Hydro in Europe: Powering Renewables - Full Report - Eurelectric

- controlling reactive power motion in the system (voltage regulation and
reactive power control);
- establishment of the rotating reserve by means of second power controlling
(primary control) and minute power controlling (secondary control);
- role in rebuilding the national electric power system in case of a system failure.
Zarnowiec was therefore an important part in managing the European blackout of 4
November 2006. Activating pumps helped to stabilize frequency and voltage and to
reestablish the system after power failure.
The role of Zarnowiec in voltage control will fundamentally increase in the very near
future, as several wind farms are to be built in the area.
CASE STUDY 5 - Norway`s important storage capacity and potential
Europe has three major renewables batteries: Norway and the Scandinavian region,
the alpine region, and, to a lesser extent, the Pyrenees. Norway has a 96% share of
hydropower generation in its electricity generation portfolio, producing on average
123 TWh of electricity a year. 60-70% of the annual hydropower generation is
produced from conventional storage hydropower plants.
Norway has almost half of Europe’s reservoir (storage) capacity. Already today, the
generation flexibility of Norway’s storage hydropower enables the integration of a high
level of v-RES (>20%) within the Nordic market, mainly from wind in the electricity
system of Denmark.
Norway could provide a significant back-up to the continental European electricity
system. Preliminary studies on possibilities to expand Norway’s pumped storage
capacities demonstrate that there is potential of 10- 20 GW for pumped storage
capacities if the existing reservoirs were used in a different manner. However, the
following challenges need to be met in order to enable the country to play this role:
- increased transmission capacity between Norway and the European continent;
- increased social acceptance for new transmission lines;
- incentivising business models for pumped storage power plants.
CASE STUDY 6 - The operational evolution of pumped storage operation in Switzerland
The existing park of fully flexible hydropower plants has been the reason why, despite
good topographical and hydrological conditions, installed pumped storage capacity in
Switzerland is relatively small. Grimsel 2, the biggest pure pumped storage power plant
in Switzerland, has a total installed capacity of 350 MW.
Since its commissioning the operation mode of this plant has undergone some change.
At the beginning the plant was exclusively used in the ‘classical sense’ to balance
generation. From about 2000 onwards a shift in operation mode took place, after
increased cross-border trade opened up new business opportunities. The plant
enlarged their operational modes to market optimisation, while preserving their
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