Dear guests and participants at Hydropower '01. As the Minister responsible for the Norwegian hydropower and water resources sector, it is a great pleasure for me to wish you all welcome to this conference.

I am pleased to see such a large and important conference taking place in Bergen - the capital of Western Norway. The county of Hordaland surrounding Bergen is one of the most important areas for hydropower production in Norway.

From the early Middle ages, Bergen was a member of the Hanseatic League, and is therefore used to host foreign visitors. This Conference with around 250 participants from 40 countries is certainly an international event.

Norway is blessed by the nature when we speak about energy. I am proud to say that Norway has an important role to play in this field. Norway is the second largest net exporter of crude oil in the world, and we are among the three leading gas suppliers to the European gas market. Norwegian petroleum industry is leading in many technological areas world- wide. Our partly state-owned oil company Statoil, ranks among the leading companies in the world as regard to development of deep water technology for offshore oil and gas fields.

Along with a considerable oil and gas production, Norway is the world's sixth largest hydropower producer, with an average annual production of about 118 Terawatt hours (TWh). The domestic demand for electricity is almost 100 per cent covered by this renewable and clean source of energy. This has been very beneficial to our environment. Today, in a "normal year", when talking about precipitation, domestic demand exceeds the production capacity.

The Government is therefore looking into various ways to close this gap. The Government supports new renewables such as wind-power, biomass and heatpumps as interesting supplements. Utilising some of our abundant resources of natural gas would give a very substantial addition to our power balance.

It has been said that the period of the really large hydropower projects in Norway is over. There is still a considerable potential to develop, either through environmentally acceptable new projects, upgrading existing installations, or expanding the existing hydropower plants. It is to be expected that several of these projects will be subject to licensing in the years to come. This conference has a lot of interesting topics in this respect, and I hope we will experience a good exchange of ideas on how to utilise hydropower in an even more efficient and environmentally friendly way in the future.

The utilisation of our water-resources for hydropower purposes is only one part of my responsibilities as Minister for water resources. The Ministry is responsible for most types of water resources management. For environmental reasons, Norway has protected about 35 TWh/year from future hydropower developments in a special Plan for protection of watercourses.

Last autumn, the Parliament passed the new Water Resources Act on the basis of a Draft Bill prepared by the Ministry.

This Act is a milestone regarding modern management of water resources in general. Furthermore, the Act complies well with the EU directive on water. Both the directive and the Water Resources Act put emphasis on the effects caused to the watercourses by all types of user interests.

Norway has experience in developing hydropower projects going back more than a hundred years. Actually, the first local company for electricity was founded in 1891. The major hydropower schemes in Norway were developed during three periods;

The first one was between 1900 - 1920 when our country developed a large industry based on hydropower. The second period was roughly between 1945 - 60, during the reconstruction after the Second World War. In the period from 1970-85, there was also a major increase in the installation of new capacity.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, hydropower was considered a beneficial resource to the whole society. Local communities have benefited from taxes, levies, power contracts and various funds. The public participation at various levels is secured through the legislation, which has extensive public consultations as a prerequisite for a democratic and thorough licensing process.

Norway was one of the first countries to introduce a free power market for electricity in production and trade. But unlike other countries, we have restructured the electricity sector without privatisation. I will like to mention that 85 % of the Norwegian hydropower production is owned either by the state or the local authorities. Furthermore, our legal system secures a high degree of state control over the hydropower resources. It has been a broad political consensus about these issues.

During the last ten years, few new large projects have been developed. This is partly due to a period we now have put behind us with a surplus of electricity, but also because increased environmental considerations have made it more difficult to develop new hydropower plants.

Norway's experience within the hydropower sector of more than one hundred years has led to a highly competent hydropower sector. In the construction sector, for instance, we have a broad experience, which originated around 1900. Also the manufacturers of electro-mechanical equipment have a high level of competence. I hope the visitors to this Conference will become more familiar with these companies during the following days in Bergen and Geiranger.

Since Norway has already developed most of the country's available hydropower potential, the industry has been forced to compete for contracts in other countries to maintain the expertise and level of production. In recent years, this has become a highly internationalised branch of industry with supplies to most parts of the world.

The Norwegian companies offer all technical services required for developing hydropower projects. These services comprise all aspects from conducting pre-feasibility studies, planning, construction work to delivery of mechanical equipment. As the Minister responsible for Energy, I have learned to appreciate their skills.

The Norwegian Government has encouraged a major increase in the co-operation on energy and hydropower development with other countries during the past decades. The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) provides technical assistance and advice in many projects around the world, related to hydropower as well as water resources management in general. Their assistance also includes evaluation of projects for the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD). In recent years, new areas of work have been initiating new legislation and the establishing and organising of administrative bodies for water resources management and the electricity sector in several countries.

Hydropower is widely regarded as a clean and environmentally acceptable energy source when carried out with due care concerning the environment. As a renewable energy source, hydropower will be even more beneficial to countries where thermal power plants are the alternative to further development of the electricity sector.

During the last decade, there has been an increasing focus on various aspects connected to the impact from large dams. The World Commission on Large Dams launched its final report "Dams and Development" in November last year. This work was very impressive in its format, and included many experts and case- studies from various fields and countries. This report led to a debate regarding the benefits and negative impacts from large dams. I am glad to see that this subject is one of the main topics at this conference, and I am also sure that it will be discussed to an even larger degree at the ICOLD symposium, which is taking place in Geiranger next week.

As the Minister responsible for large dams in Norway, I find it useful to have the large reference base in the report gathered from all over the world, and the thorough discussions about this issue. Norway is in a fortunate situation because we build dams mainly in connection with hydropower projects, and not as flood prevention and irrigation purposes which is the main purposes for a majority of countries.

These two conferences should give good opportunities to further discuss these issues, and hopefully come to conclusions which will benefit both the environment and the local people who need the dams.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has worked close together with the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in examining the final report of the World Commission on dams. Together, we have agreed on the Norwegian comments. I am pleased to present the official Norwegian view at this major conference held in Norway. The comments will be distributed to all interested parties during this conference. I hope the comments will be a valuable input in the future debate regarding these important issues.

Finally, I want to congratulate the organisers of these two highly international and interesting conferences. I am confident that Hydropower ’01 and the following ICOLD symposium will be of great value to all the participants. It is my sincere hope that this will lead to a better understanding of hydropower as a renewable source of energy.

I am also confident that the participants here in Bergen will make useful contacts across country borders. It is also my wish that you will have the opportunity to see some of Norway’s beautiful nature during your visit.