Sverre Eikeland from local utility A Energi at the Vatndals dam in March.
Photographer: Dana Ullman/BloombergA Winter Without Snow Depletes Europe’s Clean Energy Reservoir
Hydropower, a key export from Norway, is being tested by the country’s driest winter in years, pushing electricity prices higher.
High in the mountains of southern Norway, where winter is usually measured in meters of snow, engineers are confronting an unfamiliar sight.
Standing atop the Vatndals dam on a recent day, the hydrologist Sverre Eikeland looked out over craggy slopes that should still be blanketed in white powder. The reservoir, large enough to fill nearly half a million Olympic swimming pools, depends on spring melt to replenish and generate electricity. But after Norway’s driest winter in decades, the water level is far below where it should be, prompting companies to limit outflows.