Wake up the call for British energy planners – Watt?

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In the UK, magical ideas about energy may not add longer. Differences between European countries may develop plans for integrated energy policy and have a fantasy of getting net zero with the UK. At the heart of the UK’s energy planners’ thinking is the hope of enabling affordable energy storage solutions. Batteries, green hydrogen storage and pump water and electricity storage are all hopelessly unrealistic and uneconomic. As a result, planners are watching Norway’s huge hydropower potential. Its hydraulic installation capacity is 32 GW (GW). Hydropower accounts for 97% of Norway's electricity generation. Its hydroelectric storage capacity is approximately 85 Terawatt hours (TWH).

British energy planners were jealous of Norway's stake and negotiated a deal to import electricity from Norway through interconnectors. British planners hope Norway will provide the UK with all the electricity needed when British wind and solar power is relaxed. They believe that Norway will bring a team to the team if the UK's energy experiments are difficult. After all, Norway does not want to save the planet and reduce the British carbon footprint. Obviously, no one imagined as much. Norwegian voters have just rejected further plans for European power grid integration.

For British planners, this is not very good. They have been increasing their reliance on Norway's imported electricity. The percentage of UK imports on interconnections has steadily risen from 6% in 2022 to 14% in 2024. At that time, natural gas production decreased from 39% in 2022 to 26% in 2024 (see figure below).

The production of natural gas makes up for wind and solar power generation. The interconnected imports from Norway now play a greater role in compensating these fluctuations. One would think that Norway’s vast hydropower storage capacity would allow it to provide electricity to the UK without hindering its ability to provide electricity to a consistent, affordable citizen of its own, but that’s not what happened. The UK's electricity fluctuations have led to a rise in Norway's electricity price fluctuations, and voters don't like it. They want to isolate the high electricity prices that have caused Britain and Germany, which also has an interconnection with Norway.

In 2023, Norway rejected Britain's request for Scotland's submarine cable, an activity that could signal a future reluctance to expand interconnect capabilities beyond current designs. The UK is facing difficulties. Scaling natural gas to meet the 2030 green electricity target means increasing reliance on electricity imports. However, this import strategy depends on the UK's ability to reach an agreement with Norway, which does not have Norwegians subsidize UK green energy experiments.

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