The dominance of hydropower
Hydropower is considered the backbone of the country’s power sector and the history of its utilizing dates back to the late 19th century. The first hydropower plant began operating in 1891, bringing street lighting to a town in the Arctic Circle. Since then, total hydropower capacity in Norway has increased to nearly 35 gigawatts. Of the more than 1,600 individual facilities, the largest number of hydropower stations are sized between one and 10 megawatts. Together, all of these power plants produce nearly twice as much electricity as Turkey, which is the second-largest hydropower generating country in Europe.Much of the hydropower assets in the country are owned and operated by Statkraft, which makes the company the largest renewable energy producer in Europe. The company is a state-owned entity that also operates in other European countries, as well as South America and the Indian subcontinent. In 2021, revenues of Statkraft grew significantly in the wake of surging energy prices across the European continent, resulting in the company’s highest ever operating revenue.
