Norway, Sweden facilitates the latest power outages
OSLO, December 10 (Reuters) – Norway and Sweden will ease the latest cuts in their respective cross-border power flows, said the grid operators Statnett and Svenska Kraftnaet on Friday, after changes in their production mix forced Sweden to curb energy exports.
Statnett will offer an additional 250 megawatts of capacity at the border with southern Sweden from Sunday, it is said, with reference to a closer collaboration with the Swedish equivalent Svenska Kraftnaet.
The capacity will increase to 1,450 MW out of a capacity of 2,200 MW, Statnett says in a market announcement.
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Statnett will cut available capacity between the Norwegian bid zone NO1 and the Swedish price zone SE3 to 1,100-1,200 megawatts (MW) at the end of November.
This was done after Svenska Kraftnaet reduced the capacity of neighbors including Norway when they struggled with power flow changes due to the closure of nuclear power plants, new power connections between the Nordic countries and continental Europe and rapid wind power expansion.
SeparateSvenska Kraftnaet said that it is increasing capacity in the opposite direction by 150 MW to 550 MW from 2,095 MW, with reference to improved flow forecasts.
It also increases capacity to Finland by 100 MW to 400 MW of a possible 1,200 MW, as well as lifting capacity from northern to southern Sweden.
The collaboration with Svenska Kraftnaet has now resulted in measures to improve capacity and plans for further improvements, Statnett says in a separate statement.
“We are now, together with Svenska Kraftnaet, in the process of turning every stone to find ways to increase capacity further in both directions,” says Statnett’s CEO Hilde Tonne in the statement.
Statnett said, however, that they would continue to refrain from applying so-called system protection settings, which increase trading capacity but also entail a certain operational risk, which led to the initial cut.
The power markets are experiencing a period of tight reserve assets and the use of system protection contributed to smaller margins and lower flexibility, Statnett said.
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Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik and Jason Neely and Louise Heavens
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