Minister rejects calls to scrap Iceland’s energy framework plan

Iceland’s environment, energy and climate minister, Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, opposes scrapping the country’s energy framework plan, saying it is needed to assess and compare proposed power projects. He made the comments to mbl.is in response to an analysis by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber says multiple appeals processes and a weak electricity transmission system can mean it takes decades to bring a new power plant into operation. It proposes abolishing the framework plan and more than doubling electricity production by 2040.

Jóhannsson agrees that more power should be generated, licensing procedures simplified and the transmission system strengthened. But he disagrees that electricity production must double over the next 15 years, and opposes opening up to development in natural areas Parliament previously placed under protection.

“I am both the energy minister and the nature conservation minister, and this is a balancing act: making it easier to increase energy supply while also protecting valuable natural areas,” he said. “Untouched nature has important value in itself, and we need to look after it.”

He said the government had already made changes to energy regulations, including amendments to 12 laws during the first half of its parliamentary term to improve efficiency and simplify the rules. It had also changed the legal framework for the energy plan to make the process more predictable and faster.

Two packages under the plan have added nearly two terawatt-hours of projects to the energy utilisation category, equivalent to 10% of current electricity production, Jóhannsson said. He wants more cost-effective projects to be included and said the government aims to complete at least one package during each parliamentary session. In the past, he said, Parliament could go as long as seven years between approvals.

Jóhannsson said the framework plan would be important for assessing wind power proposals in the coming years. Large power projects with significant environmental effects need a process involving data collection, consultation and preliminary assessment, he said, with Parliament making the final decision. Those decisions should be binding on municipal planning and provide greater predictability.

“The framework plan must not become a black hole where power project proposals disappear,” he said. The process needs to be more transparent, faster and more predictable. He said the government was following up on changes made to the framework plan laws earlier this year and working on further amendments.