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17 September 2003 - The plan to establish an electricity interconnector between Norway and the UK was rejected by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Tuesday. Statnett, the national transmission system operator, had applied in June to build a 1200 MW power cable to draw power during dry periods and low power production.
The ministry said the social-economic benefits of the cable were too uncertain at this point, and it therefore wouldn't approve the project.
Petroleum and Energy Minister Einar Steensnaes said that in general, new links to other countries can result in good resource utilization and be important to ensuring a secure power supply for Norway. But, he said, the social-economic benefits have to be "robust" for the project to be realized, and at this point, the benefits are too uncertain, he said.
A spokesman for Statnett said, "We are obviously disappointed with the decision, but we are looking closely into the details as to exactly what has been said."
Norway, along with the rest of Scandinavia, has seen unusually high power prices over the past year as scant rain fall reduced water reservoir levels to near record lows. This has engendered heated debate about the power market in the hydropower dependent nation.
Statnett was planning to build the project with the UK system operator National Grid Transco PLC.
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