The profit from trading electricity with foreign countries has never been greater than last year.
It shows statistics from Statistics Norway (SSB) and Statnettwrite Europower.
Net exported 13 terawatt hours
As you know, the billions are rolling into the kingdom due to sky-high gas prices. Natural gas exports then accounted for almost half of total exports last year and contributed to Norway getting a trade surplustrade surplusThe difference between exports and imports. A trade surplus occurs when exports are greater than imports. of 1,574 billion – approximately three times as high as in 2021.
– Of this, the trade surplus from electricity trade with foreign countries amounts to NOK 22.6 billion. The exchange of electricity thus contributes 1.4 per cent of the total foreign trade surplus, writes Europower.
According to SSB, electricity exports, in volume, were almost the same in 2022 and 2021.
– Norway exported 26 terawatt hours of electricity in 2022, and the imported volume ended at 13 terawatt hours. This amounted to a net export of 13 terawatt hours in 2022, writes Therese Vestre, section manager for foreign trade statistics at Statistics Norway, in an email to VG.
The 26 terawatt hours make up around 17 percent of Norwegian production in a normal year, according to SSB.
DKK 45 billion
The power that was diverted out of the country last year was worth NOK 45 billion, well over twice as much as in 2021.
The power cables were also used for imports and Norway imported over 60 per cent more than in 2021, according to Statistics Norway.
Europower writes that Norway mostly pays more for the electricity we import than we get paid for the electricity we export.
– During the last 13 years, there have only been 3 years in which Norway has had a trade deficit from the trade in electricity with foreign countries. However, during the same years there are also only 3 years where we received a higher price for the electricity we sold compared to the electricity we bought.
Europower points out that last year was the exception.
– Because last year we got an 8 øre/kWh higher price for the electricity we sold abroad, compared to the electricity we bought. It is the biggest positive price difference, when we compare the figures for foreign trade both for volume and turnover.
