ELECTRICITY SECTOR INTERACTIONS BETWEEN NORWAY AND EUROPEAN CONTINENTAL COUNTRIES

Abstract

This paper explores how Norway’s electricity sector may interact with continental European ones, notably Germany, in respect of mitigating the need to manage the variability of renewable electricity generation on the continent. Norway’s system has capabilities for providing flexibility for responding to variations in wind and solar generation and consumption. The variability of residual load in Germany over a recent multi-year period is analysed in terms of instant shortfalls and cumulative shortfalls of electricity supply that would arise if Germany’s renewable generation increases to match its consumption in recent years on average. It is found that interactions with Norway’s system cannot remove any large part of Germany’s need for flexible generation capacity to cover instant shortfalls, but can significantly reduce the cumulative amount of electricity over time that needs to be supplied from such flexible capacities. The capabilities and constraints in Norway’s system for providing such flexibility are analyzed, as are economic implications for Norway.