Energy sharing

Electricity Act

Ordinance (2007:215) on exemptions from the requirement for a network concession according to the Electricity Act (1997:857)

The main rule according to the Electricity Act is that a grid concession (permit) is required to be allowed to build and use high power lines. Certain power lines are exempt from the requirement about a grid concession and may be built without a permit. The change in the Ordinance 2007:215 in 2022 by adding art 22 c, opens up to share energy within internal grids under certain circumstances. It is therefore not required to have a grid concession for an underground and internal low-voltage grid for the transmission of electricity from a production or storage facility, where the sharing of electricity either takes place within the network operator's property or between properties. The production or storage facility must be directly connected to the internal low-voltage grid. A prerequisite is also that buildings and plants that are connected together in the internal low-voltage grid each have a connection to a line or a line grid that is used with the support of a network concession. If the wiring network extends between several properties, each property needs to have a connection to the grid with grid concession (Art 22c Ordinance 2007:215). 

Different definitions of energy communities are described in the renewable energy directive and in the electricity market directive Electricity market design. These would have been implemented into the member states' national legislation in 2021 and have been introduced through various models in the EU. Sweden is one of the few member states where this has not resulted in concrete regulations concerning energy communities.

There is a report of Swedish Energy Agency Energy communities Conditions and proposals for promotion effort (Energigemenskaper Förutsättningar och förslag på främjandeinsats, Statens energimyndighet, September 2024). The report is the result of the government assignment to the Swedish Energy Agency to investigate the conditions for energy communities and any need for promotion efforts. In the report there are the following suggestions for further developing the work:

• To introduce a definition of energy communities 
• It is proposed that the Energy Market Inspectorate be tasked with working to ensure that the benefits that energy communities can provide are reflected in the grid tariff 
• It is proposed that the Swedish Energy Agency and the Energy Market Inspectorate be given a joint mission to develop support in the form of approved "typical cases" that show how sharing can be promoted in energy communities.

Residents of a housing community of any kind with a single grid connection.

An internal low-voltage grid for the transmission of electricity from a facility that produces electricity or from an energy storage facility may, if the facility is directly connected to the internal low-voltage grid and the low-voltage grid is not an overhead line, be built and operated without a grid concession

 1. within the grid operator's property, and

 2. between buildings and facilities that individually also have a connection to a line or a line grid that is used with the support of a grid concession (Art 22c Ordinance 2007:215).

On such grids as stated above, electricity may be transferred on behalf of someone else even if the buildings and facilities have different owners (Art 24 Ordinance 2007:215).

The participants are subject to the limits for micro installations set out in the Electricity Act and are required to be connected through a joint grid connection point. Small installations with a capacity of 1.5MW are only subject to transmission fees connected to the annual measurement and calculation costs. Micro installations with a generator of maximum 43.5kW are not subject for any input fees. (Chapter 4 art 37 and 38 Electricity Act)

Several installations fulfilling the aforementioned criteria located close to each other and connected to the same network are considered as separate installations, and therefore, are subject to the same tax exemptions and privileges (Chapter 4 art 10 Electricity Act). This allows for lower taxations and fees for energy sharing.

The general provisions for micro-producers are the following:

Micro-producers with an installation of a maximum capacity of 1.5MW are only subject to the transmission fees that cover the cost of measurement, calculation and reporting, as well as a one-time grid connection fee (Chapter 4 art 10 Electricity Act).

Prosumers with a connection current limitation of maximum 63A, producing electricity with a device of maximum 43.5kW is exempted from fee for injection of electricity to the grid. However, this only applies if the prosumer consumed more electricity from the grid than he has injected into the grid in a calendar year. (Chapter 4 art 10 Electricity Act).

The participants of the collective self-consumption network have to be located geographically close to each other (Chapter 4 art 10 Electricity Act).

• Energy sharing