Dr. Thomas ODonnell

Sweden Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Ebba Busch stated today that "she's furious with Germany" for dismantling its nuclear power plants, causing a spike in energy prices in Sweden. Southern Sweden has record-high energy prices today due to having send electricity to Germany via undersea power cables today. Cold weather coupled with no wind has driven up the demand in Germany from other sources than wind. EU regulations force Sweden to send that electricity to Germany, driving up prices in southern Sweden today to be nearly 200 times higher than they are in northern Sweden. A 10-minute shower in southern Sweden costs around USD 5 during today's price spike. Ebba Busch added that Germany's decision to dismantle its nuclear power plants has also other detrimental effects for Europe: "I'm furious with the Germans. They have made a decision for their country, which they have the right to make; it's their right to decide. But it has had very serious consequences, also for the EU's competitiveness because we see that German competitiveness has dropped significantly." She said that Germany's actions have also reduced its ability to help Ukraine. - “After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they still chose to dismantle their nuclear power plants... I respect that people can have different opinions about nuclear power plants, but we could have kept it. They are important because they are baseload power plants. Having access to such baseload power plants would have increased the transmission capacity from Germany to other electricity price areas in Europe, driving down prices for all of us"