Norway's state-owned electricity grid operator Statnett Thursday said the country's main grid would require between 50 billion-70 billion Norwegian kroner ($8.7 billion-$12.2 billion) of investment over the next decade to meet higher electricity production, reduce price disparities between regions, ensure security of supply and improve export capacity.
Norway
's
state-owned electricity grid operator Statnett Thursday said the country's main
grid would require between 50 billion-70 billion Norwegian kroner ($8.7
billion-$12.2 billion) of investment over the next decade to meet higher
electricity production, reduce price disparities between regions, ensure
security of supply and improve export capacity.
The company, which operates
Norway
's
high-voltage central grid, had previously estimated investment at between NOK40
billion and NOK60 billion.
The higher investment forecast was due to the addition of new projects, the
expansion of project plans, more expensive commodities such as steel and cost
increases due to capacity constraints in construction, the company said in a
presentation.
"We have ongoing newbuilds covering a distance of about 500 kilometers,
and expect this to at least double during the coming year," Statnett
director Gunnar G. Lovas said in a statement.
One important new connection being built is from Ofoten to
Hammerfest
in
the north of
Norway
, in
order to supply Eni Spa's (E)
Barents Sea
oil
field Goliat, which will use up to 40 megawatts of electricity from the
mainland.
The northern connection is estimated to cost of up to NOK12 billion, and was originally
planned to be ready by 2018, but this may be delayed to 2019, Statnett said.
The exchange of electricity between southern
Norway
and
the middle and northern part of the country has been weak, leading to huge
price spreads, but the exchange will improve significantly with the
Orskog-Sogndal connection, ready in 2015 at an estimated cost of up to NOK5.6
billion, the company said.
Another connection, estimated to cost up to NOK6 billion, is planned in
mid-Norway to allow for the transport of electricity from planned new wind
power plants on the Fosen peninsula to the Nordic electricity market.
The massive investments in the electricity grid will be covered by Norwegian
consumers through a fee added to their electricity bill.
The plan would enable
Norway
's
main grid to handle 14-16 terawatt hours of new renewable energy production by
2020, Statnett said.
Norway
produces more than 120 terawatt hours of electricity in a normal year, mainly
hydro power.
Statnett also plans new electricity export cables from
Norway
to
Denmark
, the
U.K.
and
Germany
. A
cable to
Germany
could
be operational in 2018, and a
U.K.
cable
in 2020, Statnett said, estimating the cost of each cable to be between NOK6
billion and NOK8 billion.
The cost estimate is preliminary because as much as 83% of its planned grid
investments haven't yet been approved by the government, the company said
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