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Hydropower

At Statkraft, we have 125 years of experience in hydropower and are the largest producer of electricity from hydropower in Europe. The majority of our power production is hydropower.

The advantages of hydropower are many. It is renewable, clean, reliable, flexible and can serve many generations with low-cost electricity from local resources. Hydropower produces no air pollutants and shows the lowest Green House Gases (GHG) emission of all power generation technologies.

In Norway, 90 per cent of all power generation comes from hydropower. Worldwide, hydropower accounts for approximately one sixth of the total electricity supply.

Statkraft's hydropower plants in numbers (2023)

  • 363
    Number of hydropower plants
  • 53.9 TWh
    Total hydropower production
  • 15 541 MW
    Installed hydropower capacity

Europe’s renewable energy battery

Hydropower is a highly flexible and stable energy source. Water can be stored in reservoirs until needed, allowing for quick changes in production and low start and stop costs. Well-regulated reservoirs can provide short-term flexibility within an hour, as well as long-term flexibility over days, weeks and seasons. This makes hydropower particularly well suited for a future power system with more intermittent power from wind and solar. Norwegian hydropower is Europe’s largest renewable storage facility. Close to 50 per cent of the reservoir capacity in Europe is in Norway, out of which Statkraft owns about half.
Two men standing on dam
Norway
Photo: Lars Petter Pettersen

The Ringedal dam in Norway

Our hydropower ambitions

The Nordic portfolio is a unique and important source of flexible and stable power. Given its age, we will continue with reinvestments to keep the portfolio competitive and profitable.

We are also focusing on optimising and protecting the value of our hydropower assets outside the Nordics and will pursue growth through selected acquisitions and swaps that fit well with the rest of the portfolio.

Read more about our strategic ambitions

People and generator
Norway
Photo: Lars Petter Pettersen

Hylen hydropower plant in Norway

How our hydropower plants work

The principle behind the production of hydropower is to use the energy of flowing water. Many hydropower plants benefit from several storage schemes. In some river systems we have several power stations positioned in cascade one after the other, so that the water’s energy can be exploited several times before it finally flows out into the sea. Inside the power station, the water drives a turbine producing mechanical energy which is turned into electrical energy in a generator. Hydropower schemes without reservoirs are often called run-of-river.

How our hydropower plants work

Visit one of our power plants

Find out more about our hydropower assets

Statkraft has hydropower assets in Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK, Albania, Turkey, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Nepal and India. Find out more about our global hydropower activities by exploring the map below.