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Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday 

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday 
Weather warnings have been issued in northern Norway and the finance minister has said that high electricity prices are the fault of the previous government. Read about that and more in today's roundup of important news. Photo by Mark Blackwell on Unsplash "

Find out what's going on in Norway on Wednesday with The Local's short roundup of important news. 

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Wind warnings and potential for snowstorms in the north. 

Snowdrifts and strong wind gusts are expected in northern Norway on Wednesday, with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (YR) issuing a yellow weather warning for the north. 

"It is a bit terrain dependent, but in some places, there can be quite powerful gusts. The wind poses some challenges in the area. The biggest challenge is that the wind comes at the same time as snow," Per Egil Haga, a meteorologist with YR, told VG

The weather is expected to cause snow drifts which can cause poor visibility, especially in the mountain passes. 

It could lead to travel chaos in the north as ferries and planes could be cancelled, and bridges could be closed. 

Record heat pump sales

High electricity sales have led to a bumper year for heat pump installations, several companies have told public broadcaster NRK

In simple terms, an electric heat pump can be compared to a fridge or air conditioner used in reverse. The pump extracts warmth from the air outside, the ground or a nearby water source and concentrates the heat before pumping it indoors. 

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They are designed to keep houses at a steady temperature all day, rather than ramping up quickly with a blast of energy. 

READ ALSO: What times of day should you avoid using electricity in Norway?

It's considered a greener way of heating a home. 

"This year, September has entered the history books. The traffic on our website has tripled compared to last year," Nora Gerad Nygaard from heat pump firm varmepump told NRK. 

"This is an "all-time high". I have never installed so many heat pumps before," Knut Willy Svendsen from firm Husvarme told the broadcaster. 

BankID disruption expected

Electronic identification service, BankID, is moving to a new provider, which will cause disruption for a few days, starting from tomorrow. 

The process of switching is expected to last until Tuesday, and BankID has said outages can be expected at the following times. 

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On Thursday, BankID and BankID on mobile will be unavailable to all customers in the period from 12.01am–08.00am.

On Saturday, BankID with a code chip and code app may be unstable during periods in the online banks. However, BankID on mobile will work as normal.

From Thursday to Tuesday at 08:00am, activating or reactivating BankID and BankID on mobile will not be possible. Users are therefore advised to check that BankID works before the movie starts on Thursday.

Vedum: No miracle cure for rising energy prices

The newly appointed finance minister, Trygve Slagavold Vedudm, has said there is no miracle way of bringing electricity prices back down in the short term. 

The Centre Party leader made the comments to trade union paper Klassekampen and blamed the rising energy prices on decisions the previous government made. 

READ ALSO: The key policies from Norway’s new government that you need to know about

"There is no miracle cure. We now see the effect of decisions made many years ago. Larger measures that will bring prices down a lot will take time," Vedum told the paper

608 new Covid-19 cases

On Tuesday, 608 new cases of Covid-19 were registered in Norway. This is 199 infections, more than the average for the previous seven days. 

In Oslo, 137 people tested positive for coronavirus. The seven-day average for the capital is 94. 

Total number of Covid-19 cases in Norway. Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

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