Nora Buli, Nerijus Adomaitis

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s Equinor has said that it will have to rework its offshore wind plans after being told by the government that first of these plants could only be used for domestic electricity and cannot link up with any other country.

Equinor has joined forces with RWE of Germany and Norsk Hydro (OTC) in order to submit a bid for ocean land to construct wind turbines at the Danish maritime border. This is called Soerlige Nordsjoe II.

Wednesday’s announcement by the government stated that offshore wind farms in this area won’t be allowed to connect with foreign markets using so-called hybrid connections and can only send power to Norway.

Paal Eitrheim (head of Equinor’s renewable energy company), said to Reuters that this case is very different than the one we have been preparing for.

He stated that Soerlige Nordsjoe’s starting point was to create a solid business case using a hybrid model.

Norway’s hybrid cables are a topic of hot debate. This is because households and businesses have been hit hard by an increase in electricity prices. High prices are due to continued electricity exports despite the low level of water resources.

Some businesses that are energy dependent and unions have urged the government of the centre-left to stop more international power lines being constructed, which could include hybrid cables.

On Wednesday, Jonas Gahr Stoere of Labour Party stated that the government could make the initial offshore wind projects more dependent upon it because they have been banned from exporting.

Eitrheim stated that, in contrast to this, the off-shore wind turbines would have had multiple connections, which could have led to more profitable business models, without subsidy.

He said that Norway is a high priority on their agenda but that they also have to ensure that there are viable business case options. This is something he didn’t say.

According to the government, it is considering allowing another phase of Soerlige Nordsjoe II to be connected to foreign markets.