It was under Erna Solberg that the green shift was completely skewed

“It really impresses me,” said NHO president Ole Erik Almlit For class competition On the first newspaper day of the year. He spoke about the climate crisis and green change, saying that “it's an absolute crisis that's happening very slowly.”

And primarily Almlid talked about the need to develop wind energy on land – here and now. In Almlid's own words: “The technology is mature, the investors are there, so we can't wait”. Almlit is far from it: offshore wind power is the fastest way to generate more power.

In this parallel universe, the Right has already saved Earth with the Norwegian Sea Wind

So why don't we get started?

In Almlid there is little doubt who is responsible: the government. But the government and Prime Minister Jonas Karstor are the wrong targets in this regard.

All in all: There's a lot to criticize about the government when it comes to the electricity market. This commenter and many others have almost turned it into a game over the last couple of years. It is true that we are behind.

But the government really doesn't deserve this criticism of the NHO that it spends too much time on offshore wind power. It wasn't Storr, but Solberg couldn't handle standing in the storm, so he abandoned the fight for wind farms in 2019 when public protests were at their greatest.

What happened nearly five years ago is repeating itself. In the spring of 2019, Norway's Directorate of Water and Energy (NVE) was finally able to provide a national framework for offshore wind power. After an exhaustive process, NVE finally identified 13 areas across the country that are most suitable for wind energy development.

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A map showing these areas created a furore. It didn't help that the NVE chairman insisted that the map should not be read in any way to mean that these areas are now free range for wind power. And that's exactly what many felt – they were outraged.

This rage is probably because many feel overwhelmed by the green shift. Opposition to new cables out of the country for fear of high electricity prices has long been dismissed as conspiracy theories, and the desire to preserve untouched nature has long been overlooked as backward and uncivilized.

There are many examples, but in short, it can be said that the green transition has not taken root well among people. If so, protests often come in a society like ours before the leaders of the community say “EU debate”.

97 municipalities were affected by 13 areas most suitable for wind power. A few months later, municipal councils in 17 of those cities asked to be excluded from the plans.

[ Hedda Langemyhr: Nå settes demokratiene på prøve ]

People were more clear. In the summer of 2019, Klaskampen reviewed the number of members in wind power groups on Facebook. In total, the groups had more than 150,000 members, the newspaper found.

Across the country, activists chained themselves to construction machinery in protest. There were hunger strikes, mass protests and theft of construction equipment. The popular number was different, but similar.

Under the circumstances, Erna Solberg could not resist and initially set aside planning work for the NVE. Subsequently, offshore wind power generation was stopped.

In the spring of 2022, exactly three years later, the Storr government sent a letter to the NVE and asked the directorate to resume the licensing process for offshore wind power.

Three years after the loss, Ole Erik Almlid and NHO's perspective combined.

Now, of course, opponents of wind power will react to this presentation. Nothing is lost in the years we don't generate wind power, it says from there.

That is their own work, not the concern of this text.

[ Trygve Svensson: Historiens lange elv ]

Whether wind power is good or bad is irrelevant here. Or, indeed, the Støre government has actually done a lot with regulations to promote wind power on land.

The introduction of ground rent tax on wind power is not so appropriate in this context.

The bottom line is that while NHO thinks offshore wind power is a great idea, there is an urgent need to develop more of it. The criticism of the Jonas Kahr store and the current government is directly misguided. The envelope addressed to NHO should be addressed to “Erna Solberg”.

There is no telling how much the Conservative Party is under attack in the region after the Solberg government loses the election in the fall of 2021. “It's good that the government is picking up the pace with onshore wind, which the Conservative Party has long called for,” said Nikolai Astrup, spokesman for energy and environment policy. When the government opened wind power concessions Again in the spring of 2022.

[ Jo Moen Bredeveien: Venstre om, men hvordan? ]

In this parallel universe, the right wing has already saved the Earth with Norwegian Sea Breeze.

But in reality it only took a few popular protests before the capitalist Solberg government allowed itself to implode.

One can be more critical of the Storr government regarding the green transition. For many years, 2023 was the year everyone agreed was lost in transition. The government hesitated, told many half-truths, did not want to correct course and dreamed of castles in the air and beautiful battery factories.

But the Storr government has at least tried to restart after Erna Solberg gave up on developing offshore wind power.

It should be remembered that NHO boss Almlid wants to hear the pace at the next green change.

Read more comments by Jo Moen Bredeveien