The amendment would see concessions from private companies being returned to public ownership, private companies are against this largely. For energy intensive industries like aluminum manufacturing the power resources form the back bone of the industry. Currently only 13 percent of the hydro power assets are in private hands with a further 50 percent in public hand and 37 controlled by a state run company.
Norway is energy rich in every sense. The country has large scale offshore oil fields, as well as lots of hydroelectric power resources. It exports energy during years when heavy rains fill up the reservoirs and imports power during dry years.
Executive vice president for Energy in Hydro a part of Norsk Hydro (a large operator of hydro power in the country), Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup was quoted as saying; “We have developed hydroelectric power in order to develop industry in Norway. We want to continue generating our own power, so that we can continue to produce aluminium. This proposal will make it more difficult to further industrial development in Norway.”
”We want to further the development of Hydro’s aluminium business in Norway. When we look into new investments, we take a long-term view of some 30 to 40 years. It is therefore vital that the legal framework governing our access to power remains constant. Producing our own power for our aluminium business gives us a predictability that we cannot get in any other way,” explains Rostrup.
“We can accept that only public bodies can acquire our power plants in the event of a divestment. This will ensure that the proportion of public ownership gradually increases, while the industry continues to produce power for industrial purposes. A condition for this would be that private interests, in the same way as public bodies, obtain perpetual ownership to their power plants as long as the power is used industrially,” says Rostrup.
For additional information:
