Norwegian grid operator removes tight power system warning

Statnett said in May Norway could face a tight security of supply situation in the southern half of the country this winter unless the hydropower balance improved. "The large amount of rainfall during autumn, together with sufficient imports, reduced consumption and low power production from water reservoirs, contributed to an improved situation for the winter," Statnett Chief Executive Hilde Tonne said.

Norwegian transmission power grid operator Statnett said on Wednesday it is removing a warning that the country's power system is stressed, after heavy rain improved the situation in the hydropower-dependent country. "The probability of a strained power situation in southern Norway through the coming winter has been reduced," Statnett said in a statement.

It was now unlikely that the country would need to ration power this winter, it added. Statnett said in May Norway could face a tight security of supply situation in the southern half of the country this winter unless the hydropower balance improved.

"The large amount of rainfall during autumn, together with sufficient imports, reduced consumption and low power production from water reservoirs, contributed to an improved situation for the winter," Statnett Chief Executive Hilde Tonne said. Filling levels in the reservoirs in southern Norway have risen by 22.1 percentage points in seven weeks, equating 12.7 terawatt hours of potential power generation, Statnett said.

Norway's power market is split into five bidding zones, with zones NO1, NO2 and NO5 constituting southern Norway where the government asked producers to save water for the winter after reservoir levels fell to 20-year lows. Reservoir levels in NO1, or south-eastern Norway including the capital Oslo, and NO5, the west coast region surrounding the city of Bergen, were now above the median levels for the past 20 years, Statnett said.

In NO2, covering south-western Norway and home to Norway's largest reservoirs, levels were now only 2 TWh short of the median, according to Statnett. Going forward, Statnett and authorities will continue to closely monitor the import situation as well as the amount of snow in the mountains and how it will impact reservoir replenishing next spring and summer, Tonne said.

 

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