Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
All the above factors lead to a difference in gate fees. The authors assume that in the
future, the predominant factor to decrease the driving factors for import to Sweden would be
the introduction of a waste incineration tax. A change in energy taxation in order to better fit
in to the European Union legislation could also have a significant impact. In Sweden,
business is divided into different sectors, with differentiated energy tax levels. This may be in
conflict with the EU's rules with regard to state aid, but Sweden has been granted temporary
exemption. If the differentiation were changed and the same rules were valid for the whole of
the business sector, the value of heat would be lowered, since the high taxes on fossil fuels
would be lowered. Instead, it is suggested that there would be taxation on heat for consumers
(Ministry of Finance, 2003).
Table 2 shows the gate fees in Sweden for different treatment options for municipal
waste. As can be seen, there is great variation between plants.
Table 2. Gate fees for municipal waste, including VAT and taxes
(Swedish Association of Waste Management, 2005b)
Treatment method
Landfill
Incineration
Biological treatment
Cost (€/ton)
74-128
32-64
43-106
Impact on Waste Incineration of Trade in Electricity
The objective of the directive (European Union, 2003a) on a common internal electricity
market is to open up the electricity market by subjecting it to competition. The reason for this
is to increase efficiency in the energy sector. Industrial consumers can choose their supplier
from July 1
st
2004 and all consumers from July 1
st
2007. The European Commission
publishes a yearly report about the implementation of the internal market (European
Commission, 2004) and that report states that the result of the implementation so far is
unsatisfactory. One reason is barriers to cross-border trade, e.g. market structures and the
need for additional investments in infrastructure. However, the report states that these
problems must be solved. The impact of this directive in Sweden is that electricity prices will
increase due to harmonisation with the electricity prices in continental Europe, which are
higher than in Sweden. This is further described in Trygg and Karlsson (2005).
Higher electricity prices increases interest in producing electricity in the DH systems, and
naturally also interest in electricity production in waste incineration plants. It also effects the
cost of heat in the DH networks. A higher electricity price reduces the cost of heat from CHP
plants and their possibility to compete with other plants also improves. Waste incineration
plants are base suppliers of heat due to their negative operational costs and the need to treat
the waste. However, in the DH network of Göteborg (Holmgren, 2006), where the municipal
energy utility buys heat from a waste incineration plant
13
and also waste heat from industries,
the municipal utility had a better negotiation position towards those companies when they
invested in a natural gas fired CHP plant assuming electricity prices harmonized with those
on the continent.
13
In this case, another company, co-owned by several neighbouring municipalities owned the waste incineration
plant and sold the heat to the utility operating the DH network.
