Proposed subsea power cable between Norway and Scotland is in dry dock

摘要

The country of Norway is postponing a decision on whether to allow companies to construct a new subsea power cable between it and Scotland. Per a report in Reuters,the project known as NorthConnect - partly owned by Swedish energy group Vattenfall - has become controversial because some Norwegian lawmakers fear rising grid costs and power prices as output from wind turbines and hydropower dams is exported. Planning for the 2-billion-euro project has not ended, but the government needs more data on the market impact from other power cables that are currently being built before a decision can be made, Energy Minister Tina Bru said. Publicly owned grid operator Statnett is already building two subsea cables, to Germany and Britain, which are due to start operating this year and next, respectively. The cable is intended to be able to flow power both ways depending on supply and demand. Norway hoped to be a net exporter in most years as prices tend to be higher in major European nations than at home. Vattenfall and Norwegian state-owned power producer Statkraft have previously called on the government to approve the new cable as producers have been struggling with the relatively low Nordic electricity prices. Other partners in the NorthConnect project, which was originally scheduled to start in 2023, are Norwegian power firms E-CO Energi, Agder Energi and Lyse. In 2017, the EU's Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) published a list of energy infrastructure projects selected for financial support from the European Union, one of which was the NorthConnect HVDC subsea cable. The project became eligible for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility, the EU's funding support programme for infrastructure, and received over 10 million euros.