A robust and sustainable energy system starts with planning
Municipalities work on planning the expansion of the city with, among other things, master plans and detailed plans. All electricity network undertakings which operate a local or regional network and are thus the distribution system operator shall report a network development plan every two years. These plans, in combination with plans for other energy infrastructure, planning documents regarding the water supply network, waste, fiber, and landscape values will now be combined into a digital planning platform through a collaboration within the project CoAction Lund. The planning base is looking for synergies and synergies in the landscape to optimize and maintain available space for a robust and fossil-free energy system.
- What the planning platform is also about is to better understand the situation in the local electricity grid, says Karin Hammarlund. We need to understand capability in the short and long term. The capacity needs to be combined with the plans contained in the master plan and detailed plan. We also need to know that capacity exists for the charging infrastructure that is planned and for the development plans of the business community. The work will also cover future needs for heating and cooling.
- With the planning platform, we expect to get much closer to the “truth” and get a better basis for discussing with politicians what priorities are needed and what infrastructure investments are required, continues Karin Hammarlund. This is a concrete way to pave the way for our expansion plans in relation to our climate and energy targets while safeguarding the important values of the landscape for animals, nature and people.
Didn't they work like that before?
No not really. Most municipalities have energy companies with the mandate to connect project by project to the electricity grid. This does not lead to system optimization or an overall picture of landscape impact and surface requirements for technical infrastructure. Looking at the capacity of the energy system as a whole in relation to our expansion plans at an early stage means that we make more informed decisions about what priorities need to be made at a strategic stage when working with comprehensive planning.
Behind the need for a planning platform is also the current capacity and power challenge described by Skåne Effectiveness Commission which points to the fact that municipalities in Skåne are already having problems with their expansion plans.
- We need to take on intermunicipal responsibilities, especially those in southern Sweden's electricity area 4. We need to expand the self-sufficiency rate of electricity, which today is 15% to 50% by 2030, according to the Skåne Power Commission. For Lund, the planning platform will be a way to show how to understand the situation and build a robust and sustainable energy system that can meet the municipality's expansion needs, operational development, but also crises and climate challenges.
The work that will now be done in CoAction is very extensive. The group reviews all adopted plans in Lund Municipality in order to obtain a more detailed description of the energy requirements. The first phase deals with the situation up to 2030, but it will also look at what it might look like in 2040 and 2050. This process should be completed by 2026.
- Once the planning platform is completed, we can see how much local fossil-free electricity generation is needed, what we can add and what areas are required. Together with Kraftringen, we can see where they can expand the grid on surfaces that are suitable in relation to where we need more capacity and power.
Both wind power and solar energy require large areas and one must understand the combined effects on the landscape so that these developments do not affect our landscapes too much.
- Lund Municipality has few surfaces that do not have protection and high value. Therefore, it is good to have a planning basis that looks at interactions and synergies so that we get the most out of what we have. We must try to find interactions between a fossil-free energy system and the other values of the landscape.
An important part will also be to document and map the process.
- We are a demonstrator for other municipalities and it is important that we show how we get the data, how we make forecasts and what our scenarios look like. In CoAction Lund, many actors join forces and create sustainable solutions together, and the process is just as important as the end result, concludes Karin Hammarlund.
CoAction Lund also works with other aspects of the energy system, such as building energy communities and creating energy sharing.
About CoAction Lund
CoAction Lund is working towards a climate-neutral Lund 2030 and is a climate collaboration between 25 actors in Lund. CoAction Lund works with sustainable mobility and tests new ways to share and control energy. The project is a pilot in Sweden and works to inspire other cities and is implemented with support from Viable Cities, Vinnova and the Swedish Energy Agency.