The Center Party is now drafting a new party platform in which they say no to the renewal of the two oldest electricity cables to Denmark that will soon be retired.
The two cables – SK1 and SK2 – will likely end their lives in 2026.
– Many people are concerned about electricity prices, and now we have no control over how foreign cables are used. Norway cannot itself decide how much power is sent through the cables because that is subject to EU legislation. We are now addressing that, says Per Martin Sandtrøen (Sp) for VG.
He and Gro Anita McGalland are currently preparing the party's platform for the next parliamentary session.
The national meeting decides the course of the coming years in March.
“I think we'll get a resounding majority for this,” says Sandtroin.
The Conservative Party rejects the proposal and believes it could have serious consequences for electricity supplies. Read more about it below.
– Reducing export capacity
The Storting Mykjåland (Sp) representative from Aust-Agder believes that Norway undoubtedly needs more renewable energy in the future.
– When I travel around Agder and talk to mayors, they wonder why we should reduce more of our nature if we are just sending more energy out of the country? If we continue to export more energy, fewer people will want to develop more renewable energy in Norway. One step we can take when refurbishing cables like Skagerrak 1 and 2 is to say no. She says: After that, we reduce export capacity.
SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum also owns it Defend.
McGalland suggests the government has buried a potential new cable to Scotland – NorthConnect He suggested that investing in Norwegian offshore wind does not link Norwegian energy more closely to the European electricity market. The government promised not to approve any more foreign telegrams during this government period.
In the draft of the new party's programme, which will be sent in September, Sebb said they wanted this less Cables of today.
– This will ensure that some competitiveness is restored to Norwegian industry and contribute to lower electricity prices, says Mikjaland.
It believes that Norwegian supply security is good with significant exchange capacity abroad and that the latest addition to the cables between Norway and Denmark – Skagerrak 4 – was built as a replacement for Nos. 1 and 2.
Cable facts
The Skagerrak connection between Norway and Denmark consists of a total of four individual cables with a maximum total capacity of 1,700 MW. The two oldest cables, SK1 and SK2, built in 1976 and 1977 and now approaching retirement age, have a combined capacity of 500 MW.
Norway currently has a total of 17 power cables abroad.
– The populism of power
Nikolai Astrup, a member of the Conservative Energy and Environment Committee, believes Sp is irresponsible when they refuse to renew cables before a proper investigation into the consequences.
– It is power populism when Sp jumps directly to such a decision without prior knowledge of the consequences for Norway, he tells VG.
The Conservative Party will wait for a full investigation before saying yes or no to the new cables.
Cutting cables without enough power in your system can have serious consequences – not least for businesses and households in southern Norway, Astrup says. He points out that both Denmark and Sweden are building a significant amount of energy, and that the UK hopes to become a net energy exporter in 2030.
Norway will become more dependent on imports from our neighboring countries because we are dealing with energy shortages in Norway, he says and adds:
– Since the government took office, it has only granted licenses 0.3 TWh of new energy production. Just for the sake of meeting climate targets, the Norwegian Environment Agency estimates that this is where we are 34 new TWh needed By 2030. What saves us is that the countries around us have full interest in energy development.
Statnett aims to send one over message To NVE regarding the Denmark cables in the fall. The different alternatives and the need for further investigation will be explained here.
– Statnett and energy A joint project has been started to look at what is possible
Technical solutions for potential reinvestment of SK1 and SK2. The work is still at a very early stage, and it will take some time before a solution option is determined, Statnett wrote in a letter to NVE in October last year.
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