Norway is in a unique position as regards renew-able energy. Unlike most other countries, nearly all of Norway’s electricity production is based on renewable sources, and the proportion of energy use accounted for by electricity is considerably higher than in most other countries.
and electricity is used much more widely to heat buildings and water than in most other countries.
Because such a large proportion of electricity is produced from renewable sources and electricity is widely used in buildings and in manufacturing, greenhouse gas emissions associated with sta-tionary4 energy use are low in Mainland-Norway5. Emissions to air from energy use are therefore mainly concentrated in manufacturing6, transpor-tation, construction, and agriculture where the use of fossil fuels is still widespread. Emissions to air from offshore petroleum activities largely originate from the combustion of natural gas and diesel in turbines, engines and boilers, flaring of natural gas for safety reasons, venting and dif-fuse emissions of gas, and storage and loading of crude oil.
Important drivers of energy use
Energy use in Norway is influenced by a variety of factors. Variations in energy use from year to year are often related to fluctuations in weather conditions and in the prices of energy and activity in energy-intensive goods and services. Longer-term trends are related to population growth and other demographic factors, and to the rate
4 Stationary energy consumption is defined as net domestic energy consumption minus energy for transport. It is common to distinguish between industry, households, the services sector and the energy sector
5 Mainland Norway consists of all domestic production activity ex-cept exploration of crude oil and natural gas, transport via pipelines and ocean transport.
of economic growth and structural changes in the economy.
Norway’s population has increased by 1.1 mil-lion since 1990 (about 25 per cent). Strong eco-nomic growth has resulted in a doubling of GDP since 1990. Both production of and demand for goods and services that use energy are growing steadily. However, final energy consumption has risen by only 12 per cent, demonstrating that the Norwegian economy has become gradually less energy-intensive.
Energy use, by sector
As seen in the figure below, energy use in abso-lute numbers is highest in the manufacturing and transport sectors, followed by services and households. Other sectors such as construc-tion, agriculture and fisheries account for only a small proportion of energy use. Energy use has increased by about 23 TWh since 1990, with most of the increase taking place before 2000. In 2015, final energy consumption totalled 212.5 TWh, somewhat lower than the average since 2000.
Figure 2.16 Final energy consumption in Norway split by energy carrier. Excluding non-energy use and the offshore petroleum sector. Total in 2015: 212.5 TWh.
Source: Statistics Norway
Figure 2.16 shows that electricity is the dominant energy carrier, followed by petroleum products.
Electricity dominates energy use in manufacturing, the household sector and service industries, while petroleum products account for a large proportion of energy use in sectors that make heavy use of transportation and machinery. District heating and natural gas account for only a small share of energy use, but this has been increasing in recent years. Consumption of district heating has risen, particularly in service industries and households, while there has been an increase in the use of gas
This indicates a decoupling of economic growth and energy use.
Per capita energy use has also declined in Norway during this period, and was 8 per cent lower in 2015 than in 1990 (see figure 2.17).
Features of the Norwegian energy system
Renewable energy sources account for 98 per cent of Norwegian electricity production7 and the power sector has very low emissions compared to most other countries. In a normal year
renewa-Figure 2.17 Per capita energy use in Norway, shown as percentage change since 1990.
-10 % -5 % 0 % 5 % 10 % 15 % 20 % 25 %
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Per capita energy use Final energy consumpon Populaon
Source: Statistics Norway
At the beginning of 2017, the installed capacity of the Norwegian power supply system was 33 200 MW with an estimated annual production of 139 TWh in a normal year.
Norway is now developing more renewable power production capacity than it has done for over 25 years. Wind power currently accounts for only a relatively modest share of production capacity, but is now dominating investments.
Hydropower accounts for 96 per cent of Norwegian power supply, and the resource base for produc-tion depends on the precipitaproduc-tion level in a given year. This is a distinctive feature of the Norwegian power system, compared to most power systems, where security of supply is secured by thermal power plants.
rapidly increased and decreased as needed, at low cost.
The Norwegian power system is closely integrated with the other Nordic systems, both in physical terms and through market integration. In turn, the Nordic market is integrated with the rest of Europe through cross-border interconnectors with the Netherlands, Germany, the Baltic states, Poland and Russia.
In 2015, district heating deliveries totalled 4.8 TWh, three times as much as in 2000. This is equivalent to about one tenth of the total need for energy to heat buildings and water in Norway.
District heating can be produced using many dif-ferent types of fuel. In 2015, about 50 per cent of district heating was produced from waste and
oil accounts for only 1 per cent of district heating production.
Bioenergy is an important energy source for heat production in Norway. Annual consumption of bioenergy in Norway rose from 10 TWh in 1990 to 18 TWh in 2012. Since then, there has been some decline in consumption. Fuelwood consumption in households accounts for the largest proportion of biofuel consumption, and totalled more than 5 TWh in 2014. The second largest user is the manu-facturing sector, where chippings and other wood waste are used as fuel in production processes.
In 2015, a further 4.9 TWh of natural gas was distributed to end users in Norway or used for small-scale distribution of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Pipeline distribution accounts for about 40 per cent of this, through two pipeline net-works in Rogaland county. The customers are mainly commercial and use the gas for thermal purposes (space heating and heating water). In addition to use for industrial purposes, gas is increasingly being used as fuel for shipping. A small, but increasing amount of domestic gas consumption also consists of biogas, which when used as a transport fuel replaces fossil fuels. In 2016, almost 300 GWh biogas was consumed in Norway. Production of biogas is based on various waste products, further amplifying the environ-mental benefits.
2.7 Transport
Norway’s decentralised settlement gives rise to a relatively high demand for transport. In addition, the Norwegian economy is largely based on the
Almost 31 per cent of the total Norwegian green-house gas emissions originated from transport in 2015. Road traffic was responsible for most of these emissions (19 per cent of total emissions in Norway in 2015), while domestic civil aviation navigation, railways and other means of transport were responsible for the rest. In the period from 1990 to 2015, greenhouse gas emissions from road transport increased by around 30 per cent, while emissions from domestic aviation increased by 46 per cent. Emissions from domestic mari-time transport was reduced by nearly 5 per cent in the same period. Since 2007, emissions from the transport sector have been stable. Strong measures to curb emissions have contributed to a flattening out of emission growth, and in the latest projections CO2 emissions from transport will be reduced within 2030, see chapter 5. The reduction is mainly attributed to reduced emis-sions from road transport.