Norway Publishes Official Views Before the European Council on Energy on 4 February

In preparation of the European Council on Energy to be hold on Friday 4 February, the Norwegian government has published on 26 January its views on the agenda of the meeting in a document entitled "EU Energy Policy Debate: Norwegian Views" (available HERE).

The document recalls the key interests Norway has to defend in the development of EU energy policy, taking into account the particular position the country helds with regards to the internal market and the energy sector through the EEA Agreement. The points raised in the document are well known, but the approach of an official communication from the government prior to the European Council demonstrates a relatively new standpoint vis-à-vis the EU, almost like a reminder. These interests are:

• Natural gas: Norway is the second largest supplier of natural gas to the EU (20% of EU consumption) and natural gas will continue to form part of a sustainable energy mix, including for environmental protection and security of energy supply reasons. Note: "A predictable and explicit political framework for the future of natural gas will facilitate investment in new production capacity."
• Internal energy market: while Norway is still discussing the implementation of the third energy package at national and EEA levels, it recalls its intention to "take an active part in the newly established European cooperation mechanisms ACER and ENTSO," including as regards the implementation of the internal energy market measures, the design of future network codes and guidelines. This efforts builds on the already close coordination of energy policies within the Nordic electricity market.
• Infrastructure: central issue for Norway ... and for the EU (see Commission Communication on Energy Infrastructures), both as regards natural gas and electricity, and as regards the different types of infrastructures (pipelines, transmission lines, interconnections, storage facilities, etc.). "New infrastructure will require significant commercial decisions", which is in line with the positions taken by the EU Energy Commissioner. There might be some questions of prioritisation in infrastructure investments to discuss here. With the increasing part of decentralised and intermittent energy within the fuel mix of the EU, Norway provides several advantages in terms of balancing power through its hydropower resources.
• Renewable Energy: While Norway is still negotiating the manner Directive 2009/28/EC will be incorporated into the EEA Agreement, it foresees close cooperations with EU Member States in terms of renewable energy: common green certificates market with Sweden (buidling on the Directive's provisions, see previous post); cooperation within the North Sea Countries Offshore Grid Initiative (see previous post).
• Energy efficiency and technology: "Norway has noted that the EU is placing more emphasis on energy efficiency." Here, Norway seems to look for best practices sharing more than leading the efforts, and wish to continue collaborating through the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, and the EU R&D programmes. CCS is mentioned here (while not being an energy efficiency technology per se) and the Norwegian interests are huge.
• External dimension: The paper remains quite vague here. Norway is both joining EU efforts and doing on its own, where several international partnerships have been concluded in the areas of climate change (e.g. deforestation), access to oil and gas, technology development and energy efficiency.

Picture: Visit of Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security, Brussels, 26.01.2011. (c) European Commission.