eldistribution and urged industry players to work together for new rules and permits. In addition, Annika Viklund pointed to a bright future for a professional group within electrical engineering.

- For every billion invested, it takes roughly 150 engineers and 150 fitters, she said.

Thomas Linderholm from Fabege and Anna Graaf from White Arkitekter talked bout the construction of the hotel House of Choice in Solna, Scandinavia's first "zero energy hotel" with 342 rooms and Choice's head office. It is a property whose solar panels over a year produce as much energy as the hotel consumes and whose indoor materials have been chosen with carbon dioxide emissions in mind. But despite the fact that energy consumption is zero, they saw potential for improvement.

- The next step is to invest in energy storage, including in the form of batteries, said Thomas Linderholm.

Anna Graaf is looking in to new materials, because energy-neutral operation means that it is the construction itself and the materials that consume the most energy.

Lars Josefsson, CEO of Nexans Sweden, emphasized the importance of the correct dimensioning of cables. Too often, builders opt for thin cables, a saving that is soon eaten up by energy losses.

- A correct cable choice pays off in 3.7 years. And we can see in wind farms that have chosen too small a cable that they lose electricity corresponding to the production from two out of a hundred spinners.

Professor Tomas Kåberger considered himself to have learned several great lessons during the day.

- The most important was the order of magnitude of the investments planned in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, that these are investments of perhaps SEK 10,000 billion, corresponding to several Swedish gross domestic products. It is also interesting that cable manufacturers such as Nexans have managed to keep up with the cost reduction created by wind power.