By Paul Homewood
The National Grid made a song and dance about their North Sea Link interconnector from Norway to Blyth, which began operations in 2021. It has capacity of 1400 MW, and is designed to export surplus wind power to Norway on windy days, and import back again from Norway’s vast hydro power resources.
This is explained by Statnett, NG’s partner in Norway:
When UK wind power production is high, prices may be lower than in Norway, and Norway will import power from the UK. This allows Norwegian producers to conserve the water in Norway’s many hydropower reservoirs.
When there is less wind and higher prices in the UK, the situation will be the other way around. The British can import power from Norway to a lower price then in the British market.
https://www.statnett.no/en/our-projects/interconnectors/north-sea-link/
All sounds logical? Well, it seems that the Norwegians themselves are not happy with their side of the deal!
EuroNews are reporting that the two ruling parties in Norway are pledging to campaign to cut the two power interconnectors that link the country with Denmark, when they come up for renewal in 2026, They also have their eye on revisiting similar links with the UK and Europe.
The reason is that the arrangements have resulted in ultra high electricity prices in Norway. When wind is in short supply in Europe, as it has been this week, power prices surge, and this spills over into Norway itself.
To Norwegians, this is inexplicable, as their vast hydro resources should provide the lowest prices, not the highest. As they see it, that cheap hydro power is being given away to Denmark, Germany and us.
This is of course a problem that will only grow in years to come, as Europe becomes ever more reliant on intermittent wind power.
Read the full story here.
