**Oslo is warned its action will help Russia as energy crisis divides traditional allies**
Norway’s plan to curb electricity exports as Europe grapples with a severe energy crisis is a dangerous and selfish act that risks empowering Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, according to the Nordic country’s neighbours.
The power grid operators of Denmark, Finland and Sweden have taken the unusual step of warning Norway that its proposal to stop exporting electricity amid concerns in Oslo over its hydro production undermined the European market.
“It would be the first country in Europe to do it in electricity. It would be a very dangerous step and nationalistic. It’s very selfish behaviour,” Jukka Ruusunen, chief executive of Finland’s network operator Fingrid, told the Financial Times.
“If we don’t work together it will help Russia. The best way to help Russia is to leave the team,” he added.
The criticism underlines how Europe’s energy crisis has raised tensions among traditional allies, as power prices surge following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
As western Europe’s largest petroleum producer, Norway will make record sums from the sale of oil, gas and electricity this year.
But amid growing worries about how Europe will cope this winter both with high prices and the availability of energy, Norway’s proposal to curb electricity exports to boost its own security of supply has sparked anger.
“There is a danger in any national measure in any situation like this — they are contagious. People might say if Norway can do it, so can we. Therefore I think it’s the wrong approach,” said Johannes Bruun, director for the electricity market at Energinet, Denmark’s grid operator. Denmark was not planning any retaliatory measures, he added.
Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, state secretary in Norway’s petroleum and energy ministry, confirmed that the centre-left government in Oslo was looking at a mechanism that would curb production, and therefore exports, when the reservoirs that power its hydroelectric facilities “fall to very low levels”.
Any mechanism would be in line with the “obligations” it had to Europe and would help the “stability of the entire integrated power system”, he added.
However, its neighbours disagree. Ruusunen noted that Norway was earning “so much money” in the wake of the Russian invasion. A cut in electricity exports would also help “populist, nationalist voices to split the market. In the end, everybody would lose,” he said.
Norway is keen to present itself as a reliable supplier of petroleum after displacing Russia as the biggest source of gas to Europe. “If they do this, it will hurt the whole brand of Norway. The reliability and trust are one of the basic ingredients,” Ruusunen said.
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, Norway’s finance minister, sought to calm fears in Helsinki and Stockholm by pointing out that they received electricity from the north of Norway, where reservoir levels are high and prices low — unlike in the south of the country, which supplies Denmark, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.
But Ruusunen gave that argument short shrift, saying there was only a “very weak” and “very small” electricity supply line in the north.
Norway’s government is under pressure to do more to alleviate rising power prices at home, particularly for struggling businesses in the south of the country.
The country already provides the most generous power subsidies in Europe, paying 90 per cent of consumers’ bills over a certain level.
Feed yourself before feeding the world. Unless it becomes a major humanitarian issue because people are freezing to death it’s not Norway’s responsibility to give up its wellbeing for the comfort of others.
We are already doing what we can to help Europe with the energy crises. At the same time we are also one of the biggest contributors helping Ukraine – at least measured per capita.
What’s up with Europe calling us selfish, war profiteers, asking for cheap gas lately etc?
Looks like solidarity has it’s limits. Norway may be the first to do it, but not the last one probably.
If Norway stops exports to us, we may have to follow and stop exports to the continent.
The lack of transfer capacity between north and south Norway is a real concern. As of now Sweden is buying north Norwegian electricity, transfer it through Sweden, and sell it back to south Norway.
Norway is right – dams are more like batteries storing energy in the form of water, and if the water levels are low (eg drought) then the battery is drained. The battery needs time to recharge.
How everything has come to be combined in the past. We must use the gas we have available, but the van is ours. When the situation changed, they said exactly the same thing.
This is the result of our last goverment selling pre agreed power quota to the EU (EEC), while Norwegians have to pay EU prices despite a) not being in the EU and b) the summer has been dry, and reservoirs are low. Not all Norwegian people are rich, this hurts the middle and lower class in Norway. The politicicans are scared they’ll lose the next election, so they start listening to the panicked populist media and burger eating voters who are screaming “WE WANT OUR ENERGY TO OURSELVES”. Simple domino effect. The wild card being motherfucking russia invading Ukraine, which *noone ever* could’ve predicted in our last goverment, right?
Finland’s electricity market is a joke and higher prices are a well deserved consequence of decades of exceptionally stupid energy policy. Same goes for the Fortum debacle.
It’s their stuff, they can do what they want with it, but we should also reconsider our relations with them with this into account.
We fear that in the end we cant rely on foreign imports in a crisis situation. I dont expect Germany to keep exporting gas and electricity if it finds itself with too little sustain itself this winter. This could still happen. The winter could be unusually cold or the US goverment could hold back fuel exports. So the idea of draining ourselves dry and becoming totally dependent on the goodwill of neighbours is uncomfortable.
It would help with the public`s trust in the market in all countries if we right now began a program of energy rationing. Its plainly going to be necessary, there is just is`nt enough of the physical resources that Europe requires. The sooner we begin the more we can reduce demand over time and stretch our resources. Rigth now the plan it seems is for every national goverment to delay until the last possible moment to introduce rationing. It will be chaotic, more restrictive and less effective than a joint pan-european push beginning now. And it will make less me worried about Norway draining itself this winter and getting nothing back when we need it. If the plan to decouple electricity from gas prices work that will also help calm the mood.
