Nordic Energy Technology Perspectives has been well received at launch events in all five Nordic countries. In total, over 400 policy-makers, industry leaders and researchers attended the Launch events, the topics covered in the debates are summarised below.

The IEA presented results at five national launch events, in Finland January 22nd, Denmark February 7th, Norway February 8th, Sweden February 11th and Iceland February 12th.

Finland

Helsinki saw the first launch event on January 22nd, coinciding with the date at which the publication was made available online.  The event was hosted by VTT and Tekes at the Scandic Maria Congress Centre in Helsinki.

Esa Härmälä, Director-general, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, opened the event. He praised the publication for addressing a relevant and timely issue for Finland – as the country is in the process of establishing a strategy for addressing energy issues towards 2050.

Speakers and panellists included: Esa Härmälä, Director-general, Ministry of Employment and the Economy; Teija Lahti-Nuuttila, Director, Tekes; Kai Sipilä, Vice president, VTT; Markus Wråke, IEA; Tiina Koljonen, Principal scientist, VTT; Stathis Peteves, European Commission; Bettina Lemström, Ministry of Employment and the Economy; Sebastian Johansson, Tekes; Harri Laurikka, Ministry of the Environment; Jukka Leskelä, Finnish Energy Industries; and Anne Cathrine Gjærde, Nordic Energy Research. Download the programme for Finland.

Denmark

Denmark was next on February 7th, an event co-hosted by the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Energy Association in Copenhagen.

Hans Jørgen Koch, International Director at the Danish Energy Agency, opened the event. He stated that the potential of Nordic cooperation in energy has not yet been realised, and that the Nordic ETP makes an important contribution to developing this cooperation.

Lars Aagaard, Director at the Danish Energy Association, summarised the report by saying “This report confirms that the Nordic region can be ambitious in energy and climate issues, and it confirms that this ambition will not have astronomical costs.”

The panel debate raised a number of important issues, including the real benefit of Nordic cooperation in achieving the scenarios and discussion of the report’s results of a net Nordic electricity export and biomass import in 2050.

Speakers and panellists included: Hans Jørgen Koch, International Direktør, Energistyrelsen, Klima, Energi og Bygningsministeriet; Lars Aagaard, Adm. Direktør, Dansk Energi; Markus Wråke, IEA; Ane Torvanger Brunvoll, Norges Forskningsråd; Anne Grete Holmsgaard, BioRefining Alliance; Sigurd Lauge Pedersen, Energistyrelsen; Peter Meibom, Dansk Energi; and Poul Erik Morthorst, DTU Risø. Download the programme for Denmark.

Norway

Hosted by the Research Council of Norway and Nordic Energy Research, a breakfast seminar was held in Oslo to follow up in the pre-launch of the Nordic ETP at the RENERGI conference in November.

Panellists provided insight on personal transport, electricity export, RD&D and energy efficiency in buildings. Norwegian implementation of electric vehicles has outstripped other Nordic countries, and they are the only one following the Nordic ETP scenarios. According to the scenarios, a significant share of the electricity export from the Nordic region will leave through Norway. Jan Bråten from Statnett expressed that this is too ambitious given their calculations for future energy prices and transmission capacities.

Speakers and panellists included: Marius Holm, ZERO; Markus Wråke, IEA; Johan Vetlesen, OED; Jan Bråten, Statnett; Sverre Aam, Energi21; Per-Andre Torper, Samferdselsdepartementet; Katharina Bramslev, Grønn Byggallianse and Kari Espegren, IFE. Download the programme for Norway.