en.Wedoany.com Reported - Norwegian power company Statkraft has signed a new long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with materials manufacturer Elkem, securing a stable electricity supply for Elkem's plant in Bjølvefossen, Norway. The agreement covers the period from 2031 to 2037, with a total contracted volume of 1,534 GWh, supporting local low-emission industrial production and long-term operational arrangements.
The Bjølvefossen plant is a key production base for Elkem's foundry alloys business, currently employing around 150 people with an annual capacity of approximately 60,000 tonnes. Its products are mainly sold to the EU and Asian markets, serving industrial sectors such as automotive, construction, and renewable energy. For power-intensive materials companies, long-term electricity price certainty directly impacts capacity utilization, order intake, equipment investment, and local employment stability. This agreement locks in power supply arrangements beyond 2031, allowing the plant to plan smelting operations, environmental upgrades, equipment maintenance, and customer deliveries over a longer cycle, without being fully exposed to short-term electricity price fluctuations. Norway's industry has long relied on hydropower to form a power-intensive manufacturing base, with sectors such as silicon-based materials, aluminum, alloys, and chemicals heavily dependent on stable, clean electricity. Long-term PPAs have thus become a key tool for energy companies and manufacturers to maintain supply chain resilience.
The industrial significance of this agreement lies in "energy contracts supporting industrial retention." European manufacturing has been impacted in recent years by energy prices, carbon costs, geopolitical supply chains, and export market changes. Metallurgical and materials companies must control electricity costs while maintaining a low-carbon production advantage in the competitive landscape. The carbon footprint of foundry alloys produced at the Bjølvefossen plant is approximately one-third of the global average. A stable electricity supply can sustain this low-emission manufacturing characteristic and support Europe's domestic material supply. As a major European renewable energy company and power market operator, Statkraft binds generation resources with industrial customer demand through long-term contracts, helping to improve the revenue predictability of power assets while providing industrial customers with clearer energy cost boundaries. Such contracts do not directly add new capacity but influence the long-term allocation relationship between Norway's hydropower resources, industrial loads, green electricity consumption, and material supply chains.
Key points to watch include investment plans at Elkem's Norwegian plants, European demand for foundry alloys, long-term electricity pricing mechanisms, and competition in the low-emission materials market. As more industrial customers secure clean electricity through long-term PPAs, Norway's traditional hydropower advantage will continue to translate into capabilities in materials manufacturing, metallurgical processing, and high-value-added industrial product supply. For energy companies, stable industrial loads will also serve as an important demand anchor during periods of power market volatility.
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