Published 2026-11-03 · Event 2026-11-03 · The editorial team

Svenska kraftnät considers temporary restrictions on applications for large individual grid withdrawals

Svenska kraftnät said on 3 November 2026 that it is developing new methods for assessing how large connections, including large data centres, affect the power system as a whole. While that work is under way, the authority is considering temporary restrictions in how it handles applications with large individual withdrawals.

The statement is in a news item published on Svenska kraftnät's website at 14:01 on 3 November 2026. According to the authority, connections are today assessed mainly on the grid capacity available in a given area. Svenska kraftnät now wants to add a clearer national system perspective and give more weight to how large establishments affect the power system as a whole.

The new handling the authority is looking at covers large data centres and other activities with high electricity use. In such cases, Svenska kraftnät writes, even single connections can have significant consequences for the need for new generation, transfer capacity and grid investment.

While the new methods are being developed, Svenska kraftnät is considering introducing temporary restrictions in the handling of applications with large individual withdrawals, pending new ways of working, rules and analysis methods. The authority is also studying whether large consumers that add generation could be connected faster. Its director general says in the news item that the aim is not to stop connections.

Svenska kraftnät also points to a government assignment it shares with the Energy Markets Inspectorate (Ei) on how better price hedging in the electricity market could, among other things, make it easier to build out consumption and generation. The authority says it will hold an ongoing dialogue with actors in the electricity supply sector while the methods are developed.

The news item gives no megawatt threshold for what counts as a large individual withdrawal, no date for any restrictions and no information on how applications already in the queue would be handled. According to Svenska kraftnät's queue table as of 1 October 2026, data centres accounted for 7,326 MW of the 25,801 MW of consumption applications in the transmission-grid queue.

Why it matters

Most large Swedish data-centre projects in the register depend on a transmission-grid connection or on regional grids that connect to it. A temporary restriction in how large applications are handled would affect the order and timing of new connection decisions for such projects.

What remains unknown

Whether restrictions will be introduced, from when, the size threshold, how long they would apply, whether applications already in the queue are covered and what adding generation would mean in practice are not stated in the news item.

Sources