The Energy Regulation and Markets Review - Stikeman Elliott

Norway
individual decisions and perform preparatory procedures of cases to be resolved by the
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
Statnett SF is the National Grid company and transmission system operator
(‘TSO’) responsible for operation and development of the central grid for electricity
transmission.
ii Regulated activities
A concession is mandatory for anyone who wants to develop hydropower plants,
windpower plants, gas-fired power plants, power lines, district heating systems and
domestic transmission pipelines for natural gas, etc.
The Industrial Concession Act specifies that anyone who acquires ownership, user
rights or long-time user rights to a waterfall, or shares in companies with such rights,
must obtain a licence. Development of a waterfalls and construction of a power plants
usually require an additional licence pursuant to the Water Resources Act.
The Energy Act requires licensing for the construction, ownership and operation
of all installations for generation, conversion, transmission and distribution of electricity,
all the way from power plant to consumer, as well as for district heating plants over
10MW. A licence pursuant to the Energy Act is also required for trade in electricity and
for the organisation of marketplaces for such trading.
Systems for transporting natural gas intended for delivery to natural gas
undertakings in another region, cannot be constructed or operated without a licence
pursuant to the Natural Gas Act. Minor liquefied natural gas installations and small-scale
facilities for transmission or distribution of natural gas do not need to be licensed.
A developer or licensee must have a licence pursuant to the Watercourse Regulation
Act to carry out regulatory measures or divert water in a watercourse.
The Watercourse Regulation Act gives the licensee the authority to expropriate
the necessary property and rights in order to carry out the regulatory measures. For other
energy projects, corresponding expropriation rights are laid down in the Expropriation
Act of 1959. Expropriation questions are often handled as part of the licensing process
for energy projects.
The Ocean Energy Act regulates renewable energy production, conversion and
transmission of electricity at sea. A licence is needed on order to construct, own or
operate production facilities and cabling systems located outside the baseline, but within
the Norwegian continental shelf. The same applies to reconstruction or extension of such
existing facilities.
iii Ownership and market access restrictions
Norway has for more than 100 years had huge restrictions on acquisition of waterfalls
and hydropower generators. During the 20th century these were developed to include
restrictions on the lease of such facilities and partial ownership in a way that established
preferential treatment of public (state, counties or municipalities) ownership.
The main principle on acquisition of ownership to hydropower plants is found
in the Industrial Concession Act (of 14 December 1917). Without a concession, only
the Norwegian state may acquire ownership or the right to use waterfalls of a certain
size. The threshold for when concession has to be applied for has recently been raised
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