This was stated by Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) in his explanation to the Storting on Monday morning. The statement is also referenced in VG. Aasland added that the likelihood of power rationing is low. – Rationing has been mentioned as a possibility in Norway. The probability is assessed as low, but that underlines the seriousness, he said. The gas power plant at Mongstad was scheduled to be dismantled on 30 August, but after high pressure, Equinor chose to put the Mongstad closure on hold on 5 August. The decision came after pressure from the Storting and from Norwegian Industry. The gas power plant at Mongstad costs Equinor several hundred million a year. It is not clear what they have received in return for extending their lifespan. This is what the minister said – The government is clear that we will implement the necessary measures, if the need arises. NVE has therefore asked Statnett to sort out measures in a very strained power situation, so-called Saks measures. These are measures that can be implemented if the chances of rationing become high. One of the measures that Statnett is considering is the arrangement for power production at Mongstad, but other measures are also being considered. The report must be completed by 1 October. – These are measures that can be implemented if the likelihood of rationing becomes high, says Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap). Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB Statnett delivers a report in October Statnett sent a letter to Equinor in June in which they questioned whether it was still appropriate to shut down the gas power plant at Mongstad as planned. Statnett assesses that there is “up to 20 per cent probability” of electricity rationing for the winter, and must deliver a report to NVE on possible Saks measures by 1 October. SAKS is short for “extremely strained power situation”. In a corresponding Saks report from 2014, Statnett wrote that gas power solutions are not ideal, but that “the capacity should be able to be assessed in a very strained power situation”. The climate effect of gas power means that the alternative of putting old gas power plants into operation will likely meet with opposition from the Norwegian public. 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 Want to breathe life into old gas power plants Melkøya and the 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”. Since August, the reserve gas power plant at Nyhamna at Aukra in Møre and Romsdal has also been sold. Dismantling started last week, to protests from the Progress Party, which believes the gas power plant could be useful in the south of the country (power region NO2). Earlier this year, the FRP also advocated reviving old gas power plants as a measure against the electricity crisis. A signal that was received with dismay and consternation at the Storting (see below). – Firing up gas power plants must come last Natalia Golis, MDG – I experience this as yet another short-term diversionary proposal for the elephant in the room: That we time and again go for short-term emergency solutions that cement our dependence on fossil fuels. 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, then the price of electricity will automatically go down, is a derailment and a myth that has been accepted there 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. 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 160 gas turbines on Norwegian oil platforms The debate about gas power 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”. While his successor, Jens Stoltenberg (Ap), had to see the dream of full-scale cleaning at Mongstad, the so-called “moon landing”, collapse. 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 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
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This gas-fired power plant can be full of fire this winter – news Vestland
