![Alta-damm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Alta-damm.jpg)
The electricity sector in Norway relies predominantly on
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
.
A significant share of the total electrical production is consumed by national industry.
Production and consumption
![Produksjon forbruk og eksport av elektrisk energi i Norge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Produksjon_forbruk_og_eksport_av_elektrisk_energi_i_Norge.png)
Average annual hydropower generation capacity in 2019 was around 131 TWh, about 95% of total electricity production.
[Vannkraftpotensialet]
'' Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate'', 10 December 2015.
Of the total production in 2011 of 128
TWh TWH or twh could refer to:
* Tai Dón language, a language of Vietnam, Laos, and China
* Tai Wo Hau station, Hong Kong; MTR station code
* Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse
* Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada
* Tun ...
; 122 TWh was from hydroelectric plants, 4795
GWh was from thermal power, and 1283 GWh was wind generated.
In the same year, the total consumption was 114 TWh.
Hydro production can vary 60 TWh between years, depending on amount of
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
, and the remaining hydro potential is about 34 TWh.
[Østensen, Inger.]
Fakta – Energi- og vannressurser i Norge 2013
page 24-28. http://www.regjeringen.no. Olje- og energidepartementet, november 2012..
In 2016, the Norwegian government published a
white paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...
regarding their future energy intentions through 2030. This announcement emphasized four main goals, which were improving security in the supply of their power, improving the efficiency of their renewables, making their energy more efficient, and more environment- and climate-sensitive, and fostering economic development and value through fiscally responsible and renewable technology.
The annual electricity consumption was about 26-27 MWh per inhabitant during 2004-2009 when the European union (EU15) average in 2008 was 7.4 MWh. Norway’s consumption of electricity was over three times higher per person compared to the EU 15 average in 2008. The domestic electricity supply promotes use of electricity,
[Energy in Sweden, Facts and figures, The Swedish Energy Agency, (in Swedish: Energiläget i siffror), Table: Specific electricity production per inhabitant with breakdown by power source (kWh/person), Source: IEA/OEC]
2006 T23
2007 T25
2008 T26
2009 T25
an
2010 T49
and it is the most common energy source for heating floors and hot water.
Electricity per person and by power source
Transmission
Statnett
Statnett is a Norwegian state owned enterprise responsible for owning, operating and constructing the stem power grid in Norway. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway.
Statnett also owns 30% of the Nord Pool Spot along with other Nor ...
is the transmission system operator in Norway, operating 11,000 km of high power lines. There are plans to upgrade the western grid from 300 to 420 kV at a cost of 8 billion NOK, partly to accommodate cables to Germany and England.
Norway has an open electric market, integrated with the other Nordic countries over the
Synchronous grid of Northern Europe
The Nordic regional group (formerly NORDEL) of ENTSO-E is a synchronous electrical grid composed of the electricity grids of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the eastern part of electricity sector in Denmark (Zealand with islands and Bornholm). The ...
. Export and import is routine over the direct power links to Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The market is handled by
Nord Pool
Nord Pool AS is a pan-European power exchange. Nord Pool has a main office in Oslo and further offices in Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Berlin and London. The company is owned by the European exchange operator Euronext as well as TSO Holding, ...
, and has 5 price zones in Norway. Financial future contracts are traded at
NASDAQ OMX
Nasdaq, Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation that owns and operates three stock exchanges in the United States: the namesake Nasdaq stock exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and the Boston Stock Exchange, an ...
. Many of the hydroelectric plants in Norway are easily adjustable and can adapt well to variations in demand, and hence in price, but frequency stability is not satisfactory, and Statnett works with producers to minimize sudden changes in power flow.
[Lie, Øyvind.]
Nye utenlandskabler tvinger fram mer fleksibel kraftproduksjon
''Teknisk Ukeblad
''Teknisk Ukeblad'' (''TU'', en, Technical Weekly Magazine) is a Norwegian engineering magazine. The magazine has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway.
History and profile
''TU'' has appeared weekly since 13 April 1883 and was published by Ingeniørf ...
'', 22 January 2015. Accessed: 22 January 2015. On a normal day, when price is low during nighttime, Norway normally imports power, and exports during daytime when the price is higher. Maintaining the grid in the harsh Norwegian nature is a compromise between stability desires and economy, and
outages are expected in these circumstances. About 70% of the grid is without
grounding; called
IT-nett.
