Norway campaigns to cut energy links to Europe as power prices soar
Norway’s two governing parties want to scrap an electricity interconnector to Denmark, with the junior coalition partner also calling for a renegotiation of power links to the UK and Germany, as sky-high prices trigger panic in the rich Nordic country.
A lack of wind in Germany and the North Sea will push electricity prices in southern Norway to NKr13.16 ($1.18) per kilowatt hour on Thursday afternoon, their highest level since 2009 and almost 20 times their level just last week.
I think that because of a shortage of generation from renewables (unreliables?) particularly in Germany [a much larger economy] there is demand pressure on Norway and southern Sweden, resulting in higher pricing.
Beware the dunkelflaute (“dark doldrums”, a period when little or no renewable energy can be generated from wind and solar).
“We can’t connect southern Sweden, which has a large deficit in electricity production, with Germany, where the electricity market today does not function efficiently,” Energy Minister Ebba Busch said in a statement.
The price spikes expose the challenges of an increasingly interdependent European energy system with large amounts of wind on the system. When wind levels drop, price spikes can be felt even in countries without a significant number of turbines.
Norway has been a net exporter of electricity for many years with cables to Great Britain and Germany. Almost all of their electricity is from Hydro and rest from Wind. I do not see why their electrical prices have risen except for global inflation. If the small Wind sector is down 50%, then they just need to cut back on exports of electricity.
One always has to pay for power, one way or another.
It seems the political pressure is coming from Norwegians (and Swedes) having to pay high spot prices because of German policies.
Because the current higher demand/drain from (mostly) Germany. As has been noted in other threads, Germany has installed a lot of intermittent power sources. It is December, and solar can be crossed off the list.
So, when the wind don’t blow Germany needs to slurp up electricity from reliable sources such as hydro from Norway and Sweden.
This seems to be about Norway and Sweden selling their electricity to the highest bidder.
Couldn’t they adopt a tiered system where prices are fixed for domestic customers but export prices float?
That is how I read the OP: Norwegians are bidding against other countries, for Norwegian produced power. This is the sort of situation that produces nationalistic movements.
Isn’t the province of Ontario threatening to pull the plug on the electrical energy that they supply to some American States, in response to the threats of tariffs on Canadian products that TFG/TIG says he’s going to impose ?
Reading the book “The Lucky Loser”, I was astonished by what a horrible businessman TFG/TIG has been. Basically the only thing he was good at was licensing his name. He acted rashly and stupidly in so many different business deals. He was often saved by the Deep Pockets of Daddy.
So to all the people saying that TFG/TIG is just using these poorly conceived tariff threats as negotiating ploys, you might want to do a little reading up on the business career of TFG/TIG. I can’t say I blame Ontario 1 bit for standing up to the brash bully. I guess we all get to see who blinks first.
I returned the book ( Lucky Loser ) to the library, so can’t cite any examples. He was a rash,impulsive, “always right” egotistical businessman. He bankrupted casinos, he bought property to build a golf course on without checking environmental restrictions on the land. There are about 400 pages of examples in the book, if you’re a reader. Definitely not a book that is going to make you feel optimism about the next 4 years. But I’m not in the bunker yet,lol, but have raised more cash going into the transition since I’ve had since his last tour of duty. Will probably keep rolling over short term treasuries. We’ve all been taught that the Government will do anything to bail out the 1%ers, so if TFG/TIG bungles a future emergency like he bungled covid and crashed the economy, will be able to buy stocks on the cheap, possibly.
I rolled in during covid. Made out really well. Total luck, but after the GFC in 2008, just had the feeling that Fed and Government would do anything to keep it from cratering.
Of course, I obviously don’t have the same trust that TFG/TIF and whatever band of incompetents he has in charge will react in a rational manner. They might just say Burn it Down, start over with a new world order.
yeah, when prices don’t come down, and Musk hits them with a little “it’ll just be for a little while” austerity, those supporters might start taking a closer look at their unwavering adulation for him. It’s kind of the American way,lol, we luv a comeback, but hate an incumbent.
Anyways, all that matters today is that the Lions are getting SMOKED by Josh Allen and the Bills, LoL
