The electricity grid operators of Denmark, Finland and Sweden took the unusual step of warning Norway that its proposal to stop exporting electricity amid concerns in Oslo over its hydropower generation undermined the European market. “It would be the first country in Europe to do it in electricity. It would be a very dangerous and nationalistic step. It’s very selfish behaviour,” Jukka Ruusunen, CEO of Finland’s grid operator Fingrid, told the Financial Times. “If we don’t cooperate, it will help Russia. The best way to help Russia is to leave the group,” he added. The criticism highlights how Europe’s energy crisis has raised tensions between traditional allies as electricity prices rise after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. As Western Europe’s largest oil producer, Norway will realize record amounts of oil, gas and electricity sales this year. But amid growing concerns about how Europe will cope this winter with both high prices and energy availability, Norway’s proposal to limit electricity exports to boost its own security of supply has sparked outrage. “There’s a risk in any national measure in any situation like this – it’s contagious. People might say if Norway can do it, so can we. So I think it’s the wrong approach,” said Johannes Bruun, director of electricity market at Denmark’s grid operator Energinet. Denmark was not planning any retaliatory measures, he added. Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Norway’s deputy minister of oil and energy, confirmed that the centre-left government in Oslo is considering a mechanism that would limit production, and therefore exports, when the reservoirs that feed its hydroelectric facilities “get too low”. Any mechanism would be in line with its “obligations” to Europe and would help the “stability of the entire integrated electricity system”, he added. However, his neighbors disagree. Ruusunen noted that Norway was making “so much money” in the wake of the Russian invasion. A cut in electricity exports would also help “populist, nationalist voices split the market. In the end, everyone would lose,” he said. Norway is keen to present itself as a reliable oil supplier after displacing Russia as Europe’s biggest source of natural gas. “If they do this, it will damage the whole brand of Norway. Reliability and trust is one of the key ingredients,” said Ruusunen. Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, Norway’s finance minister, tried to allay fears in Helsinki and Stockholm by pointing out that they received electricity from the north of Norway, where reservoir levels are high and prices are low — unlike the south of the country, which supplies Denmark. Germany, United Kingdom and Netherlands. But Ruusunen gave that argument short shrift, saying there was only a “very weak” and “very small” power line in the north. Norway’s government is under pressure to do more to moderate rising electricity prices at home, particularly for struggling businesses in the southern part of the country. The country already provides the most generous electricity subsidies in Europe, paying 90 percent of consumers’ bills at a certain level.
