Column: Sweden should do like Finland – a new model for faster permits

Sweden’s energy supply has lost many years of development and is largely stuck in a structure from the eighties. This applies to the power plants, regardless of the technology used, and the distribution network mainly for electricity. Now the state of affairs and the strong need for modernization have come to attention in recent years as the negative effects of an outdated power distribution structure have become increasingly apparent.

Lately, however, we have seen many positive initiatives to reduce Sweden’s vulnerable situation. But the process is slow, not least the authority processes with all the necessary permits take time and can easily be delayed.

It often takes many years before the first sod is taken. The permit processes follow one another in a variety of steps, where everything can be canceled or be put on hold due to defects in form, because some body puts obstacles in the way or because someone is dissatisfied with the location of buildings, switchgear, power lines and the like. Absolutely reasonable demands to have their views heard and weighed take time.

Overall, any changes cost time, cause delays and mean that the calculations don’t hold. Objections for environmental reasons in particular take a lot of time. At the same time, it is greater environmental concerns that drive the demands for changed energy extraction and distribution. The questions are not simple. Being told about something five years later where the conditions may have fundamentally changed as well as the cost of keeping everyone up to date in the process may well seem discouraging.

Finland is in the process of introducing a system where the main idea is that it is possible to apply to all authorities in parallel whose approval permit is required. In the past, in Finland as well as in Sweden, it has been required that permission be given by all authorities in turn. Something that has caused there to be many links in the permit chain where potential delays could occur at all levels.

The new model means that everyone who is to speak on an issue can do so at the same time and that all objections can be assessed at the same time. Not that the various reasons have to be assessed one after the other in a long line.

In Finland, it is also intended that an authority should have the main responsibility for piloting the application through the process, which is also intended to streamline and make everything run both smoother and faster. Then the applicants would be able to decide at an early stage whether it is worth continuing the process to build something and whether one should invest instead in some alternative solution or completely abandon the efforts to get something done.

In Finland, the hope is that most things can be managed via a contact in the world of authorities.

Should authority processes take one or five years? Let’s embrace Finland’s initiative – for the sake of the environment.

Anders Hallgren
CEO of Fimpec Sweden

The article was originally published on the NyTeknik website in Swedish. » Read more

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