Aurora in Norway. Image: AdelinaZw, Pixabay
Norway’s long history of using electricity market systems could provide a good example of how to tackle flexibility, writes Vic Wyman in Brussels.
That’s according to Geir Magne Abusdal, system manager of distribution system operator Glitre Nett.
Glitre Nett, Norway’s second-largest DSO with about 300 000 customers, a maximum load of 2500MW and an installed capacity of 3300MW, began a smart grid pilot in 2016 and collaborates with many other DSOs and the transmission grid operator in the Euroflex flexibility project.
Magne said that there is no barrier in Norway to DSOs using market-based systems and that regulators would be more concerned if the DSOs were acting in different ways.
At the Flexcon conference held in Brussels by smart energy association smartEn, he said: “We have had support from the regulator almost from day one,” adding that this included funding for research and development.
The country also stands out for its widespread distribution of energy resources, with nine out of 10 new vehicles being electric and hundreds of small hydroelectric plants, giving it long experience of integration.
Norway is also the European country with the highest share of electricity end-users subscribing to dynamic retail contracts, according to a report in January 2025 by smarten: 93% with contracts indexed on wholesale prices and widespread automatic charging of energy resources such as electric vehicle batteries or heat pumps.
Glitre Nett needed outside help to boost flexibility over the past decade, including setting up a forecasting operation for the first time.
In contrast, Hannes De Schrijver, flexibility and ecosystem development manager at Belgian flexibility firm Fluvius, said that electricity suppliers in Belgium were keener to develop their own systems that to use outsiders.
Magne said: “We developed tools that we did not know that we needed.” He claimed that Norway was now ahead of much of the European industry on flexibility.
“We have to trust that this the way forward,” he said. “You have to have a long-term perspective on what you are doing.” Yet he acknowledged that many DSOs doubted that the market would deliver: “They need certainty.”
Anders Staude, senior project manager at the Norwegian flexibility trading firm Nodes, said that while DSOs needed to buy flexibility, few of those with distributed energy resources were ready to act in the market as flexibility service providers (FSPs) despite the income available.
“It’s important to attract FSPs earlier,” said Staude. “It’s a difficult task.”
However, Magne pointed out that Norway will soon have fixed domestic retail energy prices, following price spikes resulting from power links with Germany. He questions whether fixed prices will provide enough incentive for flexibility.
As grid prices are higher than the prices of the energy carried, the future focus will be on grid prices, he said. Also, Glitre Nett favours intra-day trading, close to demand, rather than day-ahead trading.
More from Flexcon in Brussels:
Electrification will cause system collapse without flexibility warns Jørgensen
Flexibility tariffs for energy consumers get a reality check
