Norwegian aquaculture producers demand action on looming northern power crisis

The national electricity company Statnett has announced that it can no longer grant new reservations of grid capacity to industry in parts of the Nordland area.

The industry organisation Seafood Norway, along with several business organisations is demanding immediate action and has sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

It said: “The message came suddenly: Statnett is introducing a stop to the reservation of network capacity for future new major industrial consumption north of Svartisen in Norland . Customers with existing reservations will keep these, but new ones will not be given – not even when current reservations expire.

“For the seafood industry and other industries in Northern Norway, the consequences are immediate. Companies planning investments, expansions or restructuring in the region are now facing a wall.”

Reserved electricity capacity is back-up power generation to ensure stability when demand exceeds forecasts or power plants fail.

Statnett Executive Vice President Gunnar Løvås said: “Electricity consumption from Svartisen and northwards will grow so strongly in the coming years that the power demand may be greater than what the power system can deliver. In order to maintain the limit for regular consumption and facilitate continued growth in small and medium-sized enterprises, Statnett is therefore temporarily suspending reservations for new large industrial consumption.”

Statnett has pointed to the growth of the seafood industry in particular as a major factor in increased demand.

Seafood Norway CEO Geir Ove Ystmark said he had no doubt about the seriousness of the situation.

He said: “If politicians do not intervene, this is in practice the same as pressing the stop button for Northern Norway. It is happening in a geopolitically turbulent time, when we should be strengthening – not weakening – the development in the region and the country. Now we are being deprived of the opportunity to realise projects that are crucial for food production, jobs and activity, and thus also for Norwegian preparedness and value creation."

He pointed out that the decision comes in the middle of a period where the industry is facing increasingly stringent government requirements.

“All of this requires access to power,” Ystmark stressed. “But without power, development not only stops – it simply cannot be carried out. The consequences are serious, with direct implications for Norwegian food security, value creation, industrial development and settlement along the coast."

The business groups are demanding that Statnett is given the necessary room for manoeuvre to push through prioritised network improvements along with a significant increase in the pace of power grid development.

Seafood Norway said it expects a swift political response.