11 percent of the power for export. FRP demands cuts in foreign capsules – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
The autumn has given record prices, and on Sunday it is set for another record according to the power exchange Nord Pool.
The price people have to pay will then be around 3 kroner for each kilowatt hour. With such a price throughout the year, the electricity bill for a normal Norwegian household would end up at NOK 60,000.
Now the Progress Party and deputy leader Ketil Solvik-Olsen demand renegotiation of the contracts which means that Norwegian electricity automatically goes to the continent as long as the price is highest there.
– Our power system is not made for Germans to fire up their country on wind power and trust that Norway will save them when it is not windy, says Solvik-Olsen.
– So you mean we have to renegotiate or terminate the agreements we have for the new cables to Germany and the UK now?
– Now that Europe has changed the rules of the game that have been the basis, then we must take that into account, he continues.
Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has said in the election campaign that they will control electricity exports. Vedum’s State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Lars Vangen (Sp) now refers to Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marte Mjøs Persen.
– We have to follow up on the obligations we have, and I think they have largely served us well. We get power from Europe. When, for example, it blows a lot, it produces a lot of wind power. So all in all, I think this has gone reasonably well, says Mjøs Persen.
Can get worse
Norway currently has a power surplus of 20 TWh (billion kilowatt hours) in a normal year, of a production of 158 TWh.
Two thirds of this surplus has been eaten up by electrification in 9 years, according to NVE.
In 2030, there are only 7 TWh left according to NVE’s power market analysis. This increases the chance of European electricity prices in Norway.
Watercourse and energy director Kjetil Lund believes we do not need to steer towards such a small power surplus.
– It is clear that price formation in Norway is very much about how much power we choose to develop and consumption development in Norway. And if it goes up, it pulls us towards prices in Europe. Then prices in Europe may also change, says Lund.
And wind power, which in the long run will increase the power surplus, is still a few years ahead.
– This question, how much power are we going to develop in the future, is one of the most important choices in Norwegian energy policy in the future. And as it is up to our political authorities to decide.
Must have higher prices
Power market analyst Marius Holm Rennesund tells NRK that one step that can be taken to prevent so much power being exported out of the country is to increase electricity prices in certain periods.
Holm Rennesund has 17 years of experience from the power market. He says that this move has been carried out before.
– We must have prices that are close to those in Europe to prevent exports there. We must have a number of hours with prices that are about the same as in Europe to keep the power in Norway, he says to NRK.
Bound by climate goals
Minister of Petroleum and Energy Persen tells NRK that they want an energy commission set up to map the needs in the future.
– We have to achieve the goals we have set ourselves with a view to electrifying society because it is about us achieving our climate goals.
– This is not just something that will be as it is. It’s about what choices we make ourselves. Both on the consumption side, how much we choose to electrify how much we manage to energy efficiency and thus reduce consumption. And not least how much power we choose to develop ourselves.
Europris
At the same time as the Norwegian power surplus is being shaved off, the transmission capacity to Europe has increased sharply.
The new transmission cables to Germany and the United Kingdom alone have far higher capacity than the power surplus in a future normal year.
– We only import when prices in Europe are lower than here, we also export when the situation is the opposite, Lund says.