Nordic PMs call for electricity market without borders

Nov 09, 2010 - Energy Central

Nordic prime ministers have added their weight to the call for further progress toward a Nordic electricity market free from national borders, according to a statement reaching here from Reykjavik on Tuesday.

The five Nordic prime ministers met at the annual Session of the Nordic Council in Iceland with the theme of Green Growth.

"They see a combination of transparency, efficiency and synergy as the key to success. The five PMs also think that the Region should continue to show the way forward as Europe's leading electricity market," said the statement posted on the website of the Nordic Council.

The prime ministers support the Nordic energy ministers' call that "the region should be a driving force in the transformation to a greener Europe," the statement said.

The process will include planning and developing the supply network, integrating renewable energy sources, establishing further links to Europe and moving even closer to a joint Nordic end-user market.

Customers are to have greater influence and enjoy greater scope for making their own decisions about their energy consumption, according to the statement.

A joint electricity market, integrating a range of production systems -- thermal power, nuclear power and hydroelectricity -- with renewable energy would generate major Nordic synergies, the statement said.

The development of "smart grids" in the region would help promote efficiency and guarantee electricity supplies with a high proportion of renewable energy sources, it said.

The prime ministers from Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden saw a well-organized electricity market as a prerequisite for developing business in the Region, and as an important component of Nordic globalization work to generate green growth for the Nordic region, the statement said.

The Nordic Council meetings will end on Thursday.