Sjur Obrestad Gabrielsen

As a part of efforts to facilitate a more consumer-friendly electricity market, the government today proposed changes to the Energy Act, the Marketing Act, and the Consumer Purchase Act. The bill, which affects both electricity suppliers and end-users, will now be presented to the Norwegian Parliament, “Stortinget”, for final review.

Recently, a series of interesting initiatives have been introduced with the goal of amplifying renewable energy production from solar power. At Hjort, we are closely monitoring this progressive and promising endeavor.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled on the so-called ACER case, where the central question was whether the Constitution was violated when the Norwegian Parliament, in 2018, consented by a simple majority to include the EU's third energy market package in the EEA Agreement. The conclusion of the Supreme Court is that the transfer of authority that took place was of little interference, and therefore, the Parliament did not violate the Constitution's rules.

On June 14, 2022, a public committee that assessed the development of the power grid presented the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy their Official Report “Grid on time” – on the development of the power grid (NOU 2022: 6). The proposed measures could collectively contribute to a significant boost to the grid development in Norway, by reducing the overall lead time for grid facilities, better utilization of the network, and improve the connection process.

The Norwegian government presented its large-scale plan for the development of offshore wind in Norway.

The Norwegian Government on 11 June 2021 published a White Paper «Putting Energy to Work – Long Term Value Creation from Norwegian energy resources”.

With regards to the presentation of the revised National Budget, the Norwegian government announced their plans concerning the introduction of a moderate production tax on onshore wind power production from 2022.

On Friday, June 12 2020, by royal decree, the areas "Utsira Nord" and "Sørlige Nordsjø II" were opened for offshore renewables, including offshore wind power. This means it will be possible to submit license applications for offshore wind power projects. At the same time the King also adopted a regulation which supplements the Ocean Energy Act and clarifies the licensing process.

Advokatfirmaet Hjort is a member of the Ius Laboris network, a global alliance of leading employment, labour and pension law firms. Working together with our network we have created a Guide for International Employers to assist employers in keeping their employees safe and protect their business as much as possible.