A History of Electricity Liberalisation: Origins and Evolution of the Nordic Model
Published 4 November 2022
Abstract
Electricity liberalisation was a trend across western Europe from the early years of the 1990s. Britain and Norway are generally seen as the pioneering European nations in this move towards structural reform and competitive markets. They were amongst the first countries to pass legislation which ‘unbundled’ their electricity supply industries and introduced competition between generators. This paper focuses on the development and evolution of the Norwegian electricity market. The case is notable because it was the genesis of Nord Pool - the cross-border trade across the Nordic region - and later became an important influence on the design of wholesale power markets across Europe, and further afield. The paper begins with an introduction to the Norwegian power system and outlines the liberalisation reforms that were enacted in legislation in 1990. It then outlines how the Norwegian market was evolved and expanded across the Nordic region throughout the 1990s. The case shows the importance of understanding the political and technical system contexts within which liberalised power markets were developed during this early period of reform.
This paper will be part of the OGEL Special Issue on "Energy Market Creation: Liberalisations and Transformations". More information here www.ogel.org/news.asp?key=716