Norway and wind

In response to James Mackenzie (For the record; SN 25/7/12):

Would this be a testament to how wealth is distributed in Norway rather than just wealth itself. Or is it a good example of investing in a great earner for the Norwegian people.

What’s the best thing the Norwegians could buy with oil money right now?

Norway’s oil and energy minister Aaslaug Haga seems to think that wind turbines are a good bet.

The Scandinavian country is the fifth biggest exporter of oil in the world, but it also has the longest coastline in Europe and lots of strong wind.

A 30 page report from the Energy Council says: “Norway ought to have access to up to 40 terrawatt hours of renewable energy in 2020-2025, of which about half would come from wind power.”

Sufficient wind parks – totalling 5,000 to 8,000 megawatts installed capacity – would cost between 100 billion Norwegian and 220 billion Norwegian krona ($43.89 billion) assuming prices of 20-28 million krona per installed megawatt.

The energy would be equivalent to up to about eight nuclear power plants.

That’s a lot of money, but that’s also the value of about half a year’s oil output for Norway. It would be kind of a giant offset investment scheme.

Wind makes Norway – like Shetland- particularly well suited for wind power, apparently.

Gordon Harmer
Bayswater
Brae