Power shortages create a crisis in Senja municipality, especially the business community in Husøy and Senjahopen. Nergård Fisk in Senjahopen has already missed out on setting up a factory worth several hundred million, and they are having difficulty taking part in the green shift. It may still take eight years before the power grid is fully developed. This causes the fishing industry to fear that they will lose more new establishments. – Everything we had planned to develop has been put on hold. We have stopped the construction of the protein concentrate factory, which went to Værøy. And we have stopped the development of new production premises. We don’t have enough electricity in our village, says general manager of Nergård Fisk, Oddgeir Simonsen. The problem at Senja has previously been discussed in Folkebladet. In this area, construction work was supposed to be underway. Instead, the factory has been located in Lofoten. Photo: Kari Anne Skoglund / news The green shift There are several reasons for the power crisis in Senja: Northern Senja needs three times as much power capacity as they have today. A new power line is being planned, but it may take 2030 before it is fully developed. The need for electricity is large for energy-intensive new establishments for fishing facilities. Nergård Fisk currently uses 12 million kW/h, which corresponds to the electricity consumption of 600 households. The factory they lost would have used 5 megawatts a year. The power supply is so inadequate that there is not enough capacity to establish electric car chargers. Nergård fish wants to take part in the green shift. But the power crisis makes it difficult. – We have 8-10 large coastal boats that are here on auxiliary engines and large cargo boats that are on empty oil. We would prefer to have shore power for them. But unfortunately we don’t have the opportunity to do that at the moment, says Simonsen. Nergård Fisk wants to help facilitate the green shift at the fishing quay in Senjahopen. Then shore power is needed. Photo: Kari Anne Skoglund / news Working with new network The Arva network company is now working on the license application for Nord-Senja. Head of department for web development, Trond Are Bjørnvold, explains that there are several reasons why the processing time is long. It takes time to make the application and to have it processed by the authorities with all the hearings. In addition, it takes some time to build the network. – We are seeing fantastic industrial development in Nord-Senja, while at the same time we are carrying out large-scale electrification as a result of the green shift. This has led to an explosive demand for electricity to cover all needs. That is far more than the current power grid can handle. Bjørnvold says Arva has a great understanding of the business community’s frustration and despair while they wait. – It is clear that when industry and society have to postpone their plans, it is nothing special. We want not to stand in the way of society’s needs. On the contrary, we work extremely hard every day to manage to realize the need for new electricity, he says. Head of department for web development in Arva, Trond Are Bjørnvold. Photo: Knut Anders Finnset / news National challenge Senja is not alone in the challenge. – This is a problem along the entire coast in Arva’s area. We hear about exactly the same challenges throughout the country. Both in Trøndelag, Porsgrunn and Bergen, explains Bjørnvold. Over the past five years, Statnett has experienced an almost continuous growth in demand for network capacity for consumption that is higher than the current level. This is confirmed by Statnett’s communications advisor, Martha Hagerup Nilson. – Almost all available grid capacity in the central grid in Norway is reserved, both in the current transmission grid and the grid we are currently building. So this is a national challenge, she says. This is also what the Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy (NVE) says. “This applies to both the south, east, west and north of the country,” writes Ane Torvanger Brunvoll, head of section at NVE, in an e-mail to news. Mayor of Senja municipality, Tom Rune Elisussen, is clear that the challenges in Senja are of national importance. – This is, among other things, about food supply security. We send out to the market a significant number of portions of food every day. It is important to be able to create new jobs in a district municipality, in District Norway and along the coast, he says. – Very unreasonable. It is not just the time perspective of when the electricity comes in place that presents challenges. In 2019, there was an amendment to the Energy Act which states that 100 per cent of the investments and network rent must be covered by the users. The mayor believes that they are hostile to the district. – With that, the cooperative contributions to be able to establish themselves outside the main grid will be significant for the business community, says senior mayor Elisussen. This is a construction contribution. The network companies must determine construction contributions to cover the costs of new network investments and network reinforcements when customers; becomes affiliated, gets increased capacity, or gets better quality. The grid companies must determine and collect construction contributions to cover all or part of the costs of new grid connections or of strengthening the grid for existing customers. In addition, the network company must set a construction contribution when the customer requests increased quality. Fact: The Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy Senja municipality is now building an industrial area of 80 acres in Senjahopen. The mayor fears that the electricity costs will mean that no one dares to take the decision to establish themselves there. – If business wants to establish itself here, then it is a question of having to come in with up to NOK 80 million. It is very unreasonable, he says. Late mayor Tom Rune Elisussen and general manager of Nergård Fisk, Oddgeir Simonsen, hope for faster processing of the electricity license application to Arva. Photo: Kari Anne Skoglund The day-to-day manager of Nergård Fisk agrees. – We cannot bear such large costs alone to be able to do this. It should be on its way, that it is the state that builds this, he says. Rational development State Secretary Elisabeth Sæther in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy explains in an e-mail that the regulations with construction contributions should facilitate a socially rational development of the network. “We can’t see that the number of subscribers has any effect on how the arrangement with construction contributions works out for the customer who wants network capacity. Construction grants mean that existing network customers are charged less with the investment costs that come with new connections or capacity increases,” explains the state secretary. At Senja, the business world is clear that they will go to great lengths to help share costs. They can join a splicing team. But they are also asking for help from the state to solve both the time challenge and to share costs. General manager of Nergård Fisk, Oddgeir Simonsen. Photo: Kari Anne Skoglund / news – If we are to have activity out in the districts, this is important. Players may end up choosing to build in central areas if we don’t have enough electricity out in the districts, concludes general manager of Nergård Fisk, Oddgeir Simonsen.
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Power crisis in the rural areas – not enough power to charge electric cars – news Troms and Finnmark
