Planned data centre at Jæren could be one of the world’s most climate-friendly

In the past year, we have seen that the sharp competitive situation for electricity retail companies continues with increasing cost pressure, regulatory uncertainty, and high competition activity. The experiences from the past year underscore the complexity of electricity retail and the need for good risk management.

In Norway’s Nedre Glomma region, decarbonisation and industrial development have been put on hold due to a lack of available network capacity. It takes years to build out new grid capacity. In this feasibility study, we explore whether it would be possible to connect more consumption, faster if the consumers are more flexible.

Our investigation of the Norwegian market for power price hedging shows an apparent reduction in price hedging activity on the exchange and a greater reliance on using physical supply agreements. These changes reflect, among other things, tax changes, poor financial market liquidity and higher collateral costs.

Reaching Norway’s climate goals will be difficult and more expensive if the oil and gas industry is not electrified. The question is to what extent are savings offset by increased emissions elsewhere. Our analysis of lasting market effects shows that such projects reduce Norwegian, European and global emissions.

Luxembourg will introduce a National Energy Data Platform for the retail electricity and gas markets. THEMA analyzed potential benefits and found two primary groups: increased data quality and more efficient data exchange between stakeholders. These, in turn, will unlock several secondary benefits in the long run.

Fixed-price electricity tariffs for households and small businesses have disappeared in many parts of Norway. In recent work for the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, we looked at both the challenges facing the market and how to fix them.