Norwegian Stakeholder desk kicks-off in Oslo

The kick-off meeting took place on 23 January 2018 in CICERO’s offices in Oslo. Stakeholders representing local and regional governments, environmental organisations, investors, electricity producers, national energy authorities and the wind energy business participated. The key objectives of the meeting were to establish the desk, to initiate a dialogue with the stakeholders and to create a network for discussions among the participants. The WinWind project was introduced, and the participants discussed the central concepts, targets and ideas in the project.

CICERO presented the preliminary findings from their literature review. Participants discussed the specifics of barriers and drivers for wind energy development which are particularly relevant for Norway and the local context in Fosen. Three issues arose as the most relevant for the Norwegian context:

1. Firstly, the need for Norway to develop large wind energy projects. Since the country already has a power production surplus that is based almost exclusively on renewable energy production (namely hydro), the question was whether we actually need to have a lot of wind energy development? The renewable energy surplus is a contextual situation that is special for Norway and should be considered when assessing social acceptance for wind power in Norway.
2. Secondly, more wind energy projects are now subject to foreign ownership. How does the tendency towards more foreign owners and investors affect social acceptance of wind power?
3. Thirdly, there was attention to the human rights and concern for indigenous people. In the Fosen district, the wind power parks will encroach on the tradition, culture and livelihoods of the Sami population.

Project partner NVE (the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate) gave a presentation on the status, method and preliminary findings from their work on a National Framework for Wind Energy Development in Norway. The project involves identifying areas that are most attractive for wind energy development and exclude areas that are not suitable. NVE will develop maps for the entire country that identify such areas.