Companies lobby government over broken promises on wind development backing

Norwegian energy companies are preparing to lobby the government over their dissatisfaction with what they see as broken promises on backing for wind power development. They are especially "dissatisfied" with the performance of Enova, the new government agency responsible for subsidising wind development, which appears to have abandoned a national target of 3 TWh annual wind power production by 2010 while scaling down subsidies for capital investment in new wind plant. (Windpower Monthly, October 2002). State-owned power utility Statkraft and energy suppliers TrønderEnergi (TE) and Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk (NTE) are drafting a "statement" as the first round in what could be a long struggle, says Kåre Lorås of TE, which with NTE has been trying to get several new wind projects off the ground. The latest proposal, for 30-50 MW at Bessakerfjellet in Roan, Sør-Trøndelag, is unlikely to see the light of day before 2005 at the earliest, at an estimated cost of around NOK 400 million.