Northern Norway has never had a higher average electricity price in March, but neither has the filling rate been lower in the last 20 years.
Wednesday 3 April at 19:57
This is shown by NVE’s recent statistics.
In Northern Norway, the occupancy rate last week was roughly 14 percentage points lower than normal, the so-called median. For the whole country, it was 7.3 percentage points lower.
It is particularly Northern Norway and Western Norway that are pulling down. But central Norway also has less water than normal.
– New bottom record
According to Europower, there is a lack of both water and snow in the northernmost areas.
– In week 13, there was 5.9 TWh in the northern Norwegian water reservoirs. It is a new bottom record for the price range NO4, they write.
The lowest fill rate has been in the last 20 years in NO4 in week 13, is 6 TWh.
– The reason why it is like this is that there have been dry, and at times also cold, conditions in the north for quite a long time, says power analyst at Volt Power Analytics, Olav Botnen to Europower.
It is not only in the water reservoirs that you see deficiencies – you can also see that in the snow situation. Central Norway (NO3) also has a weaker water and snow situation than normal.
Swedish pantry
– The power balance in NO3 is initially quite tight, so when there is little water and little snow, this price range accumulates more towards southern prices, Botnen tells Europower.
But the two northernmost areas get good help from Sweden, which has almost 20 TWh to go on.
– Northern Sweden is a pantry from which NO3 and NO4 can supply themselves, says Botnen.
The average electricity price in Northern Norway in March was 55 øre/kWh.
– This is the highest March price ever recorded for the area. The price was nevertheless lower than for the other Nordic price areas and neighboring countries on the continent, NVE writes on its website.
Last week the temperature was 1–2 degrees below average in Northern Norway.
According to Botnen, there is more snow than normal in southern Norway, while there is less than normal in northern Norway.
Tags: Record water reservoirs Northern Norway
