Hydro in Europe: Powering Renewables - Full Report - Eurelectric

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Picture 5 Erzhausen – pumped storage hydropower plant with artificial reservoirs in Middle Germany Source: Statkraft Picture 6 Hydropower System Glockner Kaprun – a mixed pumped storage hydropower plant in Austria Source: Verbund Pumped storage power plants are operated on daily and weekly cycles and are designed to provide peak electricity during periods of high electricity demand. This can be done in a very short time, i.e. within minutes. The water is released from the upper reservoir through the turbines to generate electricity. However, the duration of electricity supply from pumped storage hydropower plants is limited. The upper reservoir normally contains a certain amount of water that can provide full operation during several hours. Water is typically pumped up from the lower to the higher-level reservoirs during offpeak periods (i.e. during the night) using surplus electricity generated by conventional base-load power plants. The market electricity price also has an impact on when the water is pumped up: usually this happens when the electricity price is lowest. In the EU electricity generation from pumped storage hydropower plants is not considered as renewable, since pumping the water up consumes electricity produced by other power plants in the grid and pumped storage power plants thus become net energy consumers. In fact, more electricity is needed to pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir than is generated when water is released from the upper reservoir into the lower one (overall efficiencies are in the range of 70-75%). However, this drawback is compensated for by the flexibility these plants can provide. Pumped storage power plants are important to optimize the operation of the conventional thermal generation fleet. As pumped storage power plants cover peakdemand situations while consuming electricity in periods of lower demand, they allow thermal power plants to stay connected and generate electricity even when demand is low. Through this optimisation effect, pumped storage power plants also contribute to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from thermal power plants, as they need not deviate from the most efficient load. 30
Pumped storage facilities work as a huge electricity storage resource by charging or discharging power according to the system’s demand. Compared to conventional reservoir-type hydropower plants, pumped storage power plants use the water stored in the reservoirs repeatedly and do not need natural inflow into the reservoirs. The role of pumped storage hydropower plants is twofold: balancing the grid for demand-driven fluctuations, and balancing generation-driven fluctuations – a new and increasingly important role due to the increase of v-RES in the electricity system 32 . Services Like conventional reservoir-type hydropower plants, pumped storage power plants can provide the full range of grid-stabilising services, thanks to their ability to follow demand or generation fluctuations within only a few minutes. Therefore storage hydropower is a key tool for TSOs to maintain a stable and balanced grid. Table 3 below summarises these grid-stabilising services, which are also called ancillary services. Back-up and reserve Quick start capability Black start capability Regulation and frequency response Hydropower plants have the ability to enter load into an electrical system from a source that is not on-line. Hydropower can provide this service while not consuming additional fuel, thereby ensuring minimal emissions. Hydropower’s quick-start capability is unparalleled, taking just a few minutes – compared to 30 minutes for other turbines and hours for steam generation. This entails savings in start-up and shut-down costs of thermal plant and allows for a steadier operation, saving fuel and extending plant life. Hydropower plants have the capability to run at a zero load. When loads increase, additional power can be loaded rapidly into the system to meet demand. Systems with available hydroelectric generation are able to restore service more rapidly than those solely dependent on thermal generation. Hydropower contributes to maintaining the frequency within the given margins by continuous modulation of active power and to meet moment-to-moment fluctuations in system power requirements. 32 Generally, the predictability of v-RES is limited, even with highly sophisticated meteorological models. 31
Page 1 and 2: Hydro in Europe: Powering Renewable
Page 3 and 4: The Union of the Electricity Indust
Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION..
Page 7 and 8: 1. INTRODUCTION Hydropower is a mat
Page 9 and 10: Chapter 3 outlines the basic charac
Page 11 and 12: Actual generation in 2009, TWh 140
Page 13 and 14: Currently installed pumped storage
Page 15 and 16: 2.3. Pumped storage as the battery
Page 17 and 18: GWh 10000 1000 100 10 1 1 2 4 6 7 8
Page 19 and 20: limited capacities and are often di
Page 21 and 22: of this chapter, make this work wor
Page 23 and 24: output increases every morning and
Page 25 and 26: plants are designed to use either a
Page 27 and 28: There are two types of storage hydr
Page 29: Fig. 13 Illustration of the operati
Page 33 and 34: Table 4 highlights some advantages
Page 35 and 36: the NORDEL system and to connection
Page 37 and 38: - controlling reactive power motion
Page 39 and 40: Even though the permit process fore
Page 41 and 42: over 50 valleys along the west coas
Page 43 and 44: Fig. 15: Hydropower in the power ge
Page 45 and 46: Fig. 17 Greenhouse Gas Emissions pe
Page 47 and 48: BOX 1 - FRANCE - A HYDROPOWER PROJE
Page 49 and 50: The long life span of a hydro plant
Page 51 and 52: Plans (NREAPs), drawn by the member
Page 53 and 54: and for the development of strategi
Page 55 and 56: o share existing communication mate
Page 57 and 58: As a mature technology, pumped stor
Page 59 and 60: 5. Hydropower is the only large-sca
Page 61 and 62: More must be done NOW to fully expl
Page 63 and 64: Glossary Ancillary services Service
Page 65 and 66: Annex 1 Methodological consideratio

Hydro in Europe: Powering Renewables - Full Report - Eurelectric

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