Sweden’s Solar Energy Transition in Focus at the Energy Fair 2026
The Energy Fair (Energimässan) was held for the third consecutive year at Kistamässan north of Stockholm. The fair took place simultaneously with three other technology fairs at the venue, allowing for significant exchange between them.
One of the appreciated presentations was delivered by Johan Lindahl from Becquerel Sweden, who offered an explanation for the rapid development of solar power in Sweden and globally.
“Solar power is a granular technology – just like drones, personal computers, and mobile phones. Granular technologies come in smaller, modular units that are cheaper and easier to produce, creating strong learning curves: for every doubling of global production volume, the price of solar modules has fallen by nearly 26% – possibly the strongest learning curve documented for any technology in history,” said Johan Lindahl.
Also on stage was the Chair of the SOLVE Programme Board, Anna Werner, who moderated a lively political debate with spokespersons from five of Sweden’s eight parliamentary parties. No politician stated that Sweden should have less solar power, but several parties expressed a desire to build more nuclear power in Sweden. Therefore, a large part of the debate focused on this issue.
Several seminars focused on energy communities and data centers. How to accelerate the expansion of the electricity grid to make room for more renewable electricity was also discussed on the main stage by Vattenfall, NCC, and Svenska kraftnät representatives. One factor currently increasing costs and creating challenges is the geopolitical security situation, which places higher demands on the resilience of the electricity grid.
The potential and barriers for Swedish large-scale solar power were discussed by Alexander Rudberg from Alight, Jon Malmsten from Logicenters, and Andreas Gullström from Alltema. According to Martin Malmved from Solfolket, permit-related complications and taxes on self-consumed electricity from large-scale facilities were the clearest obstacles. The panel also discussed the difficulty of finding the required expertise in Sweden.
Mats Lindelöw from Qurrent and Erik Lijlestrand from the installation company Gosol discussed battery development and opportunities to save money “behind the meter.” The panel called for clear and long-term rules from politicians.