IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v187y2024ics0301421524000739.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What we talk about when we talk about electricity: A thematic analysis of recent political debates on Swedish electricity supply

Author

Listed:
  • Sonnsjö, Hannes

Abstract

The Swedish electricity system is undergoing a transition unprecedented in both speed and scale, thereby exposing a number of policy-related controversies. In this study, six central themes in the on-going debates around the security of electricity supply in Sweden are identified based on a material of over 1000 news articles, published between the years 2010–2022. By applying the themes to the political debates within Parliament, the analysis suggests that security of electricity supply has been a neglected aspect of the energy trilemma and that recent years have seen a dramatic increase in this regard. This development is primarily driven by geopolitical concerns and a rapidly evolving energy landscape. The role of the market and its ability to provide incentives for long-term investments has become increasingly contested following the intense reporting on ‘price shocks’. ‘lack of grid capacity’ and the increased risk of ‘manual disconnections’. The paper therefore supports the claim that Sweden, in line with several other EU-countries, are showing signs of a ‘regulatory remedy’, after an era of liberalisation. The paper concludes with a number of policy dilemmas and conflicts of goals in relation to market integration (security of supply), technology neutrality (sustainability) and adequate price signals (competitiveness).

Suggested Citation

  • Sonnsjö, Hannes, 2024. "What we talk about when we talk about electricity: A thematic analysis of recent political debates on Swedish electricity supply," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:187:y:2024:i:c:s0301421524000739
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421524000739
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114053?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karsten Neuhoff & Jörn C. Richstein & Mats Kröger, 2023. "Reacting to Changing Paradigms: How and Why to Reform Electricity Markets," DIW Berlin: Politikberatung kompakt, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, volume 127, number pbk189.
    2. Chester, Lynne & Elliot, Amanda, 2019. "Energy problem representation: The historical and contemporary framing of Australian electricity policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 102-113.
    3. Edmondson, Duncan L. & Kern, Florian & Rogge, Karoline S., 2019. "The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    4. Jensen, Charlotte Louise & Goggins, Gary & Røpke, Inge & Fahy, Frances, 2019. "Achieving sustainability transitions in residential energy use across Europe: The importance of problem framings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Butler, C. & Demski, C. & Parkhill, K. & Pidgeon, N. & Spence, A., 2015. "Public values for energy futures: Framing, indeterminacy and policy making," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 665-672.
    6. Leonardo Meeus & Jean-Michel Glachant (ed.), 2018. "Electricity Network Regulation in the EU," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 17597, December.
    7. Eicke, Anselm & Khanna, Tarun & Hirth, Lion, 2020. "Locational investment signals - How to steer the siting of new generation capacity in power systems?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 41(6), pages 281-304.
    8. Neuhoff, Karsten & Richstein, Jörn C. & Kröger, Mats, 2023. "Reacting to changing paradigms: How and why to reform electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    9. Benjamin Sovacool, 2007. "Coal and nuclear technologies: creating a false dichotomy for American energy policy," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 40(2), pages 101-122, June.
    10. Sirin, Selahattin Murat & Camadan, Ercument & Erten, Ibrahim Etem & Zhang, Alex Hongliang, 2023. "Market failure or politics? Understanding the motives behind regulatory actions to address surging electricity prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    11. Gencer, Busra & Larsen, Erik Reimer & van Ackere, Ann, 2020. "Understanding the coevolution of electricity markets and regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    12. Lundin, Erik, 2022. "Geographic price granularity and investments in wind power: Evidence from a Swedish electricity market splitting reform," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    13. Dermont, Clau & Ingold, Karin & Kammermann, Lorenz & Stadelmann-Steffen, Isabelle, 2017. "Bringing the policy making perspective in: A political science approach to social acceptance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 359-368.
    14. Isoaho, Karoliina & Karhunmaa, Kamilla, 2019. "A critical review of discursive approaches in energy transitions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 930-942.
    15. Chen, Catherine, 2023. "Framing energy-efficiency programs: A survey experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    16. Victor Valentine, Scott & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Brown, Marilyn A., 2017. "Frame envy in energy policy ideology: A social constructivist framework for wicked energy problems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 623-630.
    17. Kaijser, Arne & Högselius, Per, 2019. "Under the Damocles Sword: Managing Swedish energy dependence in the twentieth century," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 157-164.
    18. Beckstedde, Ellen & Correa Ramírez, Mauricio & Cossent, Rafael & Vanschoenwinkel, Janka & Meeus, Leonardo, 2023. "Regulatory sandboxes: Do they speed up innovation in energy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    19. Kraan, Oscar & Kramer, Gert Jan & Nikolic, Igor & Chappin, Emile & Koning, Vinzenz, 2019. "Why fully liberalised electricity markets will fail to meet deep decarbonisation targets even with strong carbon pricing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 99-110.
