Norway Overtakes France as Europe’s Biggest Electricity Exporter
- Net outflows doubled in second half 2020 on wet weather
- Italy was biggest net importer of power, Enappys says
The end of the Nordlink cable is pulled ashore by a cable-laying vessel in Schleswig-Holstein, Büsum, Germany in 2019. NordLink directly connects the electricity markets of Germany and Norway.
Photographer: Carsten Rehder/dpa/picture alliance/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Norway sent almost a fifth of its power generation abroad during the second half of 2020 to make it the biggest net exporter of electricity in Europe, surpassing France.
Norway took the top spot as its hydroelectric producers had to boost output to avoid overfilled dams bursting during unusually wet weather, according to energy consultants Enappsys Ltd. By contrast, France’s nuclear power stations, the main source of the nation’s electricity, struggled with extended maintenance halts due to the Covid-19 pandemic.