This is how the state can sweeten the pill – E24

Norway needs a lot of energy for green change, perhaps as much as 80 terawatt hours (TWh) more than today, according to Statnett’s estimates.

This may create the need for further development of wind energy, in addition to measures such as hydropower enhancement and energy savings in buildings.

There has been broad support in the Storting for more wind power. But considerably higher development contributed to the debate on wind energy it has hardened. Many feel that the community little left.

Last year, the government postponed the granting of new licenses. Now it will strengthen the licensing system and increase local codetermination.

Stormvind’s partner Espen Borgir Christophersen is working on the development of wind power projects and fears that changes could take many years before new licenses are granted.

– I’m afraid there will be no new wind projects in Norway until 2028, he tells E24.

Ask for more compensation

Christophersen expects the new licensing system to take effect in 2022, and that applications will take years to process afterward. The Raskiftet wind project holds the Norwegian record for fast licenses. Four years passed before NVE granted a license in 2015.

The wind developer believes politicians should be clearer if Norway needs more electricity and where it will come from. If local communities don’t get more in exchange for wind power to increase wind power acceptance, he fears Norway will eventually become a high-cost country for electricity.

– If no more wind power is developed after 2021, there is a great risk that we will cease to be a low-cost country, says Christophersen.

– Much is resolved by municipalities to a greater extent sitting with their hand on the wheel, and on the accelerator and brake in how a project is developed, and that they stay with higher values ​​at the local level, he says.

You want more compensation

The government will increase the participation of municipalities in wind energy projects, but so far it has not put any more money on the table for affected municipalities.

– Many feel powerless over wind energy, because they do not understand why we do this. All the consequences fall on the local community, and a united Storting is not understood to be behind this, says leader Thomas Bjørdal in the Norwegian wind energy municipalities member organization LNVK to E24.

It highlights that the development of wind energy is politically desirable. It costs society a minimum and provides the energy needed for green change.

– But taking into account that the local community has finished in the last row. Needless to say, this leads to massive resistance, says Bjørdal.

– At the same time, compensation has been promised for years. Had the state increased local compensation and made sure to involve local communities more, conflicts would have been limited, he says.

You want more to the municipalities

The Storting is now considering the wind power report and, as far as E24 knows, higher compensation is one of the things being discussed. The government did not make any proposals in the report.

– I think we should make it easier for municipalities and residents to get more income if they say yes to wind power, as they do to hydropower, writes Parliamentary Representative Lene Westgaard-Halle (H) in a message to E24.

– It has been difficult so far because wind power has not been profitable, but in the future the profitability will be higher, and then Norwegian municipalities should be able to participate more in it, he writes.

– The speaker is alone

LNVK hopes to receive clear signals from the state. Bjørdal fears that mayors and local politicians will be left alone in the storm and must defend national energy policy and the need for wind power.

– As it is today, for example, the mayor of Nord-Odal is alone and must defend the government’s policy against aggressive opponents and experiences road signs with swastikas. Here, the government must contribute, so that taxes and compensation for intervention are left at the local level, he says.

– There are no municipalities in Norway, with perhaps two or three exceptions, that are positive for a license application as is the situation now, he says.

– It depends on what you have left

One of the municipalities where wind power is planned is Modalen in Vestland County, where the massive Hordavind project is being planned. Modalen Mayor Kjetil Eikefet (Samlingslista) says the city council is initially skeptical, but does not rule out that the mood may change.

– You shouldn’t ignore that. It is always a question of what you have left. Here it is about us receiving the property tax. What is expected is that wind power will come close to the tax level that hydro power has, but I don’t see it, Eikefet tells E24.

There has been talk of up to NOK 50 million in annual property taxes, but these are not quality-guaranteed figures, so the municipality still knows little about what they can get.

Eikefet would like the Urbanism and Building Law to have more voice, so that the municipalities take the wheel in the development of wind projects. He is skeptical of the current system, where it is the energy law that is applied and the state that decides.

– As a municipality, we are reduced to a consultation party on an equal footing with landowners and sports clubs, he says.

– Must have income

The mayor of Modalen believes that he will be able to make a positive contribution if the municipalities receive more compensation. Today, wind municipalities only receive property tax and the state can change it at any time.

– It all depends on what you have left, both for developers, for those who rent their land for 25 years and for the municipality. We must have income to be able to produce services, says Eikefet.

– What would it have meant to have a larger sum to hit the table?

– I think maybe many had a different opinion. But I also notice that those who are negative, for them it is not about money. For me, privately, it is also the case that I do not want a large-scale development in our municipality. But if the park comes first, then we have to live with it, he says.