For years, the central criticism of renewable energy was one word: intermittent. The wind stops. The sun sets.
Fossil fuels, this argument goes, are reliable in a way that weather-dependent power sources never can be. This argument shaped the energy policy debate on both sides of the Atlantic for decades.
Three months after the Iran war, it is being reversed.
What Nordic energy leaders said in Helsinki and why it’s directed at the Americans.
On the sidelines of the Eur Electric Power Summit in Helsinki, Finland, the chief executives of Europe’s two largest energy companies said: CNBC That the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz has exposed something the energy industry is reluctant to say out loud: fossil fuels have their own intermittent problem, and it’s called geopolitics.
Markus Raramo, CEO of Finnish energy company Fortum and president of Your Electric, was direct when asked about the comparison. “It’s a different kind of break, but absolutely,” he told CNBC.
More oil and gas:
“So, of course, that’s our message: that the solution to relying on imported CO2-content fuels is to actually get domestic clean electricity. That’s the way forward, but then we’re very realistic,” he added.
Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal, CEO of Norwegian energy company Statkraft, made a similar point, highlighting advances in battery technology as a factor that has materially changed the reliability equation for renewable energy.
The message from both executives was the same: the Hormuz crisis is nothing to panic about. This is a reason to speed up.
Why the Hormuz shutdown redefines the argument for a break on oil and energy.
The Strait of Hormuz normally carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquid natural gas supplies. When it goes off, that supply doesn’t cleanly run again.
Alternative shipping lanes are longer, more expensive and limited in capacity. Prices rise, markets tighten, and consumers feel the impact through energy bills and transportation costs, no matter where they live.
This is a break-even argument applied to fossil fuels. Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist at the UK-based think tank Ember, put it bluntly to CNBC in Helsinki.
“The big mantra, and I’m surprised we haven’t heard people talk about it yet, is that fossil fuels are now intermittent and uncertain, which was certainly an argument against renewables,” he said. “Thanks to batteries, renewables have actually become quite stable, because the sun rises every morning.”
The argument is not that renewables are perfect. Rauramo acknowledged that moving away from gas is a significant challenge for households and industries that rely on existing domestic fuel infrastructure.
The argument is that the comparison has changed. Fossil fuel supply chains can be affected by a single geopolitical event Solar Can’t panel a roof in Ohio.
For U.S. policymakers and investors watching the situation, the Nordic message is worth taking seriously even if the U.S. energy position is structurally strong.
What oil and LNG market disruptions mean for Americans in particular
The United States is the world’s largest oil and gas producer, which insulates domestic consumers from the direct supply risk faced by European importers.
But global oil markets are interconnected, and a supply shock in the Gulf still translates into higher prices for gasoline, jet fuel, and heating oil even for Americans who never buy a barrel of Middle Eastern crude.
gave LNG Dimension is also relevant. As Europe reduces its dependence on Russian gas from 2022, it has increasingly turned to US liquefied natural gas exports.
This means that US LNG production is now deeply embedded in European energy security calculations. A tightening of European gas markets could affect U.S. export volumes, pricing, and infrastructure utilization. CNBC Reports
The broader point from the Nordic executives is that energy security is not just about more production. It’s about reducing exposure to the kind of concentrated choke points that can be closed by conflict, politics or accident. A country that generates most of its electricity domestically from wind, solar and nuclear power is structurally less vulnerable than one that depends on imported fuel passing through a 39-kilometer-wide strait.
Key contexts on the closure of Harms, renewables, and energy security debate:
Marcus Rauramo holds two roles simultaneously: CEO of Fortum, one of Europe’s lowest carbon energy companies operating in the Nordic and Baltic markets, and President of Your Electric, the association representing Europe’s electricity industry. So his comments at the Power Summit carry more institutional weight than any single company. CNBC noted
The European Commission has said that EU gas reserves could reach 80 percent by the end of summer despite the Hormuz bottleneck, helping to secure winter supplies, but warned that conditions could worsen if conditions do not improve. The IB Times
Jet fuel is identified as one of the most exposed products in the current disruption. In contrast to Crude oilJet fuel cannot be easily replaced or stored on the same scale, making airlines and transport networks particularly vulnerable to prolonged outages. IB Times confirmed.
Amber’s Kingsmal Bond notes that batteries have fundamentally changed the reliability issue for renewables. A combination of solar, wind and storage can now provide consistency of baseload levels in a way that was not commercially viable five years ago. CNBC
Statkraft CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal is the head of the world’s largest renewable energy company, bringing her perspective to the battery storage and grid reliability debate. Statkraft operates hydropower, wind and solar assets in 21 countries. CNBC confirmed.
What the Nordic oil and energy warning means for investors and policymakers.
The message of the Your Electric Power Summit is ultimately a geopolitical message dressed up in the language of energy. When Fortum’s CEO says that the solution to fossil fuel intermittency is clean, home-generated electricity, he’s not just making a case for climate policy, but for capital allocation. Every dollar invested in domestic renewables is a dollar that reduces the exposure of supply chains that can be disrupted by events beyond the control of any government in Europe or the US.
For investors, disruptions in oil prices, LNG spot markets, and energy equity performance are already visible in Hormuz. The longer-term signal from Helsinki is that the crisis is accelerating policy discussions about domestic energy investment in Europe that were already moving in that direction. This could translate into faster permitting, more grid investment, and stronger mandates for storage deployment, all of which are positive for renewable energy. Supply chain.
For U.S. policymakers and investors watching the situation, the Nordic message is worth taking seriously even if the U.S. energy position is structurally strong. The global oil market does not respect borders, and the argument that domestic energy flexibility is needed. Diversity Fossil fuel choke points apply in Ohio as well as in Oslo.
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