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**Oslo is warned its action will help Russia as energy crisis divides traditional allies**
Norway’s plan to curb electricity exports as Europe grapples with a severe energy crisis is a dangerous and selfish act that risks empowering Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, according to the Nordic country’s neighbours.
The power grid operators of Denmark, Finland and Sweden have taken the unusual step of warning Norway that its proposal to stop exporting electricity amid concerns in Oslo over its hydro production undermined the European market.
“It would be the first country in Europe to do it in electricity. It would be a very dangerous step and nationalistic. It’s very selfish behaviour,” Jukka Ruusunen, chief executive of Finland’s network operator Fingrid, told the Financial Times.
“If we don’t work together it will help Russia. The best way to help Russia is to leave the team,” he added.
The criticism underlines how Europe’s energy crisis has raised tensions among traditional allies, as power prices surge following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
As western Europe’s largest petroleum producer, Norway will make record sums from the sale of oil, gas and electricity this year.
But amid growing worries about how Europe will cope this winter both with high prices and the availability of energy, Norway’s proposal to curb electricity exports to boost its own security of supply has sparked anger.
“There is a danger in any national measure in any situation like this — they are contagious. People might say if Norway can do it, so can we. Therefore I think it’s the wrong approach,” said Johannes Bruun, director for the electricity market at Energinet, Denmark’s grid operator. Denmark was not planning any retaliatory measures, he added.
Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, state secretary in Norway’s petroleum and energy ministry, confirmed that the centre-left government in Oslo was looking at a mechanism that would curb production, and therefore exports, when the reservoirs that power its hydroelectric facilities “fall to very low levels”.
Any mechanism would be in line with the “obligations” it had to Europe and would help the “stability of the entire integrated power system”, he added.
However, its neighbours disagree. Ruusunen noted that Norway was earning “so much money” in the wake of the Russian invasion. A cut in electricity exports would also help “populist, nationalist voices to split the market. In the end, everybody would lose,” he said.
Norway is keen to present itself as a reliable supplier of petroleum after displacing Russia as the biggest source of gas to Europe. “If they do this, it will hurt the whole brand of Norway. The reliability and trust are one of the basic ingredients,” Ruusunen said.
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, Norway’s finance minister, sought to calm fears in Helsinki and Stockholm by pointing out that they received electricity from the north of Norway, where reservoir levels are high and prices low — unlike in the south of the country, which supplies Denmark, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.
But Ruusunen gave that argument short shrift, saying there was only a “very weak” and “very small” electricity supply line in the north.
Norway’s government is under pressure to do more to alleviate rising power prices at home, particularly for struggling businesses in the south of the country.
The country already provides the most generous power subsidies in Europe, paying 90 per cent of consumers’ bills over a certain level.
Feed yourself before feeding the world. Unless it becomes a major humanitarian issue because people are freezing to death it’s not Norway’s responsibility to give up its wellbeing for the comfort of others.
We are already doing what we can to help Europe with the energy crises. At the same time we are also one of the biggest contributors helping Ukraine – at least measured per capita.
What’s up with Europe calling us selfish, war profiteers, asking for cheap gas lately etc?
Looks like solidarity has it’s limits. Norway may be the first to do it, but not the last one probably.
If Norway stops exports to us, we may have to follow and stop exports to the continent.
The lack of transfer capacity between north and south Norway is a real concern. As of now Sweden is buying north Norwegian electricity, transfer it through Sweden, and sell it back to south Norway.
[Electricity map SE](https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/SE)
Norway is right – dams are more like batteries storing energy in the form of water, and if the water levels are low (eg drought) then the battery is drained. The battery needs time to recharge.
How everything has come to be combined in the past. We must use the gas we have available, but the van is ours. When the situation changed, they said exactly the same thing.
This is the result of our last goverment selling pre agreed power quota to the EU (EEC), while Norwegians have to pay EU prices despite a) not being in the EU and b) the summer has been dry, and reservoirs are low. Not all Norwegian people are rich, this hurts the middle and lower class in Norway. The politicicans are scared they’ll lose the next election, so they start listening to the panicked populist media and burger eating voters who are screaming “WE WANT OUR ENERGY TO OURSELVES”. Simple domino effect. The wild card being motherfucking russia invading Ukraine, which *noone ever* could’ve predicted in our last goverment, right?
Finland’s electricity market is a joke and higher prices are a well deserved consequence of decades of exceptionally stupid energy policy. Same goes for the Fortum debacle.
It’s their stuff, they can do what they want with it, but we should also reconsider our relations with them with this into account.
We fear that in the end we cant rely on foreign imports in a crisis situation. I dont expect Germany to keep exporting gas and electricity if it finds itself with too little sustain itself this winter. This could still happen. The winter could be unusually cold or the US goverment could hold back fuel exports. So the idea of draining ourselves dry and becoming totally dependent on the goodwill of neighbours is uncomfortable.
It would help with the public`s trust in the market in all countries if we right now began a program of energy rationing. Its plainly going to be necessary, there is just is`nt enough of the physical resources that Europe requires. The sooner we begin the more we can reduce demand over time and stretch our resources. Rigth now the plan it seems is for every national goverment to delay until the last possible moment to introduce rationing. It will be chaotic, more restrictive and less effective than a joint pan-european push beginning now. And it will make less me worried about Norway draining itself this winter and getting nothing back when we need it. If the plan to decouple electricity from gas prices work that will also help calm the mood.