Approximately 27,300 megawatts is the total queue at Svenska kraftnät, i.e. companies that applied to be connected to the electricity grid in order to run planned operations. Data centers account for 7,300 of these and if it were to be consumed continuously for a whole year, it corresponds to around 64 terawatt hours.
Given that around 165 terawatt hours are produced today and consumption is somewhere around 130, the equation would not add up if all withdrawal applications were to be realized without additional production.
- Many who apply do so in many other countries as well, which in practice means double applications. In addition, not everyone necessarily has clear or realistic financing for the total needs applied for. In addition, some applications are for further in the future, says Patrik Svensson at Svenska kraftnät.
No one knows exactly how the demand for electricity will develop, and business secrecy makes it difficult to see who is applying. The queue basically only consists of those who cannot have their needs covered in the region or municipality they want to operate in, but must seek connection to the main network.
In short, the queue of 7,300 megawatts is not the same as 7,300 megawatts will connect.
Data centers have attracted a lot of attention in recent years, not least after the broad breakthrough of energy-demanding AI. Although most people agree that there is an increased need for electrification and that it must be done with as few fossil sources as possible, there is resistance.
Much of the criticism of data centers concerns the extensive water consumption for cooling systems and other environmental impacts, concerns about skyrocketing electricity prices and that the promised jobs will not be many in the longer term. Under the slogan "Stop Dirty Data Centres", over a hundred groups have protested in around fifteen European countries in a short time.
- It could have huge implications for our electricity system, but at the same time could be important infrastructure for Sweden. Given that, it is very important to be proactive about the issue and not just let it be. If all these volumes come in, electricity prices will skyrocket.
- There is also a risk that data centers will connect before electricity-intensive industry, which will therefore be without the connection point they need, says Christian Holz, energy market analyst at Polite Energy.
Ann Wingård, CEO of the industry organization SweDCI, is concerned that the data center issue is currently handled in different places in politics. SweDCI is therefore calling for a long-term, coherent policy for data centers.
- Data center issues need to be kept together, and not handled in silos, so we are therefore doing preparatory work for a national data center strategy. The strategy should clarify the role data centers play for Sweden, as well as create better conditions for electricity supply, permit processes, sustainability and more, says Ann Wingård.
And then the job opportunities thing. In the US mid-term elections, data centers were a relatively big election issue and those who spoke warmly in favor of them specifically invoked that they would create local jobs, but research and experience give a partly different picture.
- There are many examples from all over the world from research, not just from us, which show time and time again that this does not create as many jobs as expected. We also see a crowding-out effect on the existing business community when such large energy resources are channeled away to just one player, says Professor Julia Velkova, who leads the Megabytes vs. Megawatts project at Linköping University, to SVT Nyheter.
Several US states and European countries have recently introduced regulatory restrictions on the establishment of data centers.
From the Swedish side, Svenska kraftnät announced last week that it is considering "introducing temporary restrictions in the handling of applications with individual large power withdrawals while waiting for new working methods, regulations and analysis methods to be in place".
- Our goal is not to stop connections, but to create better conditions to ensure that we can meet a reasonable demand for electricity with manageable consequences for the Swedish electricity system and existing electricity users in both the short and long term, said general manager Maja Lundbäck.
In this context, Svenska kraftnät has a government mission to be presented during the first half of 2027.
