{"id":511950,"date":"2026-04-04T04:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/511950\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T04:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:55:07","slug":"norway-faces-energy-shortage-as-lack-of-winter-snow-depletes-reservoirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/511950\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway Faces Energy Shortage As Lack Of Winter Snow Depletes Reservoirs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Norway has long been the poster child for hydropower. Over many decades, the country has learned to harness the power of water cascading down its mountains into the fjords below to make electricity. Today, nearly 90% of Norway\u2019s electricity comes from its more than 1700 hydro installations. It makes so much hydropower that it is able to sell some of it to its neighbors in Europe. Last year, about 15% of Norway\u2019s hydropower was sold to other countries.<\/p>\n

In the world of electrical power, the watchword is \u201cdispatchable.\u201d It means the source of electricity has to be able to supply electricity to the grid when it is needed \u2014 not in a few hours, but right now this very minute. Renewables are denigrated by many because \u2014 yes, Virginia, it\u2019s true \u2014 the wind doesn\u2019t always blow and the sun doesn\u2019t always shine. However, energy storage technology<\/a> is moving forward quickly to make renewables more \u201cdispatchable\u201d than traditional thermal generation sources.<\/p>\n

From Snow To Hydro<\/p>\n

For Norway, the source of the falling water to power its hydro facilities is snow. Without it, there is no meltwater to fill its rivers with rushing water. So far this year, the e country has received far less snow than normal. As a result, hydropower production is much lower than expected.<\/p>\n

This winter was Norway\u2019s coldest since 2010, the result of persistent high pressure near Greenland that blocked flows of moist Atlantic air into the Nordic region, Bloomberg says. With little precipitation, snow reserves have fallen to their lowest levels in two decades, creating a deficit of about 25 TWh of electricity \u2014 equal to 20% of Norway\u2019s total hydropower output last year, according to Tuomo Saloranta, a hydrologist at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.<\/p>\n

The shortfall has slashed exports to the UK and Germany and pushed Nordic prices sharply higher.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re a weather-based system,\u201d said Kari Ekelund Thorud, executive vice president for energy at Norsk Hydro ASA, one of Norway\u2019s biggest power users. \u201cWe are much more vulnerable if the weather goes the wrong way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year when A Energi measured the snow pack, the staff realized they had a problem. \u201cThere was no snow in February, and now none in March,\u201d said Lars Erik Omland, who leads the company\u2019s market analysis team. \u201cWe gradually realized that this would be a winter with little snow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumers are already feeling the pinch. Electricity sales to the UK and Germany \u2014 major export markets \u2014 have plunged by about 50% and 40% respectively this year. In northern Sweden, energy prices are up more than four times over 2025 levels.<\/p>\n

The surge in electricity prices comes at a difficult moment for Europe, as the region contends with higher because of the foolish war in the Middle East. In the UK, windier than average weather helped keep the country supplied with electricity despite a drop in imports from Norway. Even so, the most expensive hours are still often covered by fossil fuels \u2014 a challenging dynamic as exports through the Persian Gulf have effectively come to a standstill, Bloomberg says.<\/p>\n

1100 Reservoirs<\/p>\n

According to Energy Facts Norway<\/a>, the country has about 1100 water reservoirs with a total storage capacity of over 87 TWh. Approximately half of this storage capacity is covered by the 30 largest reservoirs, most of which were built before 1990.<\/p>\n

By using storage reservoirs, flexible hydropower plants can produce electricity even in periods when there is little precipitation and inflow is low. The large available reservoir storage capacity makes it possible to even out production over years, seasons, weeks, and days, within the constraints set by the license and the watercourse itself. Production of intermittent hydropower automatically varies with changes in water inflow. Production is high during spring and summer, when consumption is lowest.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s energy managers are quite proud of the system they have built and they deserve to be. It represents generations of forward thinking that has made Norway a leader in clean energy and a model for the rest of the world. They focus heavily on the difference between flexibility and intermittency.<\/p>\n

Some hydro plants with small reservoirs offer short term flexibility, which allows them to transfer production from base load hours at night to peak load hours during the day. Those with larger reservoirs can store water for longer periods so that they produce electricity in winter, when consumption and prices are highest.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s largest reservoir, Bl\u00e5sj\u00f8, has a capacity of 7.8 TWh and can hold three years\u2019\u00a0 worth of normal inflow. However, when the hydro plants powered by water from that reservoir are working at full capacity, it can be emptied in about 8 months. Such large reservoirs are intended to store water in years when precipitation is high for use in drier years.<\/p>\n

The DNV Report<\/p>\n

Now those drier years have arrived, thanks to changes in the Earth\u2019s climate. It turns out, hydro is subject to exactly the same intermittency issues as wind and solar, just over longer cycles. A report by DNV<\/a> in December, 2025 warned of fraught times ahead.<\/p>\n

That report predicts the demand for electricity in Norway will increase six times faster than the creation of new power sources. \u201cThis could have major consequences for domestic industry as well as limiting Norway\u2019s ability to be a more significant partner to Europe\u2019s changing energy needs,\u201d DNV says.<\/p>\n

Electricity demand will increase by 18 TWh over the next five years. In the same period, new power development will only provide three TWh. As a result, Norway is heading towards a power deficit by 2030, with an expected annual net import of up to five TWh in the early 2030s. Going from being an exporter of electricity to an importer will have significant consequences both for Norway and for the countries that rely on affordable hydropower from Norway.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeopolitics, national priorities, and lack of public support are slowing down Norway\u2019s renewable energy efforts. This also hampers opportunities for electricity exports, the electrification of existing industry, and the establishment of new industry. Onshore and offshore wind power are the only mature and scalable solutions<\/a> that can provide new capacity quickly and at an acceptable cost,\u201d says Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO of DNV. \u201cGrid build-out has to accelerate with strengthening of transmission, distribution and system services. This is necessary to relieve bottlenecks, integrate variable production and ensure national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Climate Change & Data Centers<\/p>\n

The data center market is growing faster in Norway than in other European countries as technology companies are drawn to its cheap electricity and cooler climate.\u00a0 The DNV forecast shows that data centers will use a total of 15 TWh by 2040 \u2014 about 7% of Norway\u2019s total electricity consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cData centers, industry, and other power users can be strategically important, but not everything can have the same priority. In a tighter electricity market, strategic discussions about power use should be given more space,\u201d Alvik said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Norway is to ensure value creation, jobs, and competitiveness in an increasingly electrified world, the development of new renewable power and grid must proceed faster. Otherwise, we risk that green industrial opportunities move to countries that build faster and more aggressively than us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Lesson To Be Learned<\/p>\n

The lesson here is that assuming things tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today is a trap. They won\u2019t be. Wars happen. New technologies<\/a> are invented. Alterations in the climate occur whether we want them to or not \u2014 regardless of political ideologies. Reliance on political dogma is why the wind turbines and methane pipeline pumping stations in Texas froze in the winter of 2022. They weren\u2019t supposed to but they did, making ideologues like Gregg Abbott and Ted Cruz look like ignoramuses.<\/p>\n

Norway is the canary in the coal mine and it is telling us we better speed up the transition to renewables while there is still time. Will we? Current experience leaves little room for optimism.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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