IKEA Starts Selling Renewable Energy To Households In Sweden (reuters.com) 41
IKEA, the world's biggest furniture brand, is branching out into selling renewable energy to households, starting with home market Sweden in September. Reuters reports: Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA stores worldwide, said households would be able to buy affordable renewable electricity from solar and wind parks, and track their usage through an app. Ingka's partner Svea Solar, which produces solar panels for IKEA, will buy the electricity on the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool and resell it without surcharge. Households will pay a fixed monthly fee plus a variable rate. IKEA, which also sells solar panels for households in 11 markets, said those buyers would be able to track their own production in the app and sell back surplus electricity. Jonas Carlehed, head of sustainability at IKEA Sweden, told Reuters he hoped to roll out the new renewable energy offer as well as IKEA's solar panel offering to all markets.
Some Assembly Required (Score:2)
It comes flat packed and you will need to assemble the wind turbine and plug it in yourself!
Re: Some Assembly Required (Score:2)
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I wish they did that. I wish they made flat pack houses widely available too. New houses in the UK are complete crap, if it was easy and cheap to just buy some land and a decent pre-fab house I would. Unfortunately all the current factory house providers here are quite expensive.
Zero context (Score:2)
"Ingka's partner Svea Solar, which produces solar panels for IKEA, will buy the electricity on the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool and resell it without surcharge. Households will pay a fixed monthly fee plus a variable rate."
I can't comment in any fashion on that information. Is it going to be like the Texas ERCOT where you get a 20x bill due to freak weather accidents? "resell it without surcharge" sounds good, "plus a variable rate" leaves a lot of wiggle room.
There's no way to intelligently comment un
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All existing power companies in the Nordic Countries are already buying/selling their power in Nord Pool so if you get a 20x bill due to whaterver from this then you would have gotten that from every one else as well, unless of course if you have a fixed price. Since they buy power at Nord Pool however there should not really be a Texas Moment since Nord Pool is sourced from all power sources (Nuclear, Wind, Hydro, Solar and so on) from the entire Nordic reqion.
Just used their calculator and clicked in that
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About 11.7 cents per kWh...that's close to what I'm paying, though AC and a bit of cryptocurrency mining drive my monthly bills up to $120 or so this time of year. It's not the cheapest power (think hydropower in the Pacific Northwet), but it's far from the most expensive (think California).
Re: Zero context (Score:2)
The exchange caps prices at -50 to max 300 cents / kWh ;-)
Typically, the year to year variations have a bigger impact for end users than price spikes. The variation from year to year depends on the fill level of the hydro reservoirs. For example in SE4 in 2018 average price was 46.36â/MWh, while in 2020 the average was 25.86 in SE4 and 14.39 in SE1. Sweden is divided into 4 market areas because of transmission grid bottlenecks.
If I've understood the system correctly, when prices rise in one area becaus
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"Sweden is divided into 4 market areas because of transmission grid bottlenecks."
No. Sweden is divided into 4 market areas because of the EU, because the fucking germans and danish complained that it was unfair that Sweden was a single market area for electricity, and thus unfair for foreign companies that had to compete with low-cost energy. The bottlenecks worsened after that division, and it's unfairly burdened swedish companies by artificially inflating electricity prices in the south.
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The division of Sweden into 4 markets is a direct response to a complaint to the EU Commission by Denmark and Germany, on behalf of Danish and German power companies, and went into effect on 2011-11-01, IIRC. Before that, Sweden was one single market.
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Sweden is still one single market.
You are mixing up (grid) control network/zones with markets.
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But I did a lookup on Svenska Kraftnät who admins it and it turns out that you where correct:
In order to comply with EU regulations and promote the development of a common internal market for electricity, Sweden was divided into four electricity areas in 2011. The change was an important step in the work to ensure compliance with the requirements for equal treatment of transmission restrictions within Sweden and against neighboring countries that are set out in the EU regulations. The boundaries of the electricity areas, so-called sections, cut through the country in an east-west direction and are located where there are structural bottlenecks. When the transmission capacity is not enough, price differences arise between the areas. Because the boundaries of the electricity areas reflect the network's physical limitations, the division also aims to create incentives for new establishments of production where the needs are greatest, while Svenska kraftnät receives clear signals about where the transmission network needs to be strengthened.
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The claims about structural bottlenecks are greatly exaggerated. One of the claims was that with BarsebÃck out of operation, the southern parts of Sweden had to rely on hydro power, completely pretending that Ringhals and Oskarshamn didn't exist.
