At Heroeya in southern Norway, the country’s biggest onshore industrial site is planning to go fully electric by replacing its use of natural gas with power from the grid, part of a nationwide push to cut the country’s CO2 emissions.
Norwegian voters, for whom higher power bills are the main issue of concern currently, are already paying more due to the European energy crisis, which could lead to the postponement of some electrification projects. “Everyone is fighting about the little power we have,” Gunnar Tveit, 75, in the town of Porsgrunn, where Heroeya is set. “This is going to be very hard.”
But as of now there is not enough electricity supply and grid capacity to power full-scale electrification, said Lise Winther, the executive in charge of the project at Yara. Building new green energy sites to power expected new demand can be problematic. This week Indigenous and environmental campaigners, including Greta Thunberg, blocked entrances to the energy ministry to protest against 151 new wind turbines built on land used by Sami reindeer herders.