Published 2026-09-12 · Event 2026-01-01

Statnett’s 2026 Hamang–Bærum–Smestad note is a full-tunnel review, not reserved Greater Oslo hall power

Statnett’s Hamang–Bærum–Smestad page writes that the 2024 trench-and-tunnel concession is too complex and costly, and that Statnett will apply at the earliest late in 2026 for a tunnel on the whole stretch. A review is not reserved offtake.

Statnett’s Hamang–Bærum–Smestad project page is the dated review source used here. It writes that Statnett is to renew the connection from Hamang in Bærum to Smestad in Oslo as a cable installation, replacing today’s overhead line, to meet expected consumption growth and secure supply in Greater Oslo. The Ministry of Energy granted a concession in 2024 to renew the connection with cables in trench and tunnel. A 2024 concession is not reserved hall offtake.

The change sentence must stay a change sentence. After the 2024 decision Statnett reviewed how the plant could be built inside that permit. The review writes that trench-plus-tunnel is substantially more complicated and will cost far more than earlier assumed. Statnett therefore recommends a tunnel on the whole stretch. The 2024 permit is written as 7.7 kilometres of trench from Hamang via Bærum station to Hagabråten, then 3.3 kilometres of tunnel to Smestad. The change Statnett will seek, at the earliest late in 2026, is a tunnel of about eleven kilometres from Hamang to Smestad.

The cost sentence must stay a cost sentence. The page prints 2,700–3,850 million Norwegian kroner as the 2023 estimate for cable in tunnel and trench, and 5,000–7,200 million Norwegian kroner as the 2026 estimate for cable in tunnel on the whole stretch, with a note that the project scope has changed. Those figures are project-cost estimates on NVE’s PlanNett cycle. They are not a hall price. Ground investigations along the planned tunnel alignment are written as under way, in parallel with plans to expand Bærum transformer station.

Related grid notes stay on their own pages. Statnett’s Liåsen station note, the Langerud in-service row, the Eiker–Langerud–Hasle package and the Bærum station expansion named on the same hub are different dates and different instruments. This article does not import a southern-Oslo station, or a reserved hall offtake, into a 2026 full-tunnel review.

DataCenterSweden records 2026 as a Statnett full-tunnel-review notice for Hamang–Bærum–Smestad. No project identifier is attached. The next update would need a later primary source that names the late-2026 change application as filed, a new concession, or a reserved consumption agreement beside the eleven kilometres. Until then, the 2026 review stays a cable-route paper — not reserved Greater Oslo hall capacity.

Why it matters

An eleven-kilometre Greater Oslo cable headline with a printed 2026 cost range is easy to file as spare hall power. The review is usable only if the tunnel change stays a tunnel change — not a reservation.

What remains unknown

The page does not file the late-2026 change application, grant a full-tunnel concession or name a reserved hall offtake beside Hamang–Smestad.

Sources