The Prime Minister's speech at the opening of Hellesylt Hydrogen Hub

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Dear all of you,

I'm really pleased that none of you used my speaking point about ‘Mission Impossible’. It was right behind here that Tom Cruise was setting off with his motorbike, which is to be seen here in the community. But the point is, of course, that we are here to do the mission possible.

Let me address all of you, Jens Berge, Knut Flakk, leaders, board members, investors, customers and employees.

In mentioning all of you, I have been touching upon the value chain. It's a fragile value chain, as you have expressed. It is really experiencing what we are in this big energy transition. It is not straightforward, friends.

It is going to be marked by bottlenecks and some bumps along the road. And it will take people like you, who have a vision, courage and perseverance to really drive through. Because there will be obstacles.

If you're going to build offshore wind along the Norwegian coast, which is the second largest coastline in the world, obviously we have an opportunity. But it's not straightforward. If you're going to do this in the transport business, in the shipping business, in the heavy vehicles business, it's not going to be straightforward.

One week ago, today, I was two hours out of Shanghai, and I was witnessing the handover of a new vessel to the Höegh Automobile Car Carrier Group. It's the largest car carrier in the world, 9,000 cars. They have commissioned 10 of these ships, and they will cut fuel use by up to 60-70% and make possible transition to ammonia.

So doing that in “small” Shanghai, and today coming here to “big” Hellesylt, I think tells the story of what we really are going through.

I think this is a great privilege to witness with you, and I'd like to tell all the international partners coming here on such a wonderful day, I think this is a beautiful 18th of September. We cannot complain. To all the kids and all the children and all the music: It's just fantastic.

I think this local community really tells something about what it is to invest in Norway, because you meet the complete community with all the qualities that are around here.

What we are seeing here is that Norway is not an oil nation. We are an energy nation. And we are building the new chapters on the shoulders of past experience.

Would we have been able to do oil and gas in the North Sea in 1970 if we had not done hydro power from waterfalls 70, 80, 100 years before? No. We had some experience, but only some. We knew very little about oil and gas, but we had some experience. Then, we went into oil production. We are transitioning out of oil. We are doing gas. We are now entering into carbon capture and storage. And we are venturing into new energy chapters, such as hydrogen, such as solar, offshore wind, onshore wind, and so forth.

Driving that hydrogen car is no different from any other car, but it really gives you the feeling that this is part of this future. We do it on new energy, and we are moving forward. And my government is really focused on providing that support which is necessary to help the courageous investors to take the decisions, risk their capital, and use their ingenuity to move forward. And I'm happy to see that this is happening today.

Three main points.

First, we are, of course, heading towards an enormous transition. And if you take really the big chapter of all humanity, changing energy systems is the most brutal change we are going through.

It's a shift of power system. It's a shift of political power. And it's a shift of where people live and where they move. This has taken time. Now, we are short of time. And we have defined some time limits that we have to reach, 2030, 2050, and so on.

I would say that for us in Norway, we should think that doing adaptations is part of life. The only thing that is permanent, is change. And that is what we are going through now. And if we secure people with the knowledge that, we are all part of this. 

My favorite quote is this: Do we fear new technology? There can be reasons to fear it. Our response has always been we fear all technology. Because we have to go along with technology. You have to do it in a way that brings people along with education, with training, vocational training. That is what we have done, and that is what we will do. We will strive to reach these climate targets. If Norway succeeds, it's not going to change much. But if we don't succeed, we're going to send a signal that it doesn't matter. And it matters. And we will do what it takes.

My second point is that hydrogen will be part of the solution. How big, how extensive, we don't know. But it is really the counting of tons that matters, dear friends.

The world emits about 50 billion tons of CO2 every year. Norway is on its way down from 50 million. It just shows that, we are small in the big picture. My point has always been the way we cut our emissions, may matter much more than cutting the actual tons.

If we succeed on offshore wind, it may be an example for two-thirds of the world population living close to the shores. If we succeed on carbon capture and storage, a complete value chain, it will have to be part of the solution to cut emissions worldwide. And we may have the technology. If we succeed on what Knut and Jens is trying to do, well, then we may also lead on hydrogen, which is going to have to replace gas.

If Yara in Grenland replaces gas in their fertilizer production with hydrogen, they may cut almost a million tons. That's one million out of 45 or something. Counting downwards, Hellesylt Hydrogen Hub can produce up to 500 tons green hydrogen a year. That's an important step to reach the goals. And these fjords, friends, will be free of ships with emissions. But we have to be pragmatic, so we are doing this stepwise.

Knut, you are right, 2026 is there for a number of ships. But we want to get the big ships along, and they have to be built. They have to be designed. Technology has to come. We have set 2032 as an absolute limit, and that's what they have to plan for. And by then, you may have the infrastructure here to provide the gas and the hydrogen, and that is great.

So finally, my third point is about our policy. We have to be strategic and find how we can best support the hydrogen transmission. We do that through a number of measures. First of all, we need more electric power. Can you believe it? In a country which used to think that we had plenty. But we will need to electrify. Almost everything that can be electrified, will be electrified.

We will need more electricity, we will need more grid, and we will need much more energy efficiency along that road. We need quicker handling of applications, of licenses. This cannot take as much time as before. And we need a major emphasis on carbon capture and storage. We have a complete value chain a bit further down this coast in Vestland, and we have to really inspire the rest of Europe.

Europe is transitioning through this. In our green alliance with the European Union, carbon capture and storage and hydrogen are lifted at issues where we will contribute, where we will cooperate.

And we will invest in research, technological development, and all what is needed.

This hub has received 47 million Norwegian krones through the pilot E, which is going to push new competitive companies in environmentally friendly technology.

And Enova will also develop, has developed, and will continue to develop programs for the use and production of hydrogen. And these will, I think I can tell you, Knut, they will increase the frequency of what they will support. I mean, maybe up to 80 percent in certain segments of the market. But this is something we will talk about.

Last June, Enova committed 1.2 billion Norwegian krones for hydrogen vessels and six ammonia vessels. Pieces are coming together.

We are also part of EU's hydrogen bank. That is where Norway can make a difference. And it's going to be a big, good tool to develop value chains here in Norway. So, I appreciate this opportunity to be here. I think this may be a historic day for a longer story.

Again, we are not an oil nation. We are an energy nation, and we are writing new chapters. Congratulations to all of you for writing this chapter. And I wish you a heartfelt good luck.