Just over 1.25 GW of battery storage operates across Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, and around 5 GW is expected by 2030.
In 2025, average day-ahead prices ranged from €9/MWh in NO4 to €83/MWh in DK2.
In a Gridcog model on 2025 prices, the same 1 MW / 2 MWh battery earned almost 13 times more from day-ahead trading in DK2 than in NO4.
Storage pays network charges on both import and export: about €3,000–4,000/MW a year in Finland, €6,000 in Sweden and €12,000 in Norway, with Denmark higher still.
How the markets are set up
How are the Nordic power markets set up?
As one day-ahead market split by transmission bottlenecks. The Nordics are often talked about as a single power market, and for day-ahead trading that is largely true. But underneath sit four countries, four transmission system operators (TSOs), 12 bidding zones and two synchronous areas, with a hydro-heavy north and a windier, more volatile south.
Norway, Sweden, Finland and eastern Denmark form the Nordic synchronous area, sharing one grid frequency. Western Denmark (Jutland and Funen) is part of the Continental European system. The two halves of Denmark are joined only by a direct current link under the Great Belt, so they run as two electrically separate systems.
| Country | TSO | Bidding zones | Synchronous area | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
01Norway | Statnett | NO1–NO5 | Nordic | Hydro-dominated; southern zones more exposed to Continental prices |
02Sweden | Svenska kraftnät | SE1–SE4 | Nordic | Hydro-rich north (SE1, SE2); nuclear and most demand in SE3 and SE4 |
03Finland | Fingrid | FI | Nordic | Single zone with fast-growing wind |
04Denmark | Energinet | DK1, DK2 | DK1 Continental, DK2 Nordic | Highest wind share, closely coupled to Germany |
Wholesale and spreads
How does wholesale trading work in the Nordics?
Mostly through the day-ahead auction. Trading runs through EPEX SPOT and Nord Pool’s day-ahead markets, which moved to 15-minute products on 1 October 2025. Continuous intraday trading is thin by comparison, and deepest in the southern and eastern zones.
Geography drives the price gap. Large hydro reservoirs in the north flatten prices across the day, while the south, with most of the demand plus wind and interconnection to Germany and the Baltics, is far more volatile.
Average daily price spread, 2025
€107–111/MWh
Denmark (DK1, DK2)
€73–95/MWh
Sweden, south (SE3, SE4)
€79/MWh
Finland
€12–54/MWh
Norway (NO1–NO5)
€28–29/MWh
Sweden, north (SE1, SE2)
Modelled in Gridcog
How much does location change a Nordic battery’s revenue?
By more than ten times. Gridcog Energy Analyst Joshua Elliott ran the same 1 MW / 2 MWh co-optimised battery in each of the 12 bidding zones against 2025 day-ahead prices, with wholesale trading as the only revenue stream.
Joshua ElliottEnergy Analyst
Day-ahead earnings, 2025
€76.1k
DK2 (Denmark)
€70.5k
DK1 (Denmark)
€66.8k
SE4 (Sweden)
€53.0k
FI (Finland)
€51.2k
SE3 (Sweden)
€32.9k
NO1 (Norway)
€32.2k
NO2 (Norway)
€18.6k
NO5 (Norway)
€17.0k
SE2 (Sweden)
€16.4k
SE1 (Sweden)
€13.1k
NO3 (Norway)
€5.9k
NO4 (Norway)
Does co-locating a battery with solar pay in southern Sweden?
In Josh’s model, yes. At a site at Sege in SE4, he compared 50 MW of south-facing solar on its own with the same solar co-located with a 25 MW / 50 MWh battery, over 15 years on 2025 prices, with no discount rate. The Nordic reserve rules were pre-set by Gridcog’s Industry team after benchmarking.
Solar alone didn’t recover its hardware cost. The battery’s extra wholesale and ancillary revenue more than covered its hardware and the higher network charges, turning the site’s cashflow positive.
Cashflow over 15 years
50 MW solar
−€6.8m
Net cashflow
- Hardware (capex and opex)
- −€35.4m
- Wholesale energy
- €26.6m
- Contracts
- €1.8m
- Retail supply
- €0.9m
- Network charges
- −€0.7m
50 MW solar + 25 MW / 50 MWh battery
€9.8m
Net cashflow
- Hardware (capex and opex)
- −€59.6m
- Wholesale energy
- €46.3m
- Ancillary services
- €22.6m
- Contracts
- €3.5m
- Retail supply
- €0.7m
- Network charges
- −€3.7m
Comparing Nordic bidding zones for a battery project?
Model your project in GridcogHow Gridcog models the Nordics
How does Gridcog model the Nordic power markets?
Zone by zone, with each market’s rules built in. Gridcog models a battery across all 12 Nordic bidding zones, its revenue streams and each market’s rules, so location, reserve rules and network charges all show up in the result.
