This summer, it can be on the verge of taking a shower for free if you live in Nordland. In northern Norway, there will be an average price for electricity of 1 øre per kilowatt hour (kWh) on Thursday. The average price in the last week has been around 2 øre. Last week, the average price in southwestern Norway was 230 øre / kWh, according to NVE. In southwestern Norway, the filling level is historically low, and crisis measures such as rationing have been announced for the autumn. At the same time, the water flows past the water turbines in several places in Nordland because it does not pay to produce more electricity. Water that could become electricity flows into the sea in the Sulis watercourseBente H. Johansen The reason is that Nordland, Troms and Finnmark have good water and wind conditions, but the demand for electricity in the region is not large enough. The power producers can thus produce much more electricity than is needed. Sending the power south is not an option either. For that, the transmission capacity between north and south is too poor. Full reservoirs In northern Norway, the degree of filling in the reservoirs is 75 per cent, compared with 45.5 per cent in southwestern Norway, where many of the largest power plants in the country are located. – It is a degree of filling that is close to the historical minimum for the last 20 years, says Inga Nordberg in NVE. Then it does not help much that it overflows into northern and central Norway. – We have a lot of snow going down. It has been mild. And now the water passes the turbines in many places. BORING: Johnny Greger Horsdal in SKS Handel, says that it is boring to let the water past the turbines. Photo: Johanne Eidsvold / news This is what Johnny Horsdal, head of administration at SKS-handel, says. – How much water is wasted? – We do not have any goals for that. But there is a lot. It’s cruel to watch. It is sad. It is neither good for Norway nor northern Norway. Central Norway has the highest reservoir filling with 82.3 percent, according to NVE. Sends the water to sea In addition to mild weather and glacier melting, it has rained for large parts of the spring. And now it has started to rain again. – At this price level, a lot goes right by. But you try to save as much as you can, but when it’s full it’s full. Therefore, many leave the locks open and send the water straight to sea. Something they, among other things, had to do at the reservoirs in Dorro and Balvatn in Nordland, to prevent flooding. RECORD EARLY OF THE YEAR: At the Balvatn regulation reservoir, they had to release the water much earlier than expected. This is to prevent flooding. Photo: Ben-Are Pedersen – It is naturally an unfortunate loss of water resources, at the same time it is necessary to avoid damage to socially critical infrastructure, such as roads and buildings, says Egil Olsen, watercourse manager in SKS Production. Unfortunate for society While consumers benefit from the cheap electricity in the north, the large water supply means that the electricity companies are in the red. It costs more to produce electricity than to sell it. It can be very negative in the long run. Among other things, in that it can slow down new power development and stop new industry in the region. But it can also lead to municipalities becoming poorer. – The power municipalities must pay 14-15 øre for this. And then there will be a loss. For the power producers, with taxes and fees, it also quickly costs 14-15 øre to produce one KWh, says Johnny Horsdal. It can take 10-15 years to build a new network with transmission cables in Norway.
ttn-69
Does not pay to produce – news Nordland
