Little snow can push electricity prices further – VG
The degree of filling in the water reservoirs in southern Norway is down to 13.37 percent. Little snow in the mountains can push electricity prices further up.
VG has challenged one of the country’s foremost power experts, section manager Ann Myhrer Østenby in the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) about little snow in the mountains can make the electricity bill remain high even if we go into spring months where prices traditionally go down.
– The amount of snow in Norway as a whole is somewhat higher, but lower in southern Norway than normal. In Western Norway and Southern Norway, we also see that there is less snow than normal. And the degree of filling is lower than normal, she says.
– Do we risk so little inflow due to little snow that the already high electricity prices persist or become higher?
– That’s a good question. We at NVE do not talk about specific prices in the future because it can affect the electricity market and we do not want that.
– Affects the price
But she confirms that less snow in southern Norway can lead to higher electricity prices there.
– Yes, supply and demand affect the price. We look at the amount of snow in SeNorge, it is lower in southern Norway than normal. In addition, we have a low degree of filling compared to the average.
She adds that the amount of snow in centimeters on SeNorge is not necessarily the same as ending up in the magazines.
– It may give less inflow, but we can not say anything for sure about now, until we have more detailed knowledge related to what is inflicted to the magazines.
– Can expect higher prices
She says possible high prices are the signals from NVE:
Experience has shown that electricity prices fall over the spring, but NVE has already signaled that we risk not seeing the same picture this spring.
– NVE CEO Kjetil Lund has said that we can expect higher prices than normal, as long as gas prices remain high. That is what we can say about power prices in the future, she says.
Down to 13.37 percent
The development in filling level is continuously updated in the VG special Strømprisene, for the five different power zones in Norway.
The special shows that the degree of filling in the power zones Southeast Norway (NO1) is down to 13.37 percent, which is close to the historical record of 11.18 percent.
In Western Norway the filling rate is 18.67 per cent, in Southwest Norway 25.67, Central Norway 31.28 and in Northern Norway 48.10 per cent.
See the development over the last year here:
Østenby causes the situation not to be so dangerous that we risk currents in southern Norway.
– There is no reason to worry that we do not get power in the socket; that is, there is no reason to believe that the electricity situation is so critical that we are facing rationing of electricity.
She says that imports can counteract possible increased electricity prices as a result of little snow.
– Southern Norway has opportunities for import if there is little water in the reservoirs or little snowmelt, including from Sweden which currently has a lower power price than in southern Norway.
– Reasonable
She also says that imports from Germany are relevant.
Østenby says it is not unnatural that Norway has contributed power to Europe when power prices have been record high.
– We have been through a winter with the historically highest prices ever. If we had been smaller, the prices would have been higher. It makes sense to use what you get when prices are high.