"335 megawatts of electricity production in block 2 is being mothballed," says Roger Strandahl, communications director at the owner company Uniper.
Uniper will now take “conservation measures” in block 2 and adapt it for a longer outage.
This is a direct consequence of the canceled procurement of a Swedish strategic reserve, says Strandahl.
Too expensive
For the time being, block 3 will remain in production. However, without receiving contingency compensation from the state, the entire Karlshamnsverket lacks the conditions to be operated commercially.
But we're not there yet, says Roger Strandahl.
The electricity price "must be very high" for it to be worthwhile to operate the plant without contingency money, according to Strandahl.
Ahead of this winter, Karlshamnsverket does not have the same mission as before – to be available as a power reserve in emergency situations for Sweden's electricity needs.
Lack of power reserve
Previously, Svenska kraftnät has paid Karlshamnsverket to be ready to start electricity production at short notice during the winter months. However, new rules from the EU meant that Svenska kraftnät recently cancelled the procurement of electricity reserves for the winter. The bids received, including from Uniper, were too high.
But the last word has not been said, now that Sweden is without an electricity reserve this winter. But there is urgency and with today's announcement, the pressure on Svenska kraftnät and the government to act is increasing.
Svenska kraftnät says that the authority is now investigating the possibility of using an adjusted method to investigate "cost-effectiveness".
By having procurement where we could request divisible bids and that it could be considered as different volumes in a bidding ladder, where the first bids receive higher values, says Eva Vitell, Division Manager Systems, Svenska kraftnät.
Another important role
The Karlshamnsverket can also play an important role in even more serious crises, especially war. This is governed by other regulations and procurement procedures.
There is a possibility of making so-called electricity emergency decisions that state that certain types of resources must not disappear but must remain for electricity emergency reasons, says Vitell.
In total, the two blocks at Karlshamnsverket can produce 660 megawatts, approximately the same as half a nuclear reactor.
