This week it became clear that Equinor is scrapping the offshore wind venture Trollvind, because the project will be too expensive. And soon after, Aker BP announced a large oil discovery near the Yggdrasil field west of Bergen in the North Sea. The two issues are not directly connected, but nevertheless bring out the fears of the government’s permanent budget partner: – If we do not cut emissions from the oil and gas industry, it is impossible to reach Norwegian climate targets, says SV’s climate policy spokesperson Lars Haltbrekken to news. UROLIG: SV and Lars Haltbrekken will take drastic measures to force new offshore wind projects. Photo: William Jobling / news In order to achieve the goal of cutting 55 per cent of domestic emissions by 2030, large-scale electrification of the oil platforms must take place. This can either happen by power from land being fed out to the platforms, or by them receiving power from new offshore wind facilities. But SV believes that offshore wind and not power from land is the way to go. – We must ensure that it will not be so easy for the oil companies to choose onshore electricity when they have to cut emissions offshore. We must force the oil companies to develop offshore wind in order to use offshore wind to electrify the platforms, says Haltbrekken. Another piece of news also hit the front pages this week, which shows that the good times for oil and gas are almost over: the operators on the Norwegian continental shelf estimate that the investments in the pipeline transport and extraction of oil and gas industries will be NOK 197.8 billion in 2023. This is 5.3 per cent more than the estimate given in the previous quarter, according to Statistics Norway. Two moves The development makes Haltbrekken deeply uneasy. – When we see that Equinor is dropping its offshore wind project, we will have to use other means to bring about an investment in offshore wind, he says. Therefore, SV will now take drastic action. With new tax measures, the party will force more offshore wind on the Norwegian continental shelf. The party’s solution, which has also been launched by the environmental organization Zero, is two-fold: An electricity tax for using shore power to electrify the platforms. Increased CO2 tax on the continental shelf, which makes it more expensive for the oil industry to release greenhouse gases. – We want to make it more attractive to use offshore wind by introducing an electricity tax for the use of onshore electricity to electrify the platforms. In addition, we need an increase in CO2 taxes going forward to drive this forward, says Haltbrekken. – If not, we fear that the oil companies will choose the cheapest and simplest solutions, which is to use electricity from land, which will then also displace investment in the mainland industry, and that will be very serious, he continues. Entering into negotiations The statement from SV comes in the middle of the negotiations on the revised national budget in the Storting. When the talks on the annual update of the national budget started, SV’s negotiator Kari Elisabeth Kaski emphasized the following: DEALER: SV’s fiscal policy spokesperson Kari Elisabeth Kaski. Photo: Hanna Johre / NTB – We have to change the instruments and incentives, so that it is more profitable to develop offshore wind instead of getting power from land. She added: – One example of that could be the introduction of an electricity tax on the continental shelf, where you get an exemption if you have offshore wind. Sp’s parliamentary leader Marit Arnstad points out that the budget negotiations are ongoing and says she therefore does not want to comment on SV’s proposal. But the Progress Party’s Terje Halleland says he is not surprised that SV believes “more taxes are the solution to this problem as well”. – For the FRP, electrification of the shelf with power from shore is out of the question. If the oil companies themselves want to electrify in order to reduce expenses for quota purchases, they must acquire power themselves and foot the bill themselves, says Frp’s energy policy spokesperson Terje Halleland. The oil industry is part of the quota-obliged sector and can decide for itself whether it will be worthwhile to cut emissions, he maintains: – It should not affect other industries on land, workplaces or the electricity bill of the consumer. The industry warns CEO Hildegunn T. Blindheim of Offshore Norway, the industry organization for the companies that operate on the Norwegian continental shelf, believes SV’s proposal will be counterproductive. – The electricity tax will mean that climate measures, which are absolutely necessary to reach our climate targets in 2030, will not be able to be carried out, she says. SAYS NO: Hildegunn Blindheim in Offshore Norway believes SV’s tax measures will make it more difficult to reach the climate goals. Photo: William Jobling / news Blindheim believes the tax will make it unprofitable to carry out the plans to electrify installations from land. There will not be time to replace these plans with viable offshore wind projects by 2030, she maintains. – We want to use offshore wind to ensure that we get more power to land so that we can also use more power to electrify. But it is the large offshore wind farms that will make this possible. Not that we set up any wind turbines near installations alone, she says. It worries her that SV has previously shown that the party is able to gain traction for changes in oil policy in budget negotiations with the governing parties. Last autumn, for example, the party prevailed with a demand to postpone the 26th round of concessions until this parliamentary term. This means that no new exploration licenses will be awarded until after the next election. And in the negotiations on the revised budget last year, SV ensured that three of the 31 blocks in the so-called TFO area in last year’s concession round were withdrawn. Thus, there will be 28 blocks where oil exploration is opened. TFO stands for predefined areas. SV described it as a provocation that the government recently extended the TFO allocations this year with a further 92 blocks on the Norwegian continental shelf. Increased price of emissions The economy website E24 has previously discussed the proposal from the environmental foundation Zero for a tax model that will force the oil industry to invest more in renewables. – The news that Equinor is putting Trollvind on hold shows that political measures are needed for the oil companies to contribute to producing the power needed to electrify the shelf, says Stig Schjølset, Head of Industry at Zero to news. Stig Schjølset in Zero believes that the proposal to increase the CO2 tax and introduce an electricity tax on the continental shelf will produce more offshore wind. Photo: Caroline Dokken Wendelborg / Zero The proposal that SV will therefore fight for involves introducing an electricity tax, which combined with an increased CO2 tax should give the companies an incentive to electrify with offshore wind rather than power from land. – Today it is obvious that power from shore is the cheapest solution for the companies. But the point of our proposal is to make it profitable to electrify more fields with offshore wind. The oil industry is currently exempt from electricity tax on the continental shelf. But if you introduce an electricity tax of, for example, 75 øre on power from shore, it will be more profitable to develop your own offshore wind to provide power, writes Zero in a note. But the environmental foundation also sees a problem with this: If the Storting adopts such an electricity tax, electricity will become expensive for the oil industry, which may then drop electrification. Therefore, Zero proposes another measure: If the Storting also sharply increases the CO₂ tax, the companies will have to take measures to cut emissions. Haltbrekken will not for the time being go into what levels an electricity tax and possibly an increased CO2 tax should be at. – We would like to propose that the government investigate this, with a view to having it introduced. Then you can see which levels are necessary to trigger the emission cuts we are completely dependent on to implement, he says.
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