Hydropower: the backbone of Norway’s electricity supply
The Scandinavian country generates most of its electricity from hydropower, amounting to some 140 terawatt-hours in 2020. Norway has a history of harnessing the power of moving water to produce electricity that dates to the late 19th century. Today, about 1,700 hydropower plants provide the country with over 90 percent of its electricity. Norway is the largest producer of hydroelectricity in Europe, and among the leading hydroelectric power producing countries worldwide.As the country continues to develop its facilities, the Norwegian hydropower capacity has been consistently increasing for more than a decade. While hydropower typically is dependent on input flows from rainfall, most of Norway’s capacity is of the flexible type. Flexible hydro facilities are those connected to storage reservoirs and controlled by dams. Around 1,000 storage reservoirs are located throughout the country, allowing for a better balance between supply and demand throughout the year.
Electricity consumption in Norway
In 2020, Norway’s electricity consumption stood at some 126 terawatt-hours. The largest share of this consumption was attributable to private households, which heavily rely on electricity for lighting, heating, and powering appliances. Meanwhile, power-intensive manufacturing, such as aluminum production, ranked second in electricity consumption. These sectors contributed to Norway recording a whopping per capita electricity consumption of 26 megawatt-hours in 2020, more than twice the United States’ consumption that year.Norway also enjoys some of the lowest average household electricity prices in Europe. While electricity prices can be affected by the intermittency of the country’s renewable sources, they are not as prone to volatile market fluctuations as experienced by countries with a higher reliance on fossil fuels.
