Norway has been self-sufficient for a very long time, but due to the Acer agreement with EU Norway is in practice forced to export electricity until the price b

Norway has been self-sufficient for a very long time, but due to the Acer agreement with EU Norway is in practice forced to export electricity until the price balances out at both ends (https://www.nrk.no/ytring/energien-var-strommer-ut-1.16056309 https://www.nrk.no/ytring/energien-var-strommer-ut-1.1605630...). There's no way that the surplus in production can cover the current needs of Europe. In summer the domestic need is very much lower than during winter (no domestic A/C necessary, bright days etc), so normally you try to save as much water as possible during summer so that you have sufficient resources for winter. But now the hydro power plants are in practice forced to empty out the reserves during summer, and buy electricity from the continent during winter, completely reversing the practice before Acer - which was basically that the surplus was sold and exported, and when e.g. Denmark has too much wind power available you turn down the hydro a bit and import from Denmark, and when there's low wind you export to Denmark (Norway's hydro is one reason Denmark can rely on wind power that much). The only thing (the only thing) that limits electricity exports from Norway is capacity. Prices in the north of Norway are lower than in the south, simply because there's not enough capacity to transport that much to the south. That's actually a good thing, and would be a good thing for the cables from the south to the continent and elsewhere as well, because what's happening now is insanity. It makes no sense to dry out the water resources during summer and buy in the winter, from coal and whatnot.