Ellevio AB, one of Sweden’s largest electricity network companies, has received a SEK 1 billion loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help finance the reconstruction of the Värtan/Hjorthagen and Skanstull substations in Stockholm.
These projects are crucial to ensuring Stockholm's long-term energy supply and will help increase the city’s electricity distribution capacity by 40 percent.
“Ellevio invests strongly in the electricity grids to meet society's electricity needs and enable the energy transition. In the future, investments will increase further, and in addition to reinvesting the returns from the business, we need loan financing. The loan from the European Investment Bank is proof that our business contributes to the green transition”, says Ellevio's CEO Johan Lindehag.
Investments to solve capacity shortages in the electricity grids
The fact that more and more people live in cities is a challenge for the electricity system. That’s why Ellevio is making big investments to grow and strengthen the capacity of the regional electricity grid in Stockholm, and to enable sustainable development in the city.
The Värtan substation in Hjorthagen is crucial for meeting the demand for electricity distribution in central Stockholm. Upon completion in 2026, the rebuilt station will increase transmission capacity by almost 100 percent (from 325 MW to 600 MW).
The project in Skanstull will create a new connection between the main grid and Stockholm's regional and local grid. The connection is needed to cover Stockholm’s long-term capacity needs. A new 220 kV switchgear will be connected to transmission system operator Svenska kraftnät’s new transformer station, ultimately increasing the grid’s transmission capacity by 1,000 MW.
EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros remarked: “Europe's transition to green and affordable energy is not just about generating huge amounts of renewable energy. It will also require a massive increase in our capacity to distribute that clean energy to power everything from households, to businesses, to electric cars. We are glad to support this timely and relevant project with Ellevio.”
The loan constitutes partial financing of the investment and was distributed on 31 January 2023. The EIB's mission is to finance projects that contribute to the achievement of the EU's goals. The project supports REPowerEU's goal of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and accelerating the green transition.
In October 2022, the projects in Värtan/Hjorthagen and Skanstull received a loan of the same amount from the Nordic Investment Bank.
Background information
About EIB
The EIB Group has set “ensuring a just transition for all” as one of the four overarching objectives of its Climate Bank Roadmap 2025. The EIB’s ambition is to support €1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and align all its new operations with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement.
About Ellevio
With close to one million customers, Ellevio is one of Sweden's largest electricity network companies. Together with our customers we take an active role in the journey towards an increasingly electrified society. Our electricity networks are the backbone that connects producers and consumers of electricity, which enables more renewable electricity production, electrification of transport and industry and which creates conditions for new climate-smart services for our customers. We have 650 employees and employ a total of 3,000 people around the country. We are owned by the pension managers OMERS Infrastructure, Folksam, AP3 and AMF.