Electricity, December 2007

The consumption in power-intensive manufacturing came to 2 689 GWh in December, 3.2 per cent more than in the corresponding month in 2006. In the period January-December 2007, the aggregated consumption in power-intensive manufacturing fell by 0.7 per cent compared with the corresponding period in 2006.

The consumption in the category “Gross domestic consumption subtracted consumption in power-intensive manufacturing” totalled 10 414 GWh in December. This is 14.0 per cent higher than in the corresponding month in 2006 and the second highest figure ever recorded. High economic activity may have influenced the high consumption. Households, services and other manufacturing than the power-intensive account for the majority of this consumption. The consumption in the category “Gross domestic consumption subtracted consumption in power-intensive manufacturing” totalled 96 453 GWh in 2007, an increase of 6.0 per cent compared with 2006. The increase must be seen in conjunction with lower average electricity prices, slightly lower temperature and the high economic activity in 2007.

Continued high production of power

The production of power in December was 19.2 per cent higher than in the corresponding month in 2006. The high production must be seen in conjunction with a good filling and high demand for electricity. The filling was higher than the median during December.

The electricity generation came to 137 709 GWh in 2007, the third highest figure ever recorded. Good filling may have affected the high production. During 2007, the filling was higher than the median from the middle of April to the end of 2007. Of the total production, hydro power accounted for 98.2 per cent or 135 289 GWh, while thermal power and wind power accounted for 1.1 and 0.7 per cent or 1 519 and 901 GWh, respectively. The production of wind power has risen considerably since 2001, but still represents a very small part of the production.

Decrease infilling

The reservoir filling was 84.7 per cent at the beginning of December. Throughout the month, the filling fell by 7.7 percentage points to 77.0 per cent at the end of week 52. The median filling for the corresponding period in the last 17 years is 71.6 per cent.

Shift from net exports to net imports

Norway’s imports of power came to 813 GWh in December, while exports totalled 624 GWh. In the other months of 2007, Norway only had net imports of electricity in January and March. The exports came to 15 320 GWh in 2007, while imports totalled 5 284 GWh.

See also

Prices of electric energy

Tables:

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