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Britain risks being left more vulnerable to blackouts as a political row in Norway over power exports escalates.
The Norwegian government collapsed this week following a row over EU green energy laws. A junior coalition partner in the government quit in protest at plans to implement the policies, amid a broader rise in energy nationalism in the country.
Experts said the collapse raised questions over Britain’s reliance on Norwegian energy imports to keep the lights on. Last weekend, Norway accounted for 4pc of the UK’s power, coming via cables that run under the North Sea.
Kathryn Porter, an energy consultant at Watt-Logic, said there was “increasing pressure” on Oslo to reevaluate its relationship with the UK on electricity.
Before the Norwegian coalition’s collapse, both governing parties had signalled they wanted to end a deal to supply Denmark with electricity and renegotiate deals with the UK and Germany.
Norway is a key source of electricity for Britain when the nation’s own power supplies dip. Norway generates energy from its hydroelectric power facilities, which offer a stable source of electricity in contrast to intermittent solar and wind.
Britain is expected to become increasingly reliant on electricity imports under Ed Miliband’s net zero push as Labour seeks to decarbonise the grid by switching to intermittent renewables, with wind power forming a crucial pillar of its plans.
Politicians have warned that this strategy risks leaves Britain reliant on neighbours to safeguard its energy security. Nick Timothy, a Conservative MP, said the row in Norway “demonstrates the danger of becoming over-reliant on imports to provide our electricity, and the danger in rushing to decarbonise the grid by 2030”.
He said: “Whatever Ed Miliband wishes, policy cannot move faster than technology. Ignoring this obvious truth risks our energy security, our international competitiveness and the well-being of the public.”
Ms Porter said there was no imminent risk to power supplies, stressing that Norway would not simply turn off of the inter-connector cable that supplies electricity and would be more likely to want to renegotiate to potentially bring in tariffs.
However, she said the collapse of the Norwegian coalition did raise questions for Britain’s energy security. Ms Porter said: “If we continue along the trajectory that Ed Miliband wants the UK on, we’ll rely on inter-connectors a lot more, but they’re not necessarily going to be available.”
Electricity exports have become a flashpoint in Norway, where the public has been facing soaring energy prices in recent years. Critics have claimed the undersea interconnector cables force prices higher.
In December, prices in southern Norway were almost 20 times higher from one week to the next, when a lack of wind in Germany led to a surge in electricity exports.
In 2022, when Norway opened inter-connectors to Britain and Germany, prices in the south of the country – where the cables connect to – soared by a factor of 10.
A backlash over high energy prices in the country has increased pressure to cut electricity links into Europe. The country is set to go to the polls in September, with the issue expected to be front and centre of debates.
Norway’s two-party coalition broke up on Thursday after the centre party leader said he could not accept three EU directives on increasing renewable energy sources and efficiency.
Following the collapse of the coalition, the centre-Left Labour party will govern alone for the first time in 25 years until elections later this year.
Britain was struck by tight supplies of energy earlier this month when there was a plunge in wind speeds. Experts had said the country came “within a whisker” of blackouts, with grid operators scrambling to keep the lights on.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has pushed back against these claims, saying it had been holding around 1.4 gigawatts in emergency reserves that went unused. These are held back for a worst-case scenario in which a major generator suddenly fails.
No 10’s national security adviser was warned this month that Mr Miliband’s “net zero zealotry” was putting Britain’s energy security at risk. Mr Timothy wrote to Jonathan Powell to highlight the problem with making Britain more dependent on electricity imports.
It followed concerns that Russian and Chinese ships are deliberately cutting undersea cables in Europe to disrupt electricity supplies.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “It is categorically untrue that our electricity or gas supplies have been at risk this winter. We are confident we will have sufficient energy supply to meet demand, due to our diverse and resilient energy system.
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