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    France and Sweden push to kill mechanism to pay for massive EU grid upgrades
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    France and Sweden push to kill mechanism to pay for massive EU grid upgrades

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    1. Defiant_Restaurant61 on

      What is the point of wanting to decarbonize the energy grid if the countries investing the most for decades into cleaner power (nuclear) are both forced to compete against coal and gas prices and on top of that have to fund the energy grid of the countries running these cheap coal and gas plants? 

    2. ballthyrm on

      Does it come with the money to pay for the end of life of our nuclear fleet ?
      France and Sweden are already lowering the EU electricity prices by providing cheap baseload power.

      Asking them to help other countries upgrade their grid is double dipping.

    3. OldWar6125 on

      How [it started](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/frances-macron-advocates-single-european-energy-market-grid-2026-02-11/):

      >”We must deliver a genuine energy union capable of providing stable, predictable and competitive energy to industry,” he [Macron] said in a speech in Antwerp, Belgium.

      >He said such as single energy market would require massive investment in energy grids and creating an integrated general grid.

      How it’s going:

      >France and Sweden want to block a new proposal that would force countries to share the cost of major upgrades to the European Union’s electricity network, arguing it will hand them an unfair financial burden.

      These are two weeks apart.

    4. Bright-Scallin on

      Of course France doesn’t want that. For decades they have refused to let Iberian energy pass through their territory, effectively leaving the Iberian Peninsula as an electricity island, because they fear cheap renewable energy outcompeting their nuclear power.

    5. Drakar_och_demoner on

      Sweden gets fucked as usual.

      As if the syrian refugee wave in 2015-2016 that noone stopped just to have most of them end up in germany and Sweden wasn’t enough.

    7. Dullel on

      Great way to make Sweden go for a Swexit. We’ve been exporting power to our irresponsible neighbours for years, raising our domestic prices. Now they want us to pay for their grids? So they can import more?

      I’ll vote for Swexit whenever the occasion arrises

    8. quiteUnskilled on

      I’d love to hear a competent, non-biased take on this with credible sources. A lot of pretty emotional comments on a rather complex issue, as far as I can tell.

    9. bagge on

      Germany is creating havoc in our power market again 

      > Power prices in Sweden for the most part are determined by domestic factors,” such as local infrastructure and demand, the German ministry said.

      https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-looks-alleged-market-manipulation-during-dunkelflaute-power-price-spike

      To be clear. First our capacity to transfer power from the north to the south is under dimensioned due to export. 

      So we have to upgrade the domestic power grid and pay for Germany’s so that they can split in more power zones.

    10. Stolpskotta on

      This needs to be set up so that actual demand steers the price. If you export a lot when demand is low, you need to help pay for the grid in the countries you export to. Because the grid still needs to deal with excessive power in some way. If you export a lot when demand is high, you should get help to improve your grid.

      Right now this seems to be written like “if you export a lot you should pay a lot” which is a bad take.

    13. DarkNe7 on

      The way many Swedes see this is that the EU wants us to pay for projects that will make electricity in Sweden more expensive while making it cheaper in other countries.

    15. CoolJKlasen on

      At the same time in sweden:

      https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/fler-kunder-ber-elbolag-om-hjalp-efter-hoga-elpriser

      > “More customers are asking electricity companies for help after rising prices.”

      > “Electricity company *Eon* is reporting a 30% increase in customer phone calls after high January invoices.”

      > “Increased electricity prices, cold and raised grid-fees have affected electricity costs, especially in northern Sweden where prices have been four times higher than last year.”

      > “Many customers are asking for help with payment plans or advice on how to decrease their energy consumption.”

    16. Jon_Iren on

      Another small country’s mindset example when EU needs to carry out a whole energy overhaul. It is beyond frustrating that the Russian gas fiasco has not teached any lessons

    19. ItsACaragor on

      EU : « No eurobonds! We don’t want to support other countries with their investments even if it’s through debt that will be repaid in full eventually »

      Also EU « Could you please pay more on energy so we can get free money no one will ever repay you to upgrade everyone’s energy grid while no one will give you shit for taking good care of your own grid with your own money for decades? »

      Funny how solidarity seemingly only seems to go one way.

    20. drcec on

      While you vent your frustration here, China is completing yet another 3000km HVDC line. Interconnects are essential for building a robust grid and we need it get more cheap electricity flowing.

    22. Collapse_is_underway on

      The “always more” is not going to work, even if retirement and social care is dependant on it.

      Time to adapt locally.

      I’d argue that if you have the financial means, you should aim to buy land and start permaculture projects with enthusiat young people fresh out of agriculture schools or people that learned permaculture.

      Because, during this century, at how knows what speed, we’ll lack the means to go on with industrial agriculture, regardless of the political position : [https://theshiftproject.org/en/publications/oil-supply-europe/](https://theshiftproject.org/en/publications/oil-supply-europe/)

      We’re not going to electrify all the machines we use to maintain the infrastructure, that’s not happening in time.

      And this kind of investement would investement for the resilience of where you live; if you think about it as “I need to max out the % of profit I make out of my money”, it’s not going to work out.

      The more your area will anticipate the geopolitical shocks on supply chains and extreme weather events, the better you’ll be prepared (you and the people around you) to adapt to temporary or permanent changes.

      The national level, at some point, will stop being able to respond to the crisis(es) in your area.

      You can toss my comment aside as “rambling of a madman with a pancard saying “THE END IS NIGH”; you can also look at the degrading situation of our current thermo-industrial civilization and start asking yourself questions about “how do we adapt locally”, because the already bumpy road is about to get more bumpy.

    23. Able_Situation9977 on

      As someone who lives in the far north of Sweden I hope this is killed. We saw our electricity price increase with nearly 300% since last year in part due to the new Aurora line. Add to that massive grid fees that are higher than the actual electric bill.. and soon we are possibly seeing electrical effect tariffs (not sure of the English word).

      Helping Finland and having the ability to transfer power is beneficial for everyone but if the prices skyrocket and we also get increased fuel prices (or in the long term less ICE cars == higher electricity prices) we are not going to be able to afford to live up here where our salaries are generally lower than the south of Sweden, while the need for electricity is much higher (air pumps are good, but not as effective in -30 Celsius).

      So yeah, if the EU wants play into the hands of EU sceptic parties, going forward with this is the perfect way to proceed. Having been slapped with these prices and then having the money transfered outside of the country instead of fixing our own issues…

    24. SonicSarge on

      Fuck the EU. They need to stop stealing from Sweden. We Sweden need to start cutting cables to our neighbours. They are draining our energy.