Why Norway as a Green Battery for Europe Is Still to Happen, and Probably Will Not

Abstract

From a climate perspective, the green battery idea is tremendously attractive. Norway has some of Europe’s greatest renewable energy resources, and domestic consumption of electricity is derived almost solely from renewables. Utilizing Norwegian hydropower and wind to contribute to a European energy transition seems like an obvious choice. However, despite building subsea cables to Germany and Great Britain for renewable energy exports, and greatly increasing domestic wind power generation—enabled by a past vested interest compromise between the power sector and the energy-intensive industry—there is little enthusiasm for the green battery idea. While climate arguments are part of most actors’ reasoning, these arguments seem distinctly secondary. Rather, the main idea is one of increased power exchange, i.e., Norway as a provider of balancing power, selling excess renewable energy at a profit, building cables not for climate reasons, but for profit. We suggest a long-term future with some new cables and more wind power. However, in the short term, the green battery is not edging closer to fruition, but rather the opposite. With industry interests currently dominating power sector interests, no new cables will be built for now, while wind power has meanwhile become fraught with political tension.