Equinor will keep the gas turbine at Mongstad power plant available as part of the basis for Statnett’s assessment of SAKS measures in October. SAKS is short for “extremely strained power situation”. The decision comes after high pressure. – We will continue the dialogue with Statnett on operational and commercial solutions if the gas turbine is covered by SAKS measures, says Equinor’s Gisle Ledel Johannessen. The Mongstad extension in turn raises questions about how operational other gas power plants along and outside the Norwegian coast should be. In a SAKS report from 2014, Statnett wrote that gas power solutions are not ideal, but that “this capacity should be able to be assessed in a very strained power situation”. In addition to a handful of land-based gas power plants, there are currently 160 gas turbines on Norwegian oil platforms. Several of these are approaching retirement age, in line with the policy to electrify the shelf. – The government should consider whether it is possible to re-establish former gas power plants along the coast as a contingency measure, says deputy leader of the FRP, Terje Søviknes, who has previously been oil and energy minister. He adds: – There is reason to believe that the power price may be prolonged. Then new and mobile gas power plants can be an alternative in the medium term. – The government should assess whether it is possible to re-establish former gas power plants along the coast as a contingency measure, says deputy leader of the FRP, Terje Søviknes. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix – Efficient gas power plants must be continued – The government and state governing bodies must “turn every stone” to identify measures that can prevent rationing of power. I don’t want to reject anything, but I want to see Statnett’s recommendations, says the parliamentary representative for Høgre, Ove Trellevik. – In the current situation, efficient gas power plants must be continued, says KrF’s energy policy spokesperson, Kjell Ingolf Ropstad. He adds that “full electrification of Snøhvit would not be wise”. The Snøhvit field in the Norwegian Sea is connected to the Melkøya gas power plant in Hammerfest municipality. Melkøya and the disputed gas power plant at Mongstad are today the only two operational gas power plants for Equinor. The gas turbines on Melkøya are scheduled to be decommissioned from 2027. The gas power plant at Kårstø in Rogaland was retired in 2017 due to “continued low operating utilisation”. The plant had an output of 430 megawatts (MW). This is what “the country’s first mobile gas power plant” at Tjeldbergodden in Møre looked like. In 2015, the plant was dismantled because Statnett “no longer had a use for it”. Photo: Kjell Herskedal, Kjell Herskedal / SCANPIX A trauma in the Norwegian climate battle At the Storting, signals of new life for old gas-fired power plants were received with dismay and dismay (see fact box). – Firing up gas power plants must come last Natalia Golis, MDG – I see this as yet another short-term diversion proposal for the elephant in the room: That we time and again go for short-term emergency solutions that cement our fossil dependency. In addition, the proposal is disjointed. The EU is now asking its member states to cut 15 percent of their gas consumption. We must rather send the gas we have to Europe, which desperately needs it for heating. Marie Sneve Martinussen, deputy head of Raudt – Now the government and Statnett must sort out crisis measures. I think it’s a shame that the deadline for delivery is only 1 October, and I believe that there must always be updated crisis plans. We should avoid producing electricity from gas power plants, and measures that ensure that water is retained in reservoirs and energy conservation must come first. Firing up gas power plants must come last. Marthe Hammer, SV – The belief that if we only increase the production of electricity in southern Norway, the price of electricity will automatically go down, is a derailment and a myth that has been accepted as a premise throughout the winter. Today’s situation cries out for political management and control of a completely fundamental energy source. Unfortunately, we have a majority in the Storting who are only creative about the oil industry and the premises for climate change. We saw that during the corona crisis with the oil tax package, which turned out to be far too generous and which unfortunately tied up huge investments in the oil industry in the years to come, and now, the answer is to subsidize the oil industry in order to delay the closure of gas power plants, or to start gas power plants. Where is the power to act on electricity savings for businesses and people, where is the proposal for a two-price model for electricity? Sigrun Gjerløw Aasland, day-to-day manager at Zero – I think it is a very bad idea to solve one problem by increasing another. What is proposed here will increase Norwegian emissions, and not increase the total supply of renewable energy. What we need now is a significant energy crisis package that takes quick steps to make energy use more efficient (here there is great potential) and expand e.g. solar (ditto) in addition to other energy sources. Asgeir Tomasgard, professor at NTNU – In Norway, it is the Mongstad gas power plant that is most relevant as a backup to prevent rationing. Using gas turbines at petroleum plants to produce electricity for households will probably be less efficient than exporting the gas to Europe and letting them use their specialized gas power plants that combine electricity production and heat production. There is a shortage of gas in Europe and, so inefficient use of gas is not rational. Tor Reier Lilleholt, power analyst at Volue Insight – We need to see what happens with the rainfall this autumn to say whether we need to burn gas in Norway for electricity production to ensure security of supply. But we should look at all possibilities. I am positive about that. But we must not overdramatize the situation in Norway already now. We have to distinguish between reliable delivery and high price. There is a reason why Mongstad should not be driven to produce energy. There is no use for such expensive production in Norway. It now costs between NOK 4 and 5/kWh to produce electricity from gas. It is twice the price of what the current costs in Western Norway. The background is a long and heated debate about gas power that takes place across the Norwegian party flora. In 2000, Kjell Magne Bondevik (KrF) resigned as Prime Minister because he did not want to build “polluting gas power plants” (the following year he accepted the construction of gas power plants on Kårstø and Melkøya). While his successor, Jens Stoltenberg (Ap), had to see the dream of full-scale cleaning at Mongstad, the so-called “moon landing”, collapse. The Mongstad retreat has since been a trauma in the Norwegian climate fight, and “a sore spot” for Equinor, which has decided to shut down the power plant. Jens Stoltenberg believed that gas power plants were necessary to ensure the supply of electricity to Norway and the Norwegian continental shelf. Photo: Lise Åserud / SCANPIX On Wednesday, Statnett announced that the gas power plant at Gossa “will also be taken down during the year” after they have finally found a buyer. – In any case, this power plant would not have any function against a possible very strained power situation in southern Norway in the spring, says Statnett’s head of communications, Irene Meldal. Statnett built “the country’s first mobile gas power plant” at Tjeldbergodden in 2007. In 2015, the plant was sold because it was “no longer needed”. – Several of the petroleum installations are located in the northern price areas where there is more than enough power, says power analyst Marius Holm Rennesund. Melkøya and the disputed gas power plant at Mongstad are today the only two operational gas power plants for Equinor. The gas turbines on Melkøya are scheduled to be decommissioned from 2027. Photo: Allan Klo / news – Should be one of the very last measures in the emergency plan In an article in Dagens Næringsliv, Åsmund Sunde Valseth, senior economist at Vista, suggests using gas turbines on petroleum plants and oil installations that today receive power from land. Equinor CEO Anders Opedal has previously explained that it is not possible to turn back time and “de-electrify” the part of the shelf that is all electrified. – If we shut down Troll A, we will shut down a significant part of the gas to Europe. For Norway as an energy nation, it has major consequences, he says to NTB. EU countries agreed in July to cut gas use by 15 percent. The crisis plan comes after Russia cut off gas supplies to the continent as a result of what the European Commission calls a “deliberate attempt to use energy as a political weapon”. – Expensive and polluting operation of gas power plants should be one of the very last measures on the emergency plan. The gas we have should primarily go to cover Europe’s need to replace Russian imports, not to Norwegian overconsumption, says Truls Gulowsen of the Norwegian Nature Conservancy.
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Puts Mongstad closure on hold – news Vestland
