Norway investing millions in hydro upgrades

Norway's state-owned renewable energy power company Statkraft AS will spend more than 124 million euros (US $190 million) on upgrades to the company's hydroelectric plants, resulting in higher renewable energy generation and environmental improvements.

Statkraft plans to invest about 87 million euros (US $117.3 million) to build new underground power plants in Eiriksdal and Makkoren, in the Høyanger area in western Norway, replacing the existing facilities. The plans also include a budget of almost 50 million euros (US $67.4 million) to modernize the hydropower plant in Nedre Røssåga, in the northern part of the country.

By far the greatest proportion of Norway's electricity supply is generated from hydroelectric plants — about 99%, or 135 terrawatt-hours (TWh). However, the majority of the hydropower plants were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. The earliest plant dates back to 1920, and the ageing infrastructure has resulted in large maintenance costs. Statkraft reports that it spends about 124 million euros each year on maintaining its 149 hydropower plants in the country.

The new power plants in Eiriksdal and Makkoren will together produce 330,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity and will be built underground. The new plants will replace the existing K1, K2 and K3 plants, which Statkraft took over in 1998. The environmental benefits will include the replacement of the existing above-ground cables with new, buried cables, and the flow in the Dale River downstream of the plants will be restored to about 70% of natural levels.

While replacement plants will be constructed at the Høyanger site, the plans for Nedre Røssåga call for a major modernization of the facilities in a phased approach. For the first phase, Statkraft will upgrade three of the units at the complex, after which it will replace or modernize the support and control systems, for a total cost of about 52 million euros (US $70 million).

The second phase at Nedre Røssåga will entail either an upgrade of the remaining three units, or alternatively, the construction of a completely new parallel plant. The existing plant was constructed in 1947 and serves the Mo Industrial Park, one of the largest in the country.

Despite the massive proportion of electricity generated by hydroelectric power plants and a growing base of windfarms, Norway still ranks high for per capita carbon-dioxide emissions, but this is largely because of the low population count. In 2008, the Norwegian government announced that it planned to become carbon-neutral by 2030.

Norway has an impressive record in renewable energy production and carbon-reduction technology. In 2003, the first commercial seabed tidal-powered generator began generating power in Kvalsund, south of Hammerfest. The generator produces about 300 kilowatts of electricity.

The country also boasts the first industrial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The project, operated by StatoilHydro ASA since 1996, removes about 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from natural gas obtained from the Sleipner natural gas field, which is about 250 kilometers offshore under the North Sea. The carbon dioxide is extracted at the Sleipner platform and is re-injected into the gas field to increase pressure.