Electricity, April 2003

The production of power has been 37,112 GWh so far this year, which is a reduction of 20.3 per cent compared with last year. There is a noticeable regional variation of the production pattern. Hordaland and Nordland, which are one of the largest production counties, have reduced their production by more than 30 per cent so far this year compared with last year. Nordland, another large production county, is the only county that increased their production. The increase was 6.2 per cent. Nordland has produced 17 per cent of the total production of power in Norway so far this year. More water available for production is a contributing factor. The water reservoir level has been higher in the North of Norway than in the South.

High import

The net import in April was 1,709 GWh. Norway got most of the power from Sweden. Net imports from Sweden were 1,089 GWh, while net imports from Denmark came to 584 GWh. In the first four months this year Norway has a net import of 5,022 GWh. Last year Norway had a net export of 795 GWh. The value of the net import this year is NOK 1.7 billion. The net export value last year was NOK 150 million.

Low consumption in power-intensive manufacturing

In the first four months this year power-intensive manufacturing reduced its consumption by 10.9 per cent compared with last year. This month's consumtion is 2,343 GWh, which is a reduction of 8.7 per cent. The consumption in the different sectors in power-intensive manufacturing has developed differently this year. The consumption in production of aluminium and other metals is approximately the same as last year, while the consumption in production of industrial chemicals, iron, steel and ferroalloys is considerably down.

Tables:

• Table 1 Production, import, export and consumption of electric energy. GWh. Preliminary figures