Fears for UK power as Norway threatens to limit electricity exports

NORWAY, one of the UK’S largest sources of electricity imports, has moved to protect its own supplies in a move that could lead to its exports being blocked in a crisis.

Oslo has confirmed measures to preserve the levels of its hydropower reservoirs after weather pushed them to record lows.

Jonas Gahr Store, the prime minister, said: “We want to ensure there is always enough power in our sockets [at home] and we should have enough power for our industry.”

The measures announced yesterday formalise procedures put in place last year, according to Reuters. Under the plans, hydropower producers will be responsible for maintaining water reservoirs at a certain level.

The UK has been importing electricity from Norway since October 2021, when a new cable opened linking the two countries. The £1.4bn North Sea Link has a capacity of 1.4 gigawatts, capable of supplying electricity to about 1.4m homes.

It is one of a growing network of power cables linking Britain to neighbours, including France and Belgium.

The cables help countries balance their electricity supplies, but can also lead to strains if demand rises in each country at the same time.

National Grid this week paid households to cut usage at peak times and asked coal plants to get ready to provide back-up, amid uncertainty about import levels. France’s grid operator, RTE, asked Britain to be prepared to help with power supplies on Thursday because of concerns that strikes at power plants in France would dent production. National Grid asked extra coal plants to be ready in response, although in the end the extra exports from Britain to France were not needed.

Norway relies on hydropower for about 90pc of its electricity. However, reservoir levels fell in 2022 because of a dry winter followed by a hot summer.

The pressure on Norwegian power supplies coincided with outages on France’s nuclear fleet and high gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pushing up electricity prices in Britain and Europe.

Speaking to Reuters, Mr Store said efforts to protect its reservoirs was “not a measure directed against any country”. He added: “It’s a measure directed against securing, in the future, a stable system of provision of energy from the Norwegian hydro system.”

He downplayed the risk of export restrictions, saying: “I don’t think this is a very likely scenario.”