Norway still committed to power links to Germany, Britain -minister

OSLO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Norway's government remains committed to building power links to Britain and Germany by end of this decade, Oil and Energy Minister Tord Lien said on Wednesday.

The previous government had raised doubts about whether the cables would be profitable if Britain or Germany introduces capacity markets, excluding Norwegian producers.

The minister said the government was aiming to make decisions on licensing in line with a planned project timeline.

"You can expect that the original time scheme will be fulfilled, 2018 to Germany, and 2020 to the UK," the minister told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference.

"At the moment we are on track to follow that time scheme," he said.

The links would allow Germany and Britain to import hydropower from Norway to balance fluctuations in wind and solar power output, while Norway would be able to import power during dry years. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Jason Neely)