Norway May Boost Hydro Output 12% by 2020, Survey Shows

Torsten Fagerholm, Bloomberg
February 01, 2013 | 3 Comments

Norway, Europe's biggest producer of hydropower, may increase annual production by 12 percent through 2020 as the country strives to meet EU targets for higher renewable energy output, an investor survey showed.

Hydropower investors are ready to build new plants and upgrade existing stations, adding at least 15 terawatt-hours of annual output to Norway’s average 130 terawatt-hours over the next eight years, a survey published today by the Oslo-based Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Cicero, showed.

“Investors believe in a surprisingly high potential for raising production,” Kristin Linnerud, senior research fellow at Cicero, said today by e-mail from the Norwegian capital.

According to an agreement with the EU, Norway must step up the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption to 67.5 percent by 2020, an increase of 6.4 percentage points from 2010. Meanwhile, Norway and Sweden plan to boost annual renewable power production by 13.2 terawatt-hours each by 2020, using electricity certificate subsidies tradeable in both countries.

Altogether, hydropower developers have identified a potential for raising annual output by as much as 20 terawatt- hours, the survey showed. “However, they may underestimate the complexity and costs related to winning licensing from Norway’s water resources and energy directorate. I think 10 to 12 terawatt hours is more realistic, when accounting for limiting factors such as access to financing and power grids,” Linnerud said.

The Nordic country gets 99 percent of its electricity consumption by running water through turbines. Increases in power production are subject to permits from Norway’s Water Resources and Energy Directorate.

Norway could double installed capacity in its hydropower plants if it builds new cross-border links to ship the surplus electricity abroad, Christian Rynning-Toennesen, chief executive officer of Statkraft SF, Norway’s biggest power producer, said on Jan. 11.

Lead image: Norway via Shutterstock

3 Comments

Bob Wallace
February 6, 2013

Gerald - we're in the process of building several new HVDC transmission lines in the US. One will bring Wyoming wind down to where it can tie into the Pacific and Intermountain Interties and carry power to the Pacific Coast. Another is going to carry Oklahoma wind to East Tennessee. And there are others.

Then there's the very interesting Tres Amigas project in New Mexico which aims to tie the three major US grids together.

Financial pressures will push aside parochialism. Cheapest power will flow to market.

Gerry Wootton
February 6, 2013

Energy is a global commodity - it's time that electrical energy is treated that way. Norway, by virtue of its geography, has not only a large conventional hydro capacity but an equally larger tidal hydro potential. It's definitely time to abandon the parochialism of power generation and treat electricity as an export commodity for regions rich in renewable capacity. There's no shame in that. With the long haul efficiency of HVDC transmission it's eminently practical to move electricity long distances; for example, Norway to France, Northern Quebec to New York, etc. Not everybody can have ideal geology but export doesn't need to be restricted to be pit mining.

Unfortunately, in the US, parochialism abounds with state laws that either prohibit the import or export of electricity or the facilitation of long distance transmission which would allow others to import and export electricity. Paradoxically, they often have no such qualms about pipelines that move oil and gas nor rail lines that move coal.

@bob_w Virtual storage is a good way to buffer variable generators, particularly using generators with fixed total energy per block of time such as hydro and geothermal. There is an associated cost for increasing peak generating and transmission capacity to meet a more variable demand but at the same time this may enable the operator to access peaker and standby rates rather than just base rates.

Bob Wallace
February 2, 2013

Norway needs to build a lot of transmission and become Europe's number one wind/solar fill-in electricity provider. Cut way back in the amount of storage that would otherwise need to be built.

Buy wind and solar from other countries when it's cheap. Save the water. Sell hydro electricity when wind and solar aren't meeting needs.