Statnett raises Norwegian grid investment

Statnett invested NOK6.4 billion in Norway’s transmission system during the first half of 2026 as its active development portfolio increased to 271 projects, compared with 248 at the end of last year.

Investment was NOK1.7 billion higher than during the equivalent period in 2025. The transmission-system operator is combining construction of new infrastructure with measures that increase the usable capacity of existing lines and the wider power system.

Physical reinforcement includes the Sogndal–Sauda corridor on the west coast, where a 420kV crossing of the Sognefjord is under construction. In Finnmark, the new 420kV Skaidi–Hammerfest line is around halfway complete, while further work is being prepared eastwards towards Lebesby.

A new line between Blåfalli and Gismarvik is also being developed to support planned industrial electricity demand in the Haugaland region. The portfolio therefore combines regional transfer reinforcement with projects tied directly to prospective new consumption.

Existing lines are being used harder

Major transmission schemes take years to permit and construct, so Statnett is also increasing capacity on infrastructure already in service. It released 1,000MW during 2025 and says up to another 1,200MW has been made available so far in 2026, mainly through temperature uprating of existing power lines.

A total of 118 temperature-uprating projects are planned, with 58 under way. The technique allows operators to use more thermal capacity where conductor conditions permit, although it cannot substitute indefinitely for structural reinforcement where sustained demand exceeds the capability of an existing route.

Changes to system operation have provided another source of headroom. Statnett says flow-based market coupling has made as much as 700MW of additional capacity available between northern and southern Norway and Sweden since its introduction.

Greater utilisation is not free of operational consequences. The operator says flow-based coupling has contributed to higher balancing costs, particularly during the first half of 2025, illustrating the trade-off between releasing more day-ahead transmission capacity and managing the resulting system in real time.

Network policy is changing alongside the engineering programme. Norway has proposed a two-year licensing deadline for major grid applications, intended to shorten part of the development cycle as the connection queue expands.

Faster licensing would help future projects, but uprating existing infrastructure can release capacity sooner because the underlying transmission route is already built. The two approaches are therefore complementary rather than competing alternatives.

Connection demand is rising faster

During the past 12 months, Statnett connected more than 600MW of new electricity consumption and 100MW of new generation. Applications behind those completed connections are accelerating more quickly: mature connection requests totalled around 3,500MW during the first half of 2026, about 2,000MW more than during the equivalent period last year.

The operator has introduced stricter maturity requirements for organisations entering the connection queue or reserving capacity. The change is intended to prevent speculative projects from occupying scarce network headroom while developments with a clearer delivery path wait behind them.

Statnett also changed its tariff model during 2026 so charges more closely reflect the grid capacity used by different customer groups. Queue reform, tariff signals, line uprating, and capital construction are consequently being used together rather than treating every connection request as a requirement for an entirely new network asset.

The investment programme is already encountering higher costs. Statnett cites pressure in supplier markets, interest rates, and changes within individual projects as factors affecting the portfolio, an increasingly familiar combination for transmission operators ordering large volumes of high-voltage equipment at the same time.

Underlying profit reached NOK914 million during the first half, compared with an underlying loss of NOK1.261 billion a year earlier, while the accounting result was a NOK342 million loss. The company notes that regulated revenue mechanisms create substantial differences between underlying and accounting results over individual periods.

The more useful engineering measure is the amount of usable capacity created. New 420kV lines can provide substantial long-term reinforcement, but the faster gains from temperature uprating and system-operation changes are already being used to accommodate demand before the larger construction programme is complete.

With 271 projects now active and mature connection applications rising by roughly 2GW year on year, the pressure is unlikely to ease through one measure alone. Statnett’s 2026 figures show a transmission system being expanded physically while existing infrastructure is simultaneously being pushed closer to its practical operating capability.