In the autumn of 2010, the Nordic Ministers for energy have reaffirmed their commitment for further electricity market integration, the Nordic Parliamentarians have pushed for further cooperation in support schemes for renewable energy and we at Nordic Energy Research have launched our new research programme: Sustainable Energy Systems 2050.
At the Nordic Energy Ministers’ meeting in Copenhagen on October 25th, I presented results of the institution’s work over the past 25 years to the five Nordic Ministers. I am proud to say that they expressed great satisfaction, applauding both the results presented and the directions set in our new strategy for 2011-2014. The day also featured our 25-year Anniversary conference, which was a great success and included many familiar faces in the Nordic energy research community.
At the Ministers’ meeting it was also expressed that Nordic cooperation in energy is an increasingly important element of the national energy policy agendas. The rapid development of a common Nordic electricity market has proven an example to follow for other regions, and the Ministers are keen to build on that success. Nordic Energy Research – in cooperation with the working groups for renewable energy and the electricity market – is organising a Conference on Nordic Energy Cooperation in Copenhagen on December 2nd and 3rd 2010 to discuss these very issues.
Harmonising Nordic support schemes
Nordic Parliamentarians at Nordic Council‘s 62nd Session in Reykjavik on November 4th have been quick to point out what increased cooperation would actually mean to Nordic citizens. If the Nordic countries could coordinate their support schemes for renewable energy, the total yearly savings could be as much as 10 billion DKK. These figures came from the report on flexible support mechanisms for renewable energy commissioned by Nordic Energy Research. The Parliamentarians called on the Nordic governments to further examine the prospects for a harmonisation of funding for the production of green energy.
Sustainable Energy Systems 2050
We have just launched our new call for research proposals, Sustainable Energy Systems 2050. We have already received significant interest from research communities throughout the Nordic region as highlighted by both the information meeting in Stockholm on November 8th and the online matchmaking exercise that seeks to assist researchers in finding partners across the Nordic borders. If you are interested in applying to our new programme, I encourage you to take a look at the website. The call is open until December 16th 2010 and we are looking forward to receiving many good project proposals.
The developments mentioned above represent a surge in the effort and importance placed on energy cooperation at the Nordic level. We hope to capture this energy and apply it to our activities in 2011, the first year in our coming 4-year strategy period.
By Anne Cathrine Gjærde, Director