Electricity, August 2011

The electricity generation can be viewed in conjunction with large amounts of precipitation, and thus a risk of overflow in many reservoirs. By risk of overflow it will be more profitable to produce power and sell it to a low price instead of losing valuable water. The high electricity generation contributed to high net exports of power. Norway’s exports of electricity came to 2 287 GWh in August, while imports totalled 140 GWh. This gave net exports of 2 147 GWh; the fourth highest level ever recorded for the month.

More water in the reservoirs

According to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate the reservoir filling was 77.4 per cent at the beginning of August. Throughout the month, the filling increased by 0.8 percentage points to 78.2 per cent at the end of week 34. For the individual elspot areas the degree of filling varied from 69.6 to 91.6 per cent. The median filling for the corresponding week in the years 1990-2007 is 84.4 per cent.

Electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction

Electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction amounted to 4 213 GWh in August 2011. This is 0.3 per cent lower compared with the same month in 2010. The decline may be seen in conjunction with a slightly higher average temperature for Norway as a whole in August this year. Households, services and manufacturing other than the power intensive account for the majority of the electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction. Much of this electricity consumption is used for heating. The electricity consumption in households amounts to approximately 50 per cent of the electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction.

Reduced electricity consumption in power-intensive manufacturing

Electricity consumption in power-intensive manufacturing was 2 762 GWh in August. This is 2.5 per cent lower compared with August 2010.

Tables:

• Table 1 Electricity balance. Monthly. GWh
• Table 2 Production of electricity, on county level. GWh.