Tom Fidjeland, CEO of GCE NODE
By building more renewables, we sooth a warming planet, secure lower cost of energy, and power new industry.
By not building more renewables, we accelerate global warming, increase the cost of energy, and fail to contribute to the development of hydrogen, ammonia, and batteries – all vital in the future energy mix.
The world needs more renewable energy. Today, approximately 80 percent of the world’s energy comes from fossil sources. If we can develop more renewable energy that replaces fossil energy, we will contribute to making the world a better place. Norway is about to put its large untapped energy resources in the ocean to use.
Norway needs more renewable energy. Following the most expensive winter ever, Norwegian electricity consumers will be facing a shortage of domestic-produced electricity starting in 2026. This could mean new price shocks and new billions in subsidies to dampen the effect for households. Not developing renewable energy will be costly for the consumer, for the state, and for the industry. High electricity prices threaten Norwegian jobs.
Norwegian industry needs more renewable energy. Based on plans to build battery, hydrogen and ammonia factories, consumption of electric power will increase sharply in the coming years.
Making the world less dependent on fossil energy sources requires a lot, perhaps more than many are willing to offer. The Norwegian government will spend up to NOK 23 billion to develop offshore wind in Sørlige Nordsjø II – the first Norwegian area where a license to produce offshore wind has been granted. This has fueled a debate about alternatives.
However discussing whether the energy from Norwegian offshore wind production should be transported to Norway or exported to Europe, is a distraction. Discussing whether we should wait for modular nuclear power plants, is also a distraction. Nuclear energy is more than a decade away. Hybrid cable connections will become the standard in the North Sea, although we don’t need them right now.
Let’s just get started!
In parallel we must continue to search for, find, and extract more oil and gas from the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, is a reminder of how dependent we are of energy sources located in totalitarian countries. Norwegian gas provides increased energy security to Europe and Norwegian oil is extracted with lower emissions than in most other parts of the world.
Based on our resources, competence and technology, Norway can play a small but important role in a safe and sustainable transition to the low-emission society.