Supply and consumption of electricity in the period 1993-2016

The purpose of this report is to present and analyse the development of supply and consumption of electricity in the period 1993-2017 . In the Norwegian power market, supply of power is defined as the sum of domestic production and imports of electricity, while consumption equals exports and domestic consumption. Our data is primarily from the annual electricity statistics of Statistics Norway. For the year 2017 we also utilise data from the monthly electricity statistics in Statistics Norway.

During the period 1993-2017, almost the entire Norwegian power system was based on hydropower. Hydropower comprised 95.8 per cent of total electricity generation in 2017, while thermal and wind power amounted to 2.3 and 1.9 per cent, respectively. Compared with 1993, hydro power and thermal power came to 99.6 and 0.4 percent of total production, respectively. Wind power only accounted for 7 GWh in 1993 and contributed to 0.06 per thousand of total electricity Production.

Exchange of power between countries is determined by differences in generation and the consumption situation and prices, in addition to the capacity of the power lines. In the period 1993-2017, Norway was a net exporter for 17 years and a net importer for 8 years and net exports of electricity came to 130 TWh. There has been a development towards more net exports during the period. From 1993 to 2004, Norway was a net exporter in half of the years and total net exports came to 6 TWh, while from 2005 to 2016 there were net exports ten out of twelve years and net exports totaled 109 TWh. In 2017 Norway`s net exports of electricity totaled 15.2 TWh.

In the last part of the report, we discuss the development in electricity consumption of the following groups:

• Power-intensive manufacturing
• Extraction and manufacturing excluding power-intensive manufacturing
• Services
• Households and agriculture

We also present the development of the electricity consumption in important sub groups of the four groups above. From 1993 to 2017 the total electricity consumption in Norway has increased by 21 TWh. Among other things, this must be seen in conjunction with a development of the level of prosperity and population Growth.

It is common in studies of electricity consumption to analyse whether consumption becomes more efficient over time. When production, number of employees, number of households etc. increase, the need for electricity increases. However, electricity consumption can be made more efficient so that we utilise less electricity in proportion to relevant activity variables. For power-intensive manufacturing and manufacturing excluding power-intensive manufacturing we divide the electricity consumption by production at constant prices in order to get a picture of the underlying development. For services and households the electricity consumption is measured in proportion to numbers of full-time equivalents and numbers of households, respectively. Measured in proportion to a relevant Activity.