Since the mid-1980s, the lights of electricity customers in Helgeland have been flashing. The reason lies with the large furnace of Celsa Nordic located in Mo i Rana. Every week they recycle scrap metal equivalent to two Eiffel Towers. It is done in a special oven that reaches temperatures of over 1,600 degrees. This must be continuously fed with scrap. When new scrap is added, differences are created in the voltage between the metal and the heating elements in the furnace. This has an impact on the power grid. A lot of electricity is used when scrap steel is to be heated to over 1,600 degrees in Celsa’s melting furnaces at Mo industrial park. Photo: Lars Nehru Sand / news Thus, ordinary households in the region may experience that the lights flicker when the oven is switched on. – It feels like flashing lights, and it has been like that for many years. We have sent several inquiries to Statnett about this issue, says communications manager at the network company Linea in Helgeland, Frode Dorp. The problem is greatest on Sunday evenings in the winter. Then you turn on the melting furnace after the weekend shutdown. Dorp says the online company has received several hundred complaints from customers throughout Helgeland, and parts of Salten, in recent years. But it is not just households that struggle with the problem of flickering. Can release 340 MW – The flicker problem “locks in” electricity for new industrial establishments in the area. That’s what section manager Torfinn Jonassen says at the Energy Regulatory Authority (RME). – Statnett has had to rewire its facilities. This means that you get less capacity for new customers in the area. Torfinn Jonassen is head of section at the Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority (RME) Photo: Stig Storheil / NVE In total, we are talking about 340 MW of electricity that is “locked in” as a result of the electricity flickering, according to Statnett. That is roughly half of what Europe’s largest planned solar plant, which is under construction in Germany, is expected to produce. 340 MW is enough electricity for around 100,000 households. This corresponds to 3 terawatt hours (TWh) a year. That is almost as much as today’s power surplus in northern Norway. NVE estimates that today it is between 6 and 7 TWh. Statnett has estimated that the region’s surplus will be used up in 2030 – and perhaps as early as 2027. Millions of costs Since 2001, the situation has been handled by connecting and operating the power grid in a special way. But this emergency solution is far from optimal. Among other things, the transformer in Rana cannot be run at more than 30 percent of full power. But it also has financial consequences. Over the past five years, Statnett has spent NOK 20 million on a special type of regulation to deal with the problem. According to RME, the network company Linea had a network loss of 50 GWh, equivalent to NOK 14 million, in the same period. At Celsa in Mo i Rana, they produce reinforcing steel by melting scrap metal in large melting furnaces. Photo: Frank Nygård / news Known solution – disagreements about responsibility Jonassen says that the problem – and the solution – have been known for a number of years. – I think there is a great deal of agreement about what can be done. Specifically, a so-called Statcom must be installed as close as possible to the flicker source. It is estimated that it will cost between NOK 70 and 100 million to solve the problem – and thus release the “locked up” electricity. – Statnett brought this matter to us for a decision. Last year we made a decision where we instructed Celsa to initiate measures to solve the problem, says Jonassen in RME. But the company appealed the decision to the Energy Complaints Board – and was upheld. As a result, RME must go through the case again, and possibly make a new decision. – There is no doubt that if this continues, a lot of consumption will be locked up in the future. The new ones who establish themselves must wait until this matter is resolved, says Jonassen in RME. Calls for progress In the meantime, Storting representative Bård Ludvig Thorheim (H) calls for the various parties to find a solution, and quickly. – There are enormous amounts of power that can be released, which can in turn be used by companies in the region. This is very important to be done quickly. Now all capacity is reserved, he says. Bård Ludvig Thorheim is a parliamentary representative from the Conservative Party where he represents Nordland. Photo: Benjamin Fredriksen / news But Thorheim is not too concerned about who will foot the bill. – The most important thing is that everyone is determined to find a solution quickly. He believes that the authorities have a great interest in getting the power grid in order. – If the state takes an active role and gets all parties to the table, I think it is possible to get a distribution key quickly. Celsa: Will do our part – We are happy that Thorheim is putting this on the agenda, says Susanne Nævermo-Sand. She is sustainability and communications manager at Celsa Nordic. Nævermo-Sand says the company has had mitigating measures to reduce the problem with flickering. – The Energy Complaints Board has now determined that Celsa cannot bear the cost of the increased need for supply capacity in the region. – But of course we must do our part, and make arrangements for both existing and new industry. Susanne Nævermo-Sand is sustainability and communications manager at Celsa Nordic. Photo: Celsa – Why hasn’t it been fixed before? – It is about who is responsible for what. Celsa cannot take the network owner’s responsibility. We can only take responsibility for the flickering problem. – The steel oven came in 1985, and then the flickering started. When do you think a solution might be in place? – If the industry and the online companies sit down together, I think we can find a solution quite quickly. We will not use 15 years. We don’t have time for that, says Nævermo-Sand. Statnett believes that Arve Ulriksen is the managing director of Mo industrial park, where Celsa is based. He agrees with Thorheim that the flickering problem must be solved quickly. – I think Statnett could have taken the costs of a new plant, and then they could have cleaned up afterwards and agreed on the bill. Arve Ulriksen is managing director at Mo industrial park. Photo: Ole Dalen / news He says the industrial park already has ready plans to extract more power from the power grid, but claims they will not be allowed until the flickering problems are solved. – That is the message we have received from the authorities. Statnett: Strict rules for financing Senior communications advisor Håkon Smith-Isaksen Holdhus in Statnett says that all electricity customers in Norway are helping to pay for the investments that the company makes. – There are strict rules for how we can finance measures in the network. The challenges with flickering have caused problems in the network in the area for a long time, and we look forward to a final clarification through the authorities’ handling of the matter. Håkon Smith-Isaksen Holdhus is a senior communications advisor at Statnett. Photo: Sondre Dalaker / Statnett Holdhus says that the flicker levels at Celsa violate the current requirements in regulations on delivery quality. – In certain periods, there are very high exceedances of the limit values in the regulations. Statnett has therefore had to limit the power grid due to safety. But they have started work to increase capacity at the transformer in Rana. – We estimate that this measure will enable around 340 MW of new consumption associated with this station. – A prerequisite is that the flickering problems have been resolved, so that the network can be connected effectively and the increased capacity in Rana can be utilized, says Holdhus in Statnett.
ttn-69
Flickering light bulbs mean that large amounts of electricity in Helgeland are unused – news Nordland
