The countries that belong to the Nordic region include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Their associated territories that include Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Aland, are also considered to be in this region. To have a good insight into the energy source of the countries in this region, below are some of the things that you need to know about Nordic electricity.
Nordic Electricity Market
The Nordic electricity market, which is one of the first free electric-energy markets in the European continent, is the common source of electrical energy for the countries in the Nordic region. It is composed of various marketplaces, which includes the day-ahead, intra-day, as well as the balancing market. These markets are determined by the time windows with which physical trading in electricity happens.
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Day-ahead Market
However, the vast majority of trading occurs in the day-ahead market, which is also known as the spot market, following a system price or the common Nordic price for the next 24-hour period. The experts behind GNP Energy – a Norwegian energy company, suggest that you should consider an independent power company to land on spot price agreements at lower costs. This holds even if the electricity prices often rise in the winter because of the rising demand for power to support heating in various households.
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Intra-day Market
The intra-day market provides traders with the opportunity to adjust any of their earlier trading activities, particularly if the forecasts turn out to be inaccurate. This market, which is also known as the period of correction, closes an hour before the delivery hour. It is the Nord Pool Spot who is responsible for this market.
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Balancing Market
The balancing market is managed by the transmission system operators (TSOs). Some of the TSOs include Svenska kraftnät, Statnett, Fingrid, and Energinet. Their goal is to maintain power balance during the hours of operation by trading both automatic and manual reserves.
Electricity Sources of the Countries in the Nordic Region
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Denmark
The electricity in Denmark is mainly driven by wind and coal power. This can be attributed to the fact that the country has been pioneering in developing wind power as early as the 1970s. Because of this, 18.9% of the country’s electricity production is already provided by wind power. On the other hand, 48% of the country’s electricity is driven by coal power.
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Norway
98% of the total energy production in Norway can be attributed to hydropower. The country has favorable hydropower conditions because of heavy rain and snowfall that happens annually. For this reason, Norway has built some of the largest hydroelectric power stations in the European continent. With this, the country could export some of its electricity production to other countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
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Sweden
Like with Norway, Sweden also depends on hydropower to generate electricity. But on top of this, they also employ nuclear power such that 44% of the total electricity produced in the country is because of hydropower, and 47% is generated by nuclear power. The rest of the electricity in the country is produced using biofuels, as well as wind power.
To wrap things up, it can be deemed that the Nordic electricity market is made up of a combination of renewable energy sources from water, wind, and nuclear power. Because of the cold weather in the region, countries that comprise the Nordic area have a large share of electricity-heated households. In this case, the total power use in the Nordic region is significantly greater compared to the rest of the countries in the European continent. Nevertheless, the countries in the Nordic region still hold the largest share of renewable energy production.
