2021 was a ‘hydroelectric’ year for Norway. As reported by Business Portal Norwegen, the degree of hydroelectric development in this particular Scandinavian country reached a level last documented 30 years ago. An impressive 1.4 TWh of new hydroelectric generation capacity was made available to the grid. According to the Norwegian authority responsible for water resources and energy, it was the greatest increase in capacity since 1990. Another 1.4TWh of capacity are currently under construction. Half of the increase achieved in 2021 was accounted for by small-scale hydropower projects. 53 small-scale power plants went online with an output capacity of less than 10MW. The key reason for last year’s boom was that the deadline for inclusion in the existing green electricity certificate system expired at the end of 2021. In Norway the prevailing expectation is that the infrastructural expansion of the hydropower sector will continue over the coming years.

photo credits: Rjukan power plant / pixabay