    20. Scholten, Daniel & Bazilian, Morgan & Overland, Indra & Westphal, Kirsten, 2020. "The geopolitics of renewables: New board, new game," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    21. Faber, Hugo, 2023. "How does falling incumbent profitability affect energy policy discourse? The discursive construction of nuclear phaseouts and insufficient capacity as a threat in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    22. Lagendijk, Arnoud & Kooij, Henk-Jan & Veenman, Sietske & Oteman, Marieke, 2021. "Noisy monsters or beacons of transition: The framing and social (un)acceptance of Dutch community renewable energy initiatives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    23. Sokołowski, Maciej M. & Heffron, Raphael J., 2022. "Defining and conceptualising energy policy failure: The when, where, why, and how," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    24. Willems, Bert & Pollitt, Michael & von der Fehr, Nils-Henrik & Banet, Catherine, 2022. "The European Wholesale Electricty Market: From Crisis to Net Zero," Other publications TiSEM 2f225964-853e-4d30-a46d-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    25. Macedo, Daniela Pereira & Marques, António Cardoso & Damette, Olivier, 2021. "The Merit-Order Effect on the Swedish bidding zone with the highest electricity flow in the Elspot market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    26. Frank Felder & Ruthanne Haut, 2008. "Balancing alternatives and avoiding false dichotomies to make informed U.S. electricity policy," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 41(2), pages 165-180, June.
    27. Peter Cramton & Axel Ockenfels & Steven Stoft, 2013. "Capacity Market Fundamentals," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Keppler, Jan Horst & Quemin, Simon & Saguan, Marcelo, 2022. "Why the sustainable provision of low-carbon electricity needs hybrid markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Haarstad, Håvard & Sareen, Siddharth & Kandt, Jens & Coenen, Lars & Cook, Matthew, 2022. "Beyond automobility? Lock-in of past failures in low-carbon urban mobility innovations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    3. Maarten Wolsink, 2020. "Framing in Renewable Energy Policies: A Glossary," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-31, June.
    4. Pollitt, M. G., 2023. "Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs) for Electricity in Europe? The Untold Story," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2352, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    5. Hugo Faber, 2021. "Thijs Van de Graaf and Benjamin K. Sovacool: Global Energy Politics," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 735-738, December.
    6. Holmgren, Sara & Pever, Maris & Fischer, Klara, 2019. "Constructing low-carbon futures? Competing storylines in the Estonian energy sector's translation of EU energy goals," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Yuzran Bustamar & Ian Lange & Elizabeth Van Wie Davis, 2017. "Characteristic of Successful Energy Policy from Politics, Economics, Social and Technological Perspective - a qualitative analysis," Working Papers 2017-10, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    8. Wiese, Melanie & van der Westhuizen, Liezl-Marié, 2024. "Impact of planned power outages (load shedding) on consumers in developing countries: Evidence from South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Benjamin Sovacool, 2008. "The problem with the “portfolio approach” in American energy policy," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 41(3), pages 245-261, September.
    10. Chaves, J. P. & Cossent, R. & Gómez San Román, T. & Linares, P. & Rivier, M., 2023. "An assessment of the European electricity market reform options and a pragmatic proposal," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2325, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    11. Faber, Hugo, 2023. "How does falling incumbent profitability affect energy policy discourse? The discursive construction of nuclear phaseouts and insufficient capacity as a threat in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    12. Koolen, Derck & Huisman, Ronald & Ketter, Wolfgang, 2022. "Decision strategies in sequential power markets with renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Zappa, William & Junginger, Martin & van den Broek, Machteld, 2021. "Can liberalised electricity markets support decarbonised portfolios in line with the Paris Agreement? A case study of Central Western Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. J.P. Chaves & R. Cossent & T. Gómez San Román & P. Linares & M. Rivier, 2023. "An assessment of the European electricity market reform options and a pragmatic proposal," Working Papers EPRG2305, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    15. Hanny, Lisa & Wagner, Jonathan & Buhl, Hans Ulrich & Heffron, Raphael & Körner, Marc-Fabian & Schöpf, Michael & Weibelzahl, Martin, 2022. "On the progress in flexibility and grid charges in light of the energy transition: The case of Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    16. Michał Pikus & Jarosław Wąs, 2024. "Predictive Modeling of Renewable Energy Purchase Prices Using Deep Learning Based on Polish Power Grid Data for Small Hybrid PV Microinstallations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-12, January.
    17. Gallaher, Adam & Graziano, Marcello & Fiaschetti, Maurizio, 2021. "Legacy and shockwaves: A spatial analysis of strengthening resilience of the power grid in Connecticut," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    18. Axel Ockenfels, 2022. "Marktdesign für die Gasmangellage [Market Design for a Gas Shortage]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 102(11), pages 855-857, November.
    19. Karsten Neuhoff & Sophia Rüster & Sebastian Schwenen, 2015. "Power Market Design beyond 2020: Time to Revisit Key Elements?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1456, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Christian Gambardella & Michael Pahle & Wolf-Peter Schill, 2016. "Do Benefits from Dynamic Tariffing Rise? Welfare Effects of Real-Time Pricing under Carbon-Tax-Induced Variable Renewable Energy Supply," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1621, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:187:y:2024:i:c:s0301421524000739. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.