NCE Smart Energy Markets participates in Kraftløftet: "An opportunity to influence"

The business cluster NCE Smart Energy Markets has been invited to participate in a working group under "Kraftløftet", which aims to address the challenges related to the power situation in Norway. This collaboration will be highly beneficial for the member companies within the cluster.

Together, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (OED) have initiated Kraftløftet – a forward-looking tripartite cooperation aimed at ensuring increased access to power more quickly in Norway.

In Norway, we have a long tradition of using tripartite cooperation to navigate through demanding issues, and the power situation is one such challenging matter.

"One of Norway's foremost competitive advantages is our well-functioning tripartite cooperation. History has clearly shown us that we find good solutions by using tripartite cooperation, and now we are also using it to once again achieve another one of our competitive advantages: Abundant access to clean and affordable power," stated Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Terje Aasland, during the launch of Kraftløftet earlier this year.

Time is of the essence

The working committee within Kraftløftet, composed of representatives from OED, NHO, and LO, aims to collaborate on measures, mobilization, and new strategies to ensure sufficient access to renewable power at competitive prices for businesses and consumers in Norway by 2030.

The background for this collaboration is the prospect that Norway may face a deficit in its national power balance in just 3-4 years if measures are not taken to increase access to renewable power and the power grid in the country, as well as to use power more efficiently. The mandate for this collaboration is now clear, and the working committee has been established. The primary goal of Kraftløftet is to ensure the rapid implementation of measures, mobilization of projects, and effective operational follow-up for challenging issues.

Enablers and problem solvers

As part of their work, LO and NHO will develop a strategy that outlines how the business sector can be mobilized and enabled to rapidly expand renewable power and the power grid year by year. The strategy will also recommend measures to achieve energy efficiency in households, commercial buildings, industry, and the rest of the economy.

This is where the business cluster NCE Smart Energy Markets has been invited to contribute. Why? Because the cluster members represent enablers and problem solvers within Kraftløftet.

"We look forward to participating in the working group and helping find solutions that ensure sufficient power access for businesses and consumers in Norway. Through this collaboration, the cluster's member companies will have an opportunity to influence the development of the energy sector and realize the potential for energy efficiency in the country," comments Inge Bilet, cluster leader for NCE Smart Energy Markets.