The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has announced on 20 July 2011 that the country has finalised the negotiations with the European Commission as regards the determination of the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in 2020. They agreed that the target will be at least 67.5 %, which means that it will be an increase by 9.5 % compared to 2005 (58 % renewables at that time). The target in the transport sector has been negotiated at 10 % in 2020. The Ministry conclude that following that trajectory will entail that more than two thirds of energy consumption in Norway is based on renewables in 2020.
The determination of a percentage was a necessary part of the negotiation for the transposition of Directive 2009/28/EC into the EEA Agreement, which is now expected to take place in the near future now. It is also an important as regards the targets under the natioanl green certificates scheme in Norway and the common green certificates market between Norway and Sweden to be launched on 1 January 2012. The targets of the scheme must indeed reflect the obligations of Norway under the EEA Agreement.
In a related speech (available
HERE),
the state secretary Eli Blakstad underlined the particular situation of Norway as regards electricity production based on renewables, since almost all the production is based on hydropower, i.e. on renewables. The Directive does not distinguish in that respect the different sources of renewable energy sources for fulfilling the target. But the target of the directive is expressed in terms of consumption and not production, which introduces an difference in the calculation of the target. The state secretary recalled that
the joint certificates market between Norway and Sweden is expected to deliver 26.4 TWh renewable energy production in the two countries from 2012 to 2020. This equals to 20 % of the national electricity production in Norway today. The state secretary also pointed out the role that ENOVA, the national agency for renewable energy and energy efficiency, will continue to play under the new form given to the Norwegian Energy Fund (see related post). The state secretary also rightly pointed out that this high level of ambition requires a coordination between the different instruments to support electricity generation based on renewables, in all the sector concerned. The latter task is not an easy one, but fundamental to transition cost-effectively to a low carbon economy.
The state secretary ended up by underlying the 67.5 % target will be more demanding for Norway than most of the other EU/EEA countries because:
"- Norge har en fornybarandelen som ligger langt over fornybarandelen i alle EU-land. Men en slik langt høyere andel gjør det i seg selv vesentlig mer krevende å oppnå ytterligere økninger i andelen;
- Med en høy fornybarandel vil videre kravet til økninger i fornybarproduksjonen øke sterkt om energiforbruket øker. Med gode vekstutsikter for norsk økonomi må det regnes med en velst i det norske energiforbruket i årene framover;
- Videre har vi gjennom mange år ført en aktiv energiomleggingspolitikk. Mange av energiomleggingstiltakene med lave kostnader er alt gjennomført. Bl.a. har energiomleggingspolitikken i regi av Enova vært rettet inn mot å oppnå et størst mulig energiresultat for de midlene som har vært stilt til disposisjon.
- Større økninger i kraftproduksjonen i Norge kan lett slå ut i lavere kraftpriser og større forbruksøkninger - i strid med intensjonene bak direktivet."
The wave of flowers covering Oslo these days carries a strong message to each person and to the world. Because we will never forget. Because love is stronger than hate. Because democracy helps winning over terrorism and fanatism.
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