Case Study 5: Building a Business Case for Power Projects in Sweden

Svenska Kraftnät, the national transmission grid system operator for Sweden, in 2005 presented its plans for redeveloping the transmission network in and around Stockholm, which supplies around 20% of the Swedish population with power. These plans were prepared from the point of view of a long term and social benefit-based business case, examining issues such as quality of supply, environment, social and local development issues.

To prepare the business case properly, Svenska Kraftnät involved local government and local transmission network operators in a detailed examination of:

• Systems performance
  
• Effect of transmission infrastructure on land use
  
• Impact of power lines on social amenity
  
• Presence of sensitive receptors such as schools and private dwellings
  
• Effect of transmission lines on the natural landscape

These attributes of different system options were evaluated against three scenarios to ensure the best spatial and load match:

• Present day infrastructure and present day loads
  
• An evolution of the present day infrastructure supplying the predicted demand patterns for 2030
  
• A comprehensively redesigned network and 2030 demand patterns

The system options were designed in each case to be able to manage all (n-1) faults and some (n-2) faults.