Norway & Sweden Power Prices to Climb This Summer Amid Hydro and Nuclear Issues
Summer Power Price Outlook in Norway and Sweden
By Nora Buli
Hydropower Reservoir Levels and Norwegian Market Impact
OSLO, June 3 (Reuters) - Swedish and Norwegian wholesale power prices will be higher than usual this summer due to below-average filling levels in hydropower reservoirs and ongoing nuclear outages, an energy regulator and a major utility said on Wednesday.
Reservoir Filling and Snow Melt in Norway
Central and southern Norway will see lower reservoir filling than normal during summer despite the start of the snow melting that typically feeds many of the sites, said Inga Nordberg, the Norwegian Energy Directorate's head of energy and concessions.
"The reason for this is a cold winter with high consumption and record-low snow," Nordberg said in a statement.
Price Effects and Market Influences
This could keep prices higher than usual in the summer, while gas prices and the weather in Europe will also affect Norwegian electricity prices in the months ahead, Nordberg said.
Day-ahead power prices in Norway's southern-most price zones NO1, NO2 and NO5 have averaged above €100 ($115.99) per megawatt hour (MWh) this year, roughly double their 2025 equivalent, data from the Nord Pool exchange showed.
While NVE did not believe Norway would face energy shortages next winter, it would monitor the situation closely.
"The large amounts of precipitation that can contribute to increasing reservoir filling usually come in the autumn," Nordberg said.
Swedish Power Prices and Nuclear Outages
Hydrological Deficit and Price Risks
WEAK NUCLEAR
In Sweden, prices risk remaining high in June and July amid the largest hydrological deficit since 2021 in the hydropower-dependent Nordic region, Anna Rylander, an electricity price expert at utility E.ON's Swedish subsidiary said in a statement.
Impact of Nuclear Outages on the Market
However, while there are signs of an improved hydrological situation, Swedish nuclear outages were currently having the biggest impact on the market, Rylander added.
The Ringhals 4 reactor (1,134 megawatts) is running at half capacity due to a water leak in one of the generators until June 12, operator Vattenfall has said.
Oskarshamn 3 (1,400 MW), operated by Uniper, has been offline since March 28 and its restart postponed several times to a latest return estimate of June 28.
($1 = 0.8621 euros)
(Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)
