When the government proposed a ground rent tax on land-based wind power in December, they indicated that the tax would apply from 2023. The government nevertheless maintained that “the effective date would be assessed in the light of the consultation records”. Six months later, the response from the industry and the opposition has been so unequivocal that the government postponed the tax. Among the objections is that the proposal uses the spot price as the basis for the tax calculation, even though half of today’s wind power production is sold through long-term power agreements. These are agreements that often have a lower price than the spot price. – We have to carefully assess consultation inputs and legal rules before a proposal can be presented to the Storting, says Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp). He reminds that the motivation behind the proposal is to inject a larger part of the value creation back into the host municipalities, but that other considerations speak for extending the scheme for one year. The tax could theoretically generate revenues of NOK 2.5 billion. – Local communities and the community should receive a fair share of the values created from our shared natural resources, says Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp). Photo: ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN / news – This is a farce The production tax for wind power was doubled from 1 to 2 øre per kWh from 1 January 2023. This tax increase, which benefits the host municipalities, will not be affected by the postponement of the ground rent tax. – This is a farce, says energy policy spokesperson for Høgre, Nikolai Astrup. He clarifies that it is “good in isolation” that the ground rent tax has been postponed, but that “we still know nothing about how the facilities will turn out”. – This means that the wind power companies have to live in uncertainty about what framework conditions they will have to take into account for six months more, he says. The tax committee, which presented its report in December, recommends ground rent tax on wind power, but that it should first be sorted out. – It is very positive that this is being postponed and that the proposal will be considered in the Storting until autumn, says Truls Wickholm, director of Samfunnsbedriftene Energi (SBE). Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB – Now we can have an open hearing in the Storting – It is rare that we praise the government for an adjournment, but in this case it was actually important. Instead of the new wind power tax being settled in the back room with SV as part of the revised budget, we can now have an open hearing in the Storting, says Åslaug Haga, who is the head of Fornybar Noreg. She believes the appointment provides the basis for a “broad political settlement that can stand over time”, and which does not “scare away investors from Norway”. – We can already see that happening, and then it will be practically impossible to develop the 40 TWh of new power production that the Energy Commission says we need. The recommendations to the Energy Commission about “more of everything, faster” have been criticized for being “overly ambitious” (also among their own members). In a response to the hearing that was given in Nettavisen, the NVE director characterizes several of the targets for the Energy Commission as “unrealistic” and “unlikely”. When the government in September presented a package for “better distribution of the surplus from natural resources”, they also introduced the so-called high-price subsidy. The new “high price tax” said that the power industry must pay 23 percent tax on top of other taxes when power is sold for more than 70 øre/kWh. The government has since clarified that the “high-price tax” is a temporary phenomenon. – It is rare that we praise the government for a postponement, but in this case it was actually important, says Åslaug Haga, who is the head of Fornybar Noreg. Photo: Eirik Haukenes / news
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The government postponed ground rent tax on wind power – news Vestland
