Sweden issues new ordinance on electrical lines and network concessions

The Swedish Government has issued a new ordinance on electrical lines, SFS 2026:1780, published in Svensk författningssamling on 6 October 2026. The regulation governs how applications for a network concession for a line are drawn up, processed and assessed, and it sets out the cases in which the concession requirement does not apply. It is the first standalone ordinance in the statute book devoted specifically to electrical lines.

The ordinance, titled “Förordning om elektriska ledningar”, is a framework regulation issued by the Government and published by Regeringskansliet in the official statute book. It is structured in five chapters that follow a concession application from first filing to final decision, and it addresses both the procedural and the technical side of line permits.

What the ordinance contains

The regulation is divided into five chapters:

• Chapter 1: introductory provisions.
• Chapter 2: the content of applications.
• Chapter 3: the handling of applications.
• Chapter 4: the choice of technology for lines when examining a network concession for a line.
• Chapter 5: exemptions from the requirement of a network concession.

The structure places the technical question of which line technology is to be used inside the concession review itself, rather than leaving it to a separate procedure.

Who is affected

The ordinance concerns the concession regime for electricity networks, under which a network concession is required for a line. Its provisions on the content and handling of applications fall on the parties that apply for such concessions, while the chapter on exemptions defines the situations in which no concession is needed at all.

• Grid owners and network operators that apply for a concession for a line.
• Municipalities, whose planning and land interests are engaged by new line routes.
• Landowners and rights holders affected by the routing and technology of a line.

A wider package on the electricity system

SFS 2026:1780 was published on the same day as several other ordinances touching the electricity system:

• SFS 2026:1781, on certification of transmission system operators for electricity.
• SFS 2026:1792, amending the ordinance on a special investment space for electricity network operations.
• SFS 2026:1794, amending the ordinance on guarantees of origin for energy.
• SFS 2026:1795, amending the ordinance on state support to improve security of supply in the electricity system.

Taken together, the day’s promulgations cover network concessions, transmission system operation, network investment and security of supply.

Why it matters

For anyone planning, permitting or opposing a new power line, SFS 2026:1780 is now the operative text: it fixes what an application must contain, how the authority is to handle it, how the choice between line technologies is weighed during the concession review, and where the concession requirement stops applying. Because the technology question is built into the concession examination, the practical effect is that routing and design choices are settled within the permit process rather than afterwards.

Source: Svensk författningssamling, SFS 2026:1780, 6 October 2026, section I (official reference: SFS 2026:1780).