– I want to take a degree of self-criticism, it has become a somewhat bigger issue than I had anticipated, says Ola Borten Moe to TV 2.
On Friday, the Minister of Research and Higher Education wrote a post on Facebook where he went right down the throat of the new collaboration between the hydrogen technology company Nel and Statkraft.
In the post, Borten Moe writes, among other things, that “it is becoming increasingly obvious that for far too long we have behaved as if there is unlimited access to renewable and affordable electricity in Norway”.
He believes that the hydrogen investment is too energy-efficient. “It’s one light year away from being justifiable or reasonable”, he writes in the post, where he claims that the government’s hydrogen investment is to send power “right in the ass”.
During the signing of the collaboration between Nel and Statkraft, both the oil and energy minister and the industry minister were present.
Borten Moe didn’t know that, he tells TV 2.
LIGHT YEARS AWAY FROM RESPONSIBILITY: Research and Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe (Sp) came out hard against his own government on Facebook. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
– It may be good to present the assumptions for the reasoning. As the Minister of Oil and Energy has clarified afterwards, it is surplus power that must be used, i.e. power that does not have an alternative value. Then this might make sense, he says.
Although it is a regretful minister TV 2 meets, he believes that the point of the post still stands.
– The core of the post is to point out the energy efficiency, or the lack of it as such, in this technology. The efficiency of the technology is quite low, and especially in a situation where we lack power it is good to be aware of that, says Borten Moe.
Thinks Borten Moe is wrong
Moe’s criticism of hydrogen was also a topic in the Storting on Wednesday, where Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was grilled by the opposition in the spontaneous question time.
Støre took the opportunity to say that he thinks Moe is wrong.
– In the energy transition we are in now, we have to tolerate debates about this in democracy. And we know the critical perspective from others, says Støre to TV 2.
THINKS BORTEN MOE IS WRONG: Prime Minister Jonas Gaht Støre believes hydrogen is absolutely necessary to cut climate emissions. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
– But what I say to him is that he knows very well which government he is a part of, what our plan is, what our ambition is, what we have in the Hurdal platform, and what we are now deepening in the cooperation with Germany.
Støre believes hydrogen will be absolutely necessary to cut climate emissions.
– If we didn’t have climate challenges, I don’t think people would have chosen to invest in hydrogen, because then we could have continued to use oil and gas just like now. But we have a climate challenge – in Norway, in Europe and in the world. And then hydrogen is an answer to that.
Sharp criticism from the Right
Storting representative and member of the energy and environment committee Nikolai Astrup (H), for his part, is merciless in his criticism of Borten Moe after the Facebook post.
– The question is which rock the government is still under. We are in an energy crisis in Europe and in the world. There is a need to increase power production significantly in the coming years, says Astrup to TV 2.
The right-wing politician believes that disagreements between the governing parties must be put aside.
– It does not hold in the situation we are in now. Now we have to put the nation’s interests first and they also have to finish their partisan political disagreements.
Red: – Madness
But it’s not just criticism for Moe. Rødt’s Sofie Marhaug believes the SP deputy leader has good points.
– I do not agree with Ola Borten Moe in everything. But I think it’s good that someone from the government parties is calling out some of the madness in the very, very optimistic projections that we don’t really know if we can deliver on, says Marhaug to TV 2.
She believes hydrogen is a complicated issue. In the worst case, hydrogen production can be used to clean Norwegian oil and gas, according to Marhaug.
– It is clear that it is extremely energy-intensive with hydrogen production, so it is very good that someone raises that debate and questions the agreement that has been concluded with Germany, because there are a lot of problems with hydrogen, says Marhaug.
– That does not mean that they should reject everything, but we can control our enthusiasm for the very optimistic line from the government.
