Electricity, March 2001

The consumption of electricity in other sectors than the energy-intensive manufacturing in March was record high at 10 112 GWh. This is an increase of 6.3 per cent compared with the same month last year, and for the fourth year in a row the consumption is record high for this month. The high electricity consumption in March can be seen in connection with temperatures below normal for the entire country. The consumption of electricity for the three first months this year is also record high at 39 357 GWh., which is an increase of 6.2 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The consumption of electricity in the production of energy-intensive manufacturing in March was 2 933 GWh. This is an increase of 3.3 per cent compared with the corresponding month last year. The largest increase in the consumption was in the production of industrial chemicals with 11.3 per cent. The increase in the production of iron, steel and ferroalloys was 3.5 per cent. The electricity consumption in the production of energy-intensive manufacturing so far this year is 8 517 GWh, an increase of 1.8 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

Lower electricity production and contents in the water reservoirs

The production of electricity from March last year to March this year went down 14.3 per cent to 11 947 GWh. The electricity production in March is still high, even if it was a relatively large decrease in the production from March last year to March this year. The production of electricity so far this year is 38 533 GWh. This is a decrease of 3.2 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. The decrease in the electricity production can be seen in connection with lower contents in the water reservoirs so far this year compared to the same period last year. This has reduced the need for production to avoid inundation. The contents in the water reservoirs in mid-March were 48.0 per cent of total capacity. This is 5.3 percentage points lower than the corresponding period last year and 0.3 percentage point lower than the median for this period from 1990 to 1999.

High imports of electricity

The imports of electricity in March were 1 339 GWh, and the exports were 241 GWh. A record high imports of electricity combined with a relatively low exports has given a record high import surplus in March at 1 098 GWh. The value of the import surplus in March was NOK 228.6 million.

Tables:

• Table 1 Production, import, export and consumption of electric energy. Preliminary figures. GWh