Whether power cables from Norway down to the rest of Europe are positive or negative is something that has been much discussed. But did you know that a power grid where we connect more closely to the rest of Europe is not a new idea? William Hakvaag at the Lofoten War Memorial Museum in Svolvær. Photo: Jon Inge Johansen / news William Hakvaag is museum manager at the Lofoten War Memorial Museum in Svolvær. He recently came across a dusty propaganda magazine from September 1941. The magazine is called Signal and was published by the German armed forces. In the magazine there is an article called “New power for Europe”. – It is about how to get electricity from Scandinavia to Europe via cables, says Hakvaa to news. Signal was a German soldier’s magazine published during the Second World War and translated into several languages, including Norwegian. Photo: Jon Inge Johansen / news Hakvaag believes the illustration and the Germans’ plans are strikingly similar to today’s European power grid. – This power distribution plan is reasonably similar to the one we see today. – If you don’t see similarities between this and today’s power grid, you have to look again. Hakvaag himself was speechless when he read the article. The underwater cables are not there, but otherwise it is the same, he notes. – Here is the line that has saved us in the north from the high electricity prices, says Hakvaa, as he points to a line that refers to a planned expansion of lines between north and south in Norway: Map taken from the German propaganda magazine, shows which power cables are “already existing” and which are “proposed”. Photo: Jon Inge Johansen / news This is how we are connected to Europe as of today. Graphics: ENTSO-E Important for the occupying power Lars Thue is professor of history at BI. He has written extensively about the history of Norwegian power plants. According to the professor, the Germans, led by Reich Marshal Hermann Göring, wanted to use Norwegian hydropower to produce aluminum for the Luftwaffe’s aircraft. In addition, there was a desire to export electricity to Germany. He confirms that the plans the Germans used during the last world war can be reminiscent of today’s power grid. – There were some fantastic plans for the development, he says. – It was to be a European network with significant exports from Norway. – The drawings made by the Germans are an example of an integrated European network where Germany was supposed to be a kind of centre. But the first plans for Norwegian power exports started earlier. As early as 1918, Norway was invited to Copenhagen to discuss future electricity exports to Denmark. The plan was not realized. Nor the ambitions for extensive power exports to Germany in the early 1930s. But during the years of occupation, the exploitation of Norwegian hydropower for the benefit of German interests became central to the occupying power’s economic policy. Could have been expanded further The Germans focused on expanding power plants because they needed power for the production of aluminium. They naturally took over all the aluminum that was already produced in Norway, says the professor. – They also started several large development projects, but for various reasons several of these facilities were only started or half-finished because the wars ended before they were completed. But Germany’s electricity plans for Norway came to an abrupt end together with the war itself. Or did they? – If the Germans had won the war or if it had lasted longer, several of these power plants could have been expanded further. – The development of these power plants can be compared to the Nord-Norgebanen in that both were interrupted at the end of the war. Unlike the Nord-Norgebanen, the power plants were built by Norwegians after the war, says Thue. The power plants were built on behalf of Norwegian interests after the war, instead of the German ones. Shows local conditions Power analyst Marius Holm Rennesund in Thema Consulting has also had a look at the map from the propaganda magazine from 1941. He thinks the map the museum manager has found primarily shows that “local conditions around industry and power resources have not changed much over time”. – The large industrial regions in Germany, such as the Ruhr area, have arisen where energy access is good, he notes. – As the need for energy has increased, resources further away have been used and the infrastructure has gradually been expanded from the areas where there are good conditions for power production to where a lot of energy is consumed, says Rennesund. This is how the power grid has been built out over time The power grid has become more and more integrated over time, first in the Nordics and later also in Europe. Norway got its first connection to Sweden in 1960 from Nea Trøndelag to Järpströmmen. The background was that an agreement between Trondheim Energiverk and the Swedes in which Trondheim Energiverk borrowed money from the Swedes to finance the Nea power plant. The Swedes wanted to be able to import parts of the production, which was controversial. The argument for granting a license to the line was that in years with more rainfall and inflow than normal, when the surplus went to the sea, we could sell electricity to the Swedes. And when we had dry years, we could import electricity. We gradually got more lines to Sweden and eventually also Finland. At the end of the 70s, Norway linked itself with Denmark. The idea was to connect systems that were dominated by hydropower with systems that were dominated by coal and gas power. There are large start-up and shutdown costs in coal and gas-fired power plants, and it can therefore be more profitable to let them run when power demand is low than to stop production. Hydropower, on the other hand, is very flexible. It can be started and stopped in a short time and at a relatively low cost. Thus, we could import cheap electricity at night and at weekends and export during the day on weekdays. After this, we have connected ourselves more closely to continental Europe and the countries there have also built infrastructure between them to exploit the differences in the production composition and resource base, increase security of supply and ensure that the power can be transported from where there are good production resources to where consumption is located. Source: Marius Holm Rennesund.
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