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The municipalities of Utmark believe that resistance to wind energy can be overcome if the municipalities get their tax money from the wind turbines and are allowed to decide for themselves what to develop.
A development boom in recent years has caused resistance to wind power in Norway to increase dramatically. The Storting will now take a position on a proposal to tighten licensing rules. The picture shows the Guleslettene wind farm near Florø.
Tore Meek / NTB
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– We think that if this had been in place from the beginning, we would not have had this violent resistance and noise, Hanne Alstrup Velure tells NTB.
He directs the Association of Municipalities of Utmark (USS), where 100 municipalities meet.
On Wednesday, the Storting is hosting a hearing on the government’s wind energy report, which was released before the summer. In the consultation, the USS will argue that municipalities should receive their fair share of revenues from wind energy.
Velure believes that new tax revenues based on the hydropower model will lead to local communities benefiting more from onshore wind power development.
– We have seen that this is a success factor for hydropower. Then you should learn from it.
Will set the government in motion
In the wind power report, the government writes that no new taxes or fees will be introduced now. Instead, the entire discussion about local compensation is postponed for later.
Spokesperson Ruth Grong (Labor Party) hopes that the Storting will ask the government to come back quickly with a proposal.
– I think there is a clear majority to establish a remuneration for the municipalities, he says.
However, it has not been clarified how such compensation should be.
The USS proposal is a 27 percent land rent tax for wind power. Of this, 20 percent will go to the host municipality and 80 percent to the state.
In addition, the USS provides an environmental tax of at least 2 øre per kilowatt hour for the host municipality.
Planning and construction law
Another question is how much power the municipalities should have to decide for themselves what is developed.
In the wind energy report, the government plans to strengthen the role of municipalities. But the USS believes the proposals don’t go far enough. Its requirement is that wind energy cases should be moved from the Energy Law to the Planning and Construction Law, so that the municipality becomes the planning authority rather than the state in NVE.
– We believe that it is absolutely crucial that the decision-making authority returns to the municipalities, says Velure, who strongly warns against continuing with a system where local authorities can be bypassed.
Grong says he believes the Planning and Construction Act issue will be the biggest challenge when the Storting considers the wind power report.
The FRP has already proposed moving the cases to the Planning and Construction Act, while the Labor Party has not decided.
Skepticism in the industry
Industry players like Norwea and Energi Norge, meanwhile, are positive about the introduction of local compensation for wind power, but skeptical about moving the cases over to the Planning and Construction Act.
– Energy policy is national and NVE can see the entire energy system in context and evaluate production methods and networks consistently. But that does not mean that municipalities and county municipalities should not get more involved, says director Ø vivos Schmidt Galaaen of the wind energy organization Norwea.
Knut Kroepelien, CEO of Energi Norge, makes it clear that the organization supports the government’s proposal for adjustments to give municipalities greater influence.
– But an absolute veto cannot be reconciled with a licensing system where national considerations must also be emphasized, he says.
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