On April 19th it was announced that Norway and Sweden finally have agreed on how to proceed with the Swedish extension of the elcert scheme towards 2030. The result of the negotiations is good news for investors in Norwegian renewable energy projects. The market also reacted positively on the announcement, immediately pushing elcert prices upwards.

The results of the negotiations in short

• Sweden is increasing its target under the elcert scheme with 18 TWh to 2030. The scheme between the two countries will then be in force to 2045.
• The increase of the target will be achieved by a linear increase in the Swedish quotas from 2022 to 2030. Sweden will also push forward some of its existing quotas for certificate consumption to 2018 and 2019, this in order to achieve an earlier increase in certificate consumption.
• What is commissioned beyond the existing 28,4 TWh target before 2021 is to count towards the new Swedish target.
• A stop-mechanism is to be decided on in Sweden by the end of 2020, this to improve predictability for market players.

We especially highlight that Norwegian production will continue to count towards the new target up until 2021 and it is expected that yesterday’s announcement will contribute to several investment decisions enabling Norwegian projects to be commissioned during 2020 or at the latest during 2021. In general we believe that such investment decisions must be made at the latest during 2018.

“The agreement we have been presented with today is a significant milestone” – Øyvind Isachsen, CEO of NORWEA

Now it is important that the necessary amendments to the bilateral agreement governing the common elcert scheme are formalized as quickly as possible. This was also ensured in the announcement made by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Haavind is one of few leading lawfirms who combine in-depth energy, infrastructure, corporate M&A and bank and finance experience paramount to excell in these projects and investments.

We were involved in the landmark deals in 2016, including BlackRock in the purchase of 100% of Tellenes wind farm (160 MW) and Stadtwerke München in the purchase of 60% of Raskiftet wind farm (112 MW), both being Norwegian wind farms under construction. The Tellenes deal was honored by IJGlobal as their European Onshore Wind Deal of the Year (2016).