Today, a price record was set for the electricity price in South-West Norway. While those who live in central and northern Norway still have almost free electricity. County mayor in Vestfold and Telemark, Terje Riis Johansen, says many businesses are worried about their electricity bill now. – There is fear of closures, and they wonder if they can pay their bills tomorrow. It is a serious situation. The former oil and energy minister believes that resources are lost when you are unable to transfer power from north to south. – To see those pictures of water flowing over the dams, at the same time as it is so dry here, it does something to you, it is poor resource management. Zakarias dam in Tafjord in Fjord municipality in Sunnmøre is too full. Thus, they have to drain the dam and lose valuable power. Photo: Remi Sagen / news We have never seen such a situation with the enormous differences in price in Norway before, according to Statnett’s executive director, Gunnar Løvås. – It has largely been the same power price in the northern and southern parts of the country in the last ten years. So the last half year has been a very special situation. It will take many years before the capacity is better Due to poor transmission capacity between the two parts of the country, the rest of Norway cannot benefit from the surplus energy that is produced in the north. According to Løvås, this is something that has only turned out to be a problem this year. – The capacity in the power grid is adapted to what has been the normal need. And traditionally there has been a reasonably good balance in each part of the country, and little need to transfer power. Plans have already been laid to improve the transmission capacity in Norway. Among other things, the power grid must be upgraded and smart measures must be taken to make better use of the grid, but it will only be a few years before the transmission capacity improves. Løvås hopes that the first steps will be in place within the next three years. – But the bigger things, such as building new power lines, will take eight to ten years, says Gunnar Løvås. Need to improve the licensing process Terje Riis Johansen believes Norway must speed up the construction of new power lines between the north and south of the country. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news In order to build new power lines, you must obtain a licence, i.e. apply for permission to build it. Here, there are many factors that play a role in whether it is approved. Riis Johansen believes that this process should be accelerated. He says that Norway has a far too poor system for licensing processes. – Here, the government should do a clean-up and ensure that the time is reduced drastically. In an e-mail to news, State Secretary in the Ministry of Oil and Energy, Elisabeth Sæther (Ap), writes that the power grid committee has worked during the past year to assess measures to streamline the process of building grid facilities, and that their proposal is now on hearing. Elisabeth Sæther, State Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Photo: Naina Helen Jåma/NTB – Development of a new network cable between north and south is not a solution to the extraordinary power situation in southern Norway that we are now in the middle of. Network development takes time, she writes further.
ttn-69
It can take ten years to get new power lines in place to carry electricity between north and south – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