West of Oslo, there is a small single-phase AC power grid operated with 16.7 Hz frequency for power supply of electric railways.
Price
In some years, a combination of high power prices in the market and less than usual rainfall renders the power system more vulnerable to power shortages. So far consumers in Norway have noted this by paying a higher price for electrical power during winter, however still a low price in international terms. Copious snow- and rain-fall in the mild winters of 2013-15 led to sharply lower prices, which was 26.7 øre per kWh in 2015.
New connections to other countries could stabilize available power levels and reduce price swings, however as these areas are more expensive, average price may rise in Norway. Grid strengthening may cost a few billion kroner.
Mode of production
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
is the main mode of electricity production.
Norway is known for its particular expertise in the development of efficient, environment-friendly hydroelectric power plants. Calls to power Norway principally through hydropower emerged as early as 1892, coming in the form a letter by the former Prime Minister Gunnar Knutsen to parliament. Ninety percent of hydropower capacity is publicly owned and distributed across municipalities and counties. Nationwide installed capacity of hydropower amounted to 33.8 GW in 2015. The maximum working volume of hydrologic storage power plants is 85 TWh, whereas the average seasonal cycle is 42 terawatt-hours (TWh). In 2015, hydroelectricity generated 144 TWh and accounted for 95.8% of the national electricity demand. In European markets, it is the single largest producer of hydropower. According to the IEA, Norway generated 4.3 percent of the worldwide hydropower in 2008 and ranked 6th for that year, behind
China,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
[IEA Key stats 2010](_blank)
pages 19 and 27
Part of the reason that so much of Norway’s electricity can be generated from hydropower is due to the natural advantage of its topography, with abundant steep valleys and rivers. Due to climate change, the region is currently experiencing heavier rainfall and is projected to receive more in the future, further increasing its capacity for hydropower.
Wind power
Wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...
capacity was at the end of 2019 2444 MW producing 5.5 TWh, an increase of about 780 MW (2.5 TWh) in 2019.
Solar power
The national support for
solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...
is in place since 2008.
For 2013, the
European Photovoltaic Industry Association
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
reports a negligible 0.02 watts per inhabitant or less than 0.1
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
(MW) of installed photovoltaic capacity in Norway.
This is a hundred times less than in Finland (2 watts per inhabitant), two hundred times less than in Sweden (4 watts per inhabitant) and almost five thousand times less than in Denmark (98 watts per inhabitant).
However, use of solar power is growing at an accelerated pace; in 2016, installed panel capacity grew by 366%. Proponents indicate that Norway has a surprisingly high capacity for solar energy capture. For instance, records from the city of Narvik show that the region can receive almost as much sunlight as southern Germany. However, this is still just above a third of the solar energy that an area that receives a high amount of solar energy would receive (based on received radiation from Australia.) Solar companies include Elkem Solar and NorSun.
Renewable Energy Corporation
The Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) is a solar power company with headquarters in Singapore. REC produces silicon materials for photovoltaics (PV) applications and multicrystalline wafers, as well as solar cells and modules. It is a wholly-ow ...
REC was a
solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...
company with headquarters in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
.
Elkem Solar was part of Norwegian Elkem.
Orkla Group
Orkla ASA is a Norwegian conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. At present, Orkla operates in the branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions and financial investment sectors. Orkla ASA is listed on the Os ...
sold it with $2 billion in January 2011 to a Chinese chemical company China National Bluestar head office in Beijing. NorSun is a private solar cell producer.
Coal power
On the island of Svalbard about 0.108 TWh of electricity and heat is produced annually, in two coal fired power plants. The coal is mined on the island, where the surplus of coal (2/3 of production) is exported.
Other types
Norway has around 3 power plants burning natural gas, depending on how they are counted:
Mongstad
Mongstad is an industrial site in Vestland county, Norway. The site sits on the border of the municipalities of Alver and Austrheim, with most of the site in Alver. The site features an oil refinery for Equinor and other oil companies, including ...