Day-ahead prices for all 12 bidding zones in the Gridcog Library, so the same project can be cloned across zones and compared.
FFR, FCR-N, FCR-D, aFRR and mFRR, with energy duration requirements and bid rounding pre-set in the market library item by Gridcog’s Industry team after benchmarking, and the Continental products for DK1.
Set the maximum registered capacity and headroom and footroom requirements on each service, and losses and degradation schedules on the battery, so the FCR volume a battery can sell falls as it ages.
Import and export charges for storage, including fixed capacity fees and throughput charges, for each country’s TSO and connection level.
Put solar or wind on the same connection as the battery, autosize storage, and model tolls and floors alongside merchant revenue, with cashflows, IRR and NPV for each stakeholder.
Experts
Who are Gridcog’s Nordic market experts?
Joshua Elliott
Energy Analyst
Author of Gridcog’s analysis of the Nordic power markets and battery storage, and of its guide to flexible grid connections in GB and Ireland.
Pio Pius
Business Development Manager, London
Focused on bringing Gridcog to major clients across GB, Ireland and the Nordics.
Genna Boyle
CCO and Head of EMEA
Began her career in energy trading at Contact Energy in New Zealand, then helped set up the trading team at Limejump and went on to lead its commercial team.
Who models Nordic projects in Gridcog?
Developers and IPPs, investors and funds, energy majors and consultants.
Frequently asked questions
Four countries and 12 bidding zones. Norway has five (NO1 to NO5), run by Statnett; Sweden has four (SE1 to SE4), run by Svenska kraftnät; Finland is a single zone, run by Fingrid; and Denmark has two, DK1 and DK2, run by Energinet. All except DK1 share the Nordic grid frequency; DK1 is part of the Continental European system.
A power exchange. Nord Pool runs day-ahead and intraday electricity markets across the Nordic and Baltic countries and elsewhere in Europe. Since 2020 it has competed with EPEX SPOT, which also runs Nordic day-ahead and intraday markets. Both clear the same coupled European day-ahead auction, which moved to 15-minute products on 1 October 2025.
Because DK1, covering Jutland and Funen, is joined to Germany by AC lines and runs on the Continental European grid frequency. It therefore uses the Continental FCR, aFRR and mFRR products, with FCR bought in four-hour blocks, rather than the Nordic FFR and FCR-N/FCR-D split used in DK2, Sweden, Finland and Norway.
A Nordic reserve that arrests the first, steepest dip in frequency after a large loss of generation, bought only in low-inertia hours. Batteries must respond within seconds and sustain output for 5 or 30 seconds, and are paid for capacity only. Minimum bids range from 0.3 MW in Denmark to 1.0 MW in Norway and Finland. Fingrid opened its FFR market in May 2020.
An automated market for manual frequency restoration reserve energy, live since 4 March 2025, with 15-minute imbalance settlement. Batteries can submit energy bids voluntarily, without holding a capacity contract, and are paid only when activated. That lets a battery offer spare headroom hour by hour, and Swedish battery mFRR prequalification rose from 120 MW to nearly 600 MW in the first quarter of 2025.
Because of counter-reserve headroom. To provide FCR-N, a battery must hold capacity back in both directions, so it can bid only its actual power divided by 1.34: 0.75 MW for a 1 MW battery. Offering FCR-D up and down together, it can bid its power divided by 1.2. Actual power is net of losses and degradation, so the sellable volume falls as the battery ages.
No. Sweden and Finland hold strategic reserves for peak demand, and Denmark buys small reserves for its islands, but none pays batteries for capacity the way GB’s, Ireland’s or Italy’s capacity markets do. Nordic battery revenue comes from wholesale trading, frequency reserves and, increasingly, tolling agreements such as the Karppio deal in Finland.
Yes. Gridcog holds day-ahead prices for every Nordic zone and models FFR, FCR-N, FCR-D, aFRR and mFRR with each market’s rules, including counter-reserve headroom, energy duration requirements and bid rounding, plus storage network charges. Joshua Elliott used it to compare the same battery across all 12 zones on 2025 prices.
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Model your Nordic project in Gridcog
Request a demo and we’ll show you how Gridcog compares your battery or hybrid project across Nordic zones, reserve markets and network charges.
The team behind Gridcog
Fabian Le Gay Brereton
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Previously co-founded Greensense, acquired by ERM Power (now Shell Energy).
Pete Tickler
Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder
Co-founded Greensense and led digital innovation at ERM Power (now Shell Energy).
Genna Boyle
Chief Commercial Officer & Head of EMEA
More than 10 years in energy strategy, trading and renewables, with senior roles at Battery Optimiser and Limejump.
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