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If the zones were really based on how the distribution infrastructure is aligned, both Ringhals and Oskarshamn would be part of Zone SE4. Instead, they are in SE3(In fact, SE3 and SE4 should be one single zone, if we "need" multiple zones"). So clients in SE4 need to pay increased rates, aligned with Danish and German electricity prices, which is an unfair burden. The division really was in response to Danish and German companies complaining that the prices in the south of Sweden were too low for them to co
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No. Sweden is divided into 4 market areas because of the EU, because the fucking germans and danish complained that it was unfair that Sweden was a single market area for electricity, and thus unfair for foreign companies that had to compete with low-cost energy.
That is nonsense.
There is only one market area and that is the EU.
Perhaps you mean (grid) control network. Something like this to set up is complicated. So no one would go from one zone to four zones.
Hint: Germany has 4 zones, France only one.
Anothe
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No, you ignorant corruption apologist.
The division into bidding areas, aka electricity price zones, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] , was a direct consequence of the EU Commission, in its usual pro-fascism corruption, threatened with fines, because it was "unfair to Danish and German companies" that Sweden was a single zone that didn't need to import dirty energy from Denmark and Germany. German and Danish companies literally using the commission to artificially inflate electricity prices for profit. Wel
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I think you do not know what an "Electricity price area" is.
Read your own link.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the EU or the EU Commission (how the funk would the EU Commission be able to influence how Sweden structures its pricing areas?)
And how the funk would having more than one benefit any country outside of Sweden? You don't make any sense!
If I sell power to Sweden from Germany, your "price are" is only a billing number on the bill. Does not matter if you have now 4 or 5 or what ever. Does not mat
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In Europe variable rates are usually capped for consumers.
These variable tariffs are quite popular here and sometimes work out very well for the consumer. There are other similar schemes where you buy part ownership of say a wind farm and get to consume energy from it at cost, buying from the grid when you need to.
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...There's no way to intelligently comment unless you have some background already.
Like that's ever stopped anybody from commenting
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It hasn't, I just had that moment where you want to point out to people, your face is stupid, you're parking across lines, pull up so I can get through, don't wast everyone's time.
Especially don't waste everyone's time.
The real question is (Score:2, Funny)
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The Princess Cake was always better.
Oh snap⦠(Score:2)
These directions are shit and Iâ(TM)ve got all the parts left overâ¦
Re: Oh snap⦠(Score:2)
iPhone. Itâ(TM)s how it always shows up with the editor on this site (and, this site alone) after posting.
Swedish electricity is already 100% green (Score:2)
Their tiny amount of off-grid fossil-fuel electricity production is dwarfed by exports.
Hydro, nuclear and wind provide more than they need.
Solar might be OK in summer, but what about the other 50 weeks of the year?
Save the solar panels for countries without the hydro resources, or forethought to build nuclear.
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but what about the other 50 weeks of the year?
The year has 52 weeks.
You must have a terrible idea about seasons.
or forethought to build nuclear.
And why would a country like Sweden or Norway that can produce all its power from water, build a nuclear plant? You are ridiculous.
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but what about the other 50 weeks of the year?
The year has 52 weeks.
Woosh!!
And why would a country like Sweden or Norway that can produce all its power from water, build a nuclear plant?
Why "would they" build nuclear? Ask them - the country has one of the highest rates of nuclear power in the world, about 40%.
Sweden and Norway have totally different geographies. Sweden is flat. It has hydro, but not enough. And the environmental destruction brought by damming even more valleys is intolerable.
You are ridiculous.
You sir are pompous and ignorant.
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I'm not aware that Sweden is building a new plant :P
Something is missing (Score:1)
But... (Score:2)
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IKEA, which also sells solar panels for households in 11 markets, said those buyers would be able to track their own production in the app and sell back surplus electricity.
California (Score:2)
Here in utopian California, PG&E is proposing to increase electricity rates by 18%, apparently because its record amount of renewable energy is so cost-effective. California already has the highest energy costs, except maybe for Hawaii.
Parking lot power (Score:2)
The Ikea nearest me has started putting up these giant solar things over its whole parking lot. Sort of like the roofs over gas pumping stations, but with only a single pylon at the center.
Color me impressed. It's hot as hell in a parking lot in summer here. These will do double duty making parking so much more pleasant, and producing power? Win-win.