Norwegian Electricity in Geographic Dataset (NoreGeo)
Shiliang Zhang, Sabita Maharjan, Kai Strunz, Jan Christian Bryne
TL;DR
This work addresses the lack of compatible geospatial datasets for analyzing Norway's electricity system by compiling a 2024, GIS-ready dataset from multiple authoritative sources and releasing it with interactive maps. The approach processes heterogeneous data into CSV and GeoJSON formats, linking production (hydro/wind/solar), grid topology, resources, and population-level consumption at the municipality level, plus daily MBA electricity prices. Key contributions include open data, open-source processing scripts, and ArcGIS Online maps that enable reproducible, multi-factor analyses for infrastructure planning, grid reliability, and policy assessment. The resource supports integrative analyses and practical exploration by researchers, stakeholders, and developers through accessible formats and visualization tools.
Abstract
Geographic data is vital in understanding, analyzing, and contextualizing energy usage at the regional level within electricity systems. While geospatial visualizations of electricity infrastructure and distributions of production and consumption are available from governmental and third-party sources, these sources are often disparate, and compatible geographic datasets remain scarce. In this paper, we present a comprehensive geographic dataset representing the electricity system in Norway. We collect data from multiple authoritative sources, process it into widely accepted formats, and generate interactive maps based on this data. Our dataset includes information for each municipality in Norway for the year 2024, encompassing electricity infrastructure, consumption, renewable and conventional production, main power grid topology, relevant natural resources, and population demographics. This work results in a formatted geographic dataset that integrates diverse informational resources, along with openly released interactive maps. We anticipate that our dataset will alleviate software incompatibilities in data retrieval, and facilitate joint analyses on regional electricity system for energy researchers, stakeholders, and developers.