National budget: NOK 165 million to build renewable energy
The government proposes to increase the licenses for the energy management authorities by over NOK 165 million.
The budget will help to increase the licenses to the energy management authorities by NOK 165 million, and help to facilitate the faster development of offshore wind, more efficient concession processing for power grids, and new renewable energy, strengthening the analysis capacity in NVE and a new power market model.
“The energy crisis in Europe, where Russia uses gas as a political weapon, has led to very high electricity prices in parts of southern Norway. In the long term, there are only three measures that can really improve the situation in the Norwegian power supply: more power, more networks, and more efficient use of our energy”, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland and adds:
“We simply need a change of pace to build out the network and power quickly enough. In the last three years alone, for example, there has been a sharp increase in the number of online applications, and there are now 120 cases in the queue. It is not sustainable”.
Renewable energy – a competitive advantage for Norway
The budget proposal includes over NOK 100 million for, among other things, increasing case processing capacity, streamlining license processing, and safeguarding ICT security in the power supply.
“Access to clean and affordable renewable energy must continue to be a competitive advantage in Norway. It is important that we also rig up the energy authorities to follow up society’s need for more renewable energy, and to develop the next generation power system”, says Aasland.
Speeding up the license processing
The budget will contribute to increasing case-handling capacity in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE).
In addition, there are funds for external assistance to handle complex and increased tasks in the offshore wind area and for licensing processing of power grids and renewable energy. Parts of the funds will be used for digitalization so that license processing can be more efficient.
Speeding up development
The budget proposal also includes a model device to increase the authorities’ understanding of the power market. Today, it can take close to ten years from the time a new power and network project is started until it is fully developed.
Strømnettutvalget has recommended several measures that can help to reduce the time it takes to develop and process concessions for network facilities.
The Minister of Petroleum and Energy has therefore asked NVE to implement measures within the current regulations to reduce the license processing time. NVE will, among other things, consider increasing the use of a fast track to deal with smaller grid systems and grid systems where the conflicts are small.
“If we are to succeed in increasing exports from mainland industry and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, more renewable energy and grids must be built faster than today. It is absolutely crucial to strengthen NVE and OED”, says Aasland.