The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has today granted Statnett licenses for two new electricity interconnectors, one to Germany and one to the UK. In total, this will increase Norway’s interconnection capacity with near 50 per cent.
Statnett plans commissioning of the cable to Germany in 2018, while the cable to the UK is planned commissioned in 2020. Statnett owns both interconnectors on the Norwegian side. Statnett is cooperating with the German system operator TenneT and the German state owned bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) about the Norway-Germany project project, Nord.Link. Statnett is cooperating with UK system operator National Grid about the Norway-UK project, North Sea Network (NSN). The interconnectors will create economic benefits, including revenues on the interconnector and by increasing the value of Norwegian hydro power. The transition to renewable energy in Europe will interact well with the Norwegian hydro based power system. The Ministry estimates that the benefits of the interconnectors will exceed the costs. Both interconnectors will have a capacity of 1,400MW.