280 MW
CHP,
Kårstø
Kårstø is an industrial facility located near the village of Susort, along the Boknafjorden, in the municipality of Tysvær in Rogaland county, Norway. The site features a number of natural gas processing plants that refine natural gas and con ...
420 MW (now closed), and
Tjeldbergodden 150 MW (unused).
They are rarely used, as hydropower is usually cheaper.
Statkraft experiments with
osmosis
Osmosis (, ) is the spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential (region o ...
at
Tofte.
Export/Import
Norway has imported up to 10% of its electricity production during 2004-2009.
[ According to IEA in 2015 Norway exports about 15% of its electricity generation and imports about 5%, and the net electricity export was 14.645 TWh.
In 2021, exports were 24.7 TWh and imports 7.6 TWh, mostly from Sweden.
Norway and Sweden's grids have long been connected across the 1630 km long border. A 1 GW 420 kV high-voltage link between ]Nea River
, , or is an long river which has runs through the municipalities of Tydal and Selbu in Trøndelag county, Norway and Åre Municipality in Jämtland county, Sweden. The river Nea is a part of the Nea-Nidelvvassdraget watershed. Some of the ma ...
station in Norway and Järpen
Järpen () is a locality and the seat of Åre Municipality in Jämtland County, Sweden with 1,408 inhabitants in 2010.
Järpen is located at an altitude of 324m/1,063 ft above sea level, on the river Indalsälven.
The calcareous soil of ...
(Järpströmmen station at Indalsälven
Indalsälven is one of Sweden's longest rivers with a total length of 430 kilometers. Among its tributaries are Kallströmmen, Långan, Hårkan and Ammerån. A total of 26 hydropower plants are placed along its course, making it the third mo ...
river) in Sweden was commissioned in 2009.
Beginning in 1977 the Norwegian and Danish grids were connected across the Skagerrak with 500 MW, growing to 1,700 MW in 2015.
Norway's grid is connected to the Netherlands across the North Sea since 2008 with the 580-kilometre 700 MW High-voltage direct current
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...
cable NorNed
NorNed is a long high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Feda in Norway and the seaport of Eemshaven in the Netherlands, which interconnects both countries' electrical grids. It was once the longest submarine power cable in the ...
. The slightly shorter but with 1400 megawatt twice as powerful NordLink
NordLink is a subsea 1,400 megawatt (MW) HVDC power cable between Norway and Germany, opened in May 2021. The over long cable operates at a voltage of 500 kV DC.
The cable enables Deutsche Bahn to buy the full production from MÃ ...
HVDC undersea cable connection to Northern Germany began operation in 2021, more or less replacing the Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant
Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant (German: Kernkraftwerk Brokdorf, or KBR) is a Power Plant close to the municipality of Brokdorf in Steinburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany that shut down on New Year's Eve 2021.
It started in October 1986 by a first-o ...
which was shut down at the end of 2021, and helping Norway save hydro power when Germany has a surplus of renewable energy.
The North Sea Link
The North Sea Link is a 1,400MW high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Norway and the United Kingdom.
At it is the longest subsea interconnector in the world. The cable became operational on 1 October 2021.
Route
The cable ...
HVDC Norway to Great Britain cable was opened in October 2021, while the Scotland–Norway interconnector NorthConnect
The NorthConnect (also known as Scotland–Norway interconnector) is a proposed 1,400MW HVDC interconnector over the floor of the North Sea.
Current status
The future of the project is unclear. In March 2020, the Norwegian Government placed th ...
is on hold due to Norwegian policy.
See also
* Energy in Norway
Norway is a large energy producer, and one of the world's largest exporters of oil.
Most of the electricity in the country is produced by hydroelectricity.
Norway is one of the leading countries in the electrification of its transport sector, wi ...
* Renewable energy in Norway
Norway is a heavy producer of renewable energy because of hydropower. Over 99% of the electricity production in mainland Norway is from 31 GW hydropower plants (86 TWh reservoir capacity, storing water from summer to winter). The average hydropo ...
* Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate
Regional:
* Nordic energy market
Nordic electricity market is a common market for electricity in the Nordic countries. It is one of the first free electric-energy markets in Europe and is traded in NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe and Nord Pool Spot. In 2003, the largest market shar ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Norwegian electricity production
{{Europe topic, Electricity sector in