No solar discount for Bergen

While solar power is helping to reduce electricity prices in southern Norway during peak sunshine hours, the Bergen region is experiencing significantly less benefit. This disparity is attributed to a combination of factors, including limitations within the power grid, critically low water levels in western Norwegian reservoirs, and a new market system that can create seemingly illogical power flows between regions.

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There is high solar power production on the continent, which means that prices mainly fall during the day.

Analysts note that widespread solar production across Europe is driving down midday electricity prices. However, prices rise considerably in the morning and evening when other power sources must compensate. This phenomenon, often referred to as the "duck curve," has become more pronounced in recent weeks, affecting weekdays as well as weekends. While southern Norway has seen a "solar discount" mid-day, the Bergen area (NO5) has not benefited as much as other southern price zones.

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It can be related to bottlenecks in the grid. There are also very depleted water reservoirs in NO5, which is also a factor.

According to Sigbjørn Seland, chief analyst at Storm Geo, bottlenecks in the power grid and the depleted state of water reservoirs in NO5 are key reasons for the price difference. He explained that the new market system, designed for greater overall grid efficiency, can sometimes lead to power flowing from higher-priced areas to lower-priced ones, a situation less common under the previous system. This complexity makes explaining price variations more challenging than before.

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It's a bit complicated after you've got this system with flow-based market coupling. Then the flow of power can in some cases appear illogical. Among other things, power can flow from a high-price area to a low-price area in periods, which was rarer before.

Further compounding the issue for Bergen are low levels in water power reservoirs and minimal snowmelt in the mountains. In the NO5 region, reservoirs are averaging only 14.3% capacity, with many having insufficient water for production, thus driving up prices. In contrast, the NO2 region averages 27.8% capacity. This situation highlights how localized resource availability significantly impacts electricity prices, even within the same country.

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In NO5, the reservoirs are on average down to 14.3 percent, and then there are several reservoirs that have no water to produce with, and thus the price is higher than in NO2 where the reservoir levels are 27.8 percent on average.