I’m always surprised at what their argument is. “Don’t make us invest in cheap renewable energy that will make us independent from other countries”. Sure, they export quite a bit, but that makes your economy dependant on external demand. In all other areas the right leaning parties want to sever themselves from outside influence, except when it involves money…
I’m always surprised at what their argument is. “Don’t make us invest in cheap renewable energy that will make us independent from other countries”.
Norway?
As I recall, Norway actually uses a very large amount of domestically-generated hydropower, which is inexpensive and renewable.
The last thing I saw people in Norway upset about was complaining about the fact that during the gas crisis, they were being pressured by the EU to sell more hydropower than it was certain that Norway could support to the EU, which was draining their reservoirs. They were worried that they wouldn’t have enough water behind their hydroelectric dams during winter, when they use it to drive electrical heating.
The electricity sector in Norway relies predominantly on hydroelectricity.[3][4] A significant share of the total electrical production is consumed by national industry.
Average annual hydropower generation capacity in 2019 was around 131 TWh, about 95% of total electricity production.[5]
Norway scrambles to avoid empty hydropower reservoirs this winter
OSLO, July 7 (Reuters) - Norwegian hydropower producers are cutting output in southern Norway this summer to save water for the winter, fearing a looming supply crunch after a prolonged period of dry weather diminished reservoir levels.
There is also concern that hydropower, which accounts for around 90% of Norwegian electricity generation, will continue to be exported to continental Europe.
The reservoirs feeding many of the plants are currently only 59% full, compared with a 20-year median level of 68%, according to data from energy regulator NVE.
In southwestern Norway, where over a third of capacity is located, reservoirs are just 46% full and at their lowest point for at least 20 years.
That was 2022.
It also sounds like they’ve had a recent extreme domestic electricity price spike (like, 10x the residential rates in the US) in southern Norway related to very large exports to the EU this winter; southern Norway is exporting a great deal of power, but northern Norway doesn’t have the transmission capacity to do so.
The 95% figure isn’t actually in the article text; @[email protected] wouldn’t have seen it there. I put it in my comment, quoted text with it, but that was from Wikipedia.
I’d remembered past reading and discussion on the topic from /r/Europe on Reddit, where the impact on their hydropower water reserves was something of a sore point for some Norwegians.
I hate typing on my phone and English is not my first language, so I guess the point I was trying to make didn’t quite make its way through. Sorry.
The more conservative party left the coalition because they value their “sovereignty” and “independence” and thus don’t want to play by the rules of the EU. To me they basically just trade one Dependance for another. They want to still be able to sell their oil to the EU, so they depend on EU’s demand for oil, but they don’t want to give up some freedoms even though that in turn would bolster their independence in the energy sector (even more local renewable electricity production, improved infrastructure that would be less susceptible to failure, and so on).
It just makes no sense to me. The EU directives are actually quite in line (or could easily be spun into line) with the ideals of traditionally conservative parties. Yet everywhere (not just Norway), those parties HATE renewable energy. And I think it is pretty clear that money is the big factor here…
Also…maybe I’m blind, but nowhere in the article it’s mentioned that Norway produces its energy with hydro?
I’m always surprised at what their argument is. “Don’t make us invest in cheap renewable energy that will make us independent from other countries”. Sure, they export quite a bit, but that makes your economy dependant on external demand. In all other areas the right leaning parties want to sever themselves from outside influence, except when it involves money…
Norway?
As I recall, Norway actually uses a very large amount of domestically-generated hydropower, which is inexpensive and renewable.
The last thing I saw people in Norway upset about was complaining about the fact that during the gas crisis, they were being pressured by the EU to sell more hydropower than it was certain that Norway could support to the EU, which was draining their reservoirs. They were worried that they wouldn’t have enough water behind their hydroelectric dams during winter, when they use it to drive electrical heating.
kagis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Norway
EDIT:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/norway-scrambles-avoid-empty-hydropower-reservoirs-this-winter-2022-07-07/
That was 2022.
It also sounds like they’ve had a recent extreme domestic electricity price spike (like, 10x the residential rates in the US) in southern Norway related to very large exports to the EU this winter; southern Norway is exporting a great deal of power, but northern Norway doesn’t have the transmission capacity to do so.
As a Norwegian, yes this
If you’d bothered to read the article you would have learned that Norway is already at 95% renewable due to their Hydro Power.
The 95% figure isn’t actually in the article text; @[email protected] wouldn’t have seen it there. I put it in my comment, quoted text with it, but that was from Wikipedia.
I’d remembered past reading and discussion on the topic from /r/Europe on Reddit, where the impact on their hydropower water reserves was something of a sore point for some Norwegians.
I hate typing on my phone and English is not my first language, so I guess the point I was trying to make didn’t quite make its way through. Sorry.
The more conservative party left the coalition because they value their “sovereignty” and “independence” and thus don’t want to play by the rules of the EU. To me they basically just trade one Dependance for another. They want to still be able to sell their oil to the EU, so they depend on EU’s demand for oil, but they don’t want to give up some freedoms even though that in turn would bolster their independence in the energy sector (even more local renewable electricity production, improved infrastructure that would be less susceptible to failure, and so on).
It just makes no sense to me. The EU directives are actually quite in line (or could easily be spun into line) with the ideals of traditionally conservative parties. Yet everywhere (not just Norway), those parties HATE renewable energy. And I think it is pretty clear that money is the big factor here…
Also…maybe I’m blind, but nowhere in the article it’s mentioned that Norway produces its energy with hydro?