Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) dismisses the electricity criticism from the opposition. He would rather focus on the development of new energy.
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– The energy dilemma is that no one wants onshore wind power, no one wants offshore wind power, no one wants new hydropower and no one wants a grid, but everyone wants cheap electricity.
This is what Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) says when VG meets him in his office on Monday afternoon. On the wall hangs a large picture of the Herøya industrial park in Porsgrunn (close to the minister’s own home municipality, Skien).
On the same day, Aasland has been in urgent meetings with the parties in the Storting and the parties in working life. On the agenda were electricity support schemes and the government’s plan to deal with the energy crisis.
The government’s measures:
–Must provide schedule
Electricity prices constantly reaching new heights. Which means that several parties have wanted to cancel the summer holidays and call for an extraordinary meeting of the Storting. On Monday, it became clear that this is not happening, yet.
Storting President Masud Gharahkhani (Ap) has instead asked the government to come up with a timetable for the various measures, which must be delivered by Monday 15 August.
Aasland says the government must meet that deadline.
– They have asked for a letter with the timeline for the cases that are relevant to the Storting, and we will send that over by Monday, says Aasland.
–Rejects the criticism
Aasland snorts criticism from the opposition that the government is behind with electricity measures, or could have foreseen the low water level in the reservoirs.
– Those who say that we should withhold water already in January or February, I would like to see them, he says.
– It is normal for the power producers to drain their reservoirs ahead of the spring melt so that it does not end in floods. If the parties in the Storting could predict what happened after the snow melt in April/May, then you have a good hydrological view, so to speak, he adds.
Aasland has previously said that there may be a need for electricity rationing next year. The Norwegian Water and Energy Directorate (NVE) says the probability of this is small.
– We can clearly say that households must be protected against this, says Aasland.
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Limiting exports if magazine filling falls below normal is one way to prevent a similar situation in the future, Aasland believes,
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has previously pointed out that the electricity crisis could be prolonged. Aasland says that this cannot become the new normal.
– We cannot live with getting into similar situations every year, says Aasland.
The Minister of Oil and Energy is clear about what the government must do in the long term to counteract the energy crisis: Build more power.
– The government has a clear goal of increasing exports from the mainland, excluding oil and gas, by 50 percent by 2030. If we are to succeed in that, we must have sufficient access to affordable energy, and that is the government’s goal, he says.
–This means development of offshore wind, upgrading and upgrading of hydropower, and wind power on land, the Minister of Oil and Energy summarizes.
The latter, onshore wind power, has met with enormous opposition from municipalities and activists throughout the country. Aasland points to it as the energy dilemma, namely that everyone wants cheap electricity, but “no one” wants power development.
– The municipalities are the premise supplier here, and that is what is the challenge, and which Tina Bru missed. She got the whole of Commune-Norway against her. I would rather have them with me, says Aasland, referring to his predecessor.
He makes a call to the municipalities:
– I encourage everyone to look at the possibilities and think through the situation we now find ourselves in: can we set aside land for wind power on land? Are there areas that are gentle to do it in? We will also consider it.
– Is there any reason to miss former oil and energy minister Tina Bru (H)?
– Not at all, says Asland.
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