I agree the selling of power to ourselves via Sweden seems weird, but I suppose it's better to do just that instead of having to drain the dam without producing electricity at all, and it's a solution which works at this moment instead of waiting for an interconnect to be built. I would hazard a guess that it does slightly reduce the cost of power in other regions whenever we do sell to Sweden from NO4, but I have no data. I haven't really heard much about this exact issue being discussed though, so I don't have much information regarding that. But the issue with prices jumping to European levels would be relevant here too.
There is a lot of heavy industry in the north, such as petroleum, mining, refining and others. Norway does have a large aluminium industry which does rely more or less exclusively on hydro power, and seems to be in the top ten of aluminium producing countries, just above Iceland.
Ouch! Is this not enough to push for interconnect? Or will the electricity price increases prevent such a change?
Alternatively, why hasn't more heavy industry been built in NO4 zone? Or is it not possible due to winter weather?
I also heard that in Norway, a high percentage of electricty is generated from gravity (water dams). That would make aluminium production ideal. I have heard this is one reason why Iceland, with excelent geothermal energy sources, is also a major aluminium producer.