Electricity, March 2012

According to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, the reservoir filling was 54.2 per cent at the beginning of March. Throughout the month, the filling fell by 3.8 percentage points to 50.4 per cent at the end of week 12. The median filling for the corresponding week in the years 1990-2011 is 40.2 per cent.

In the first quarter of 2012, 42.7 TWh of electric power was produced; an increase of 34 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter last year.

Net exports

Norway’s export of power totalled 1 570 GWh in March 2012, whereas imports came to 332 GWh. This gave a net export of 1 238 GWh. Norway had a net export of power every month in the first quarter and has a total net export of 4.8 TWh. 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. The high net export may be due to the fact that the large volume of water in the Norwegian power system contributed to a lower average elspot price in the first quarter of 2012 for the Norwegian price areas compared with the other Nordic areas.

Decrease in the electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction

Electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction amounted to 6 911 GWh in March 2012. This may be seen in conjunction with a 3 degrees higher average temperature for Norway as a whole in March this year. Households, services and manufacturing other than the power-intensive manufacturing account for the majority of the electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction. Electricity consumption in households amounts to approximately 50 per cent of the electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction.

In the first quarter of 2012, the electricity consumption excluding power-intensive manufacturing and extraction came to 23.8 TWh; a decrease of 4.5 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter last year.

Increase in the consumption in power-intensive manufacturing

Electricity consumption in power-intensive manufacturing was 2 999 GWh in March 2012. This is 2.5 per cent higher compared with March 2011. Power-intensive manufacturing utilises electricity for the production of goods. Hence, the electricity consumption is not influenced by temperature. In the first quarter of 2012, the electricity consumption in power-intensive manufacturing came to 8.7 TWh; an increase of 1.2 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter last year. The increase in the consumption may be seen in conjunction with one more production day in February this year due to the leap year, which implies a growth of 1.1 per cent, other things being equal.

Tables:

• Table 1 Electricity balance. Monthly. GWh