Hydro in Europe: Powering Renewables - Full Report - Eurelectric

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An official study from the Federal Institute of Hydrology 37 has concluded that on all federal navigable waterways, which are all defined as heavily modified water bodies (HMWB), a total of 260 water retention structures is an obstacle to ecological continuity. About half (160) of those water retention facilities are used for hydropower generation and fish passes have to be built or upgraded. The German Federal Ministry of Transport assumes that the hydropower operators will contribute to the construction cost of 700 mn EUR 38 . These costs do not include the recurrent annual costs caused by increased maintenance expenses and production losses. In order to keep fish passes functional a certain amount of water is constantly required to flow through. This water is then no longer available for power generation, leading to reduced sales revenues as well as reduced production capacity for renewable electricity generation. Moreover, additional investments have to be made to ensure the ecological continuity on the weirs and barrages which are operated by the German federal states. Implementation costs of the EU WFD The EU Water Framework Directive aims at ensuring quality and sustainability of the use of the EU waters. It calls for increased ecological continuity in heavily modified water bodies. In order to achieve ecological continuity, measures are expected to be taken in order to: a) facilitate upstream migration, b) facilitate downstream migration, c) increase fish protection measures. The example on the Weser river demonstrates how implementing measures to increase ecological continuity potentially results in significant investment cost and a loss of hydropower generation. CASE STUDY 9 - Wind Power and Hydro Storage Initiative in Ireland Ireland’s west cost has some of the best sites in Europe for wind generation. It also contains numerous glacial valleys located close to the coast, which are perfectly suited for large scale, cost-effective, sea water pumped storage plants. The energy storage capacity of each valley ranges from 50 to 150 GWh within a compact area of only 3-5 km 2 . This large storage capacity, used in conjunction with 1000 – 1500 MW pumped storage generation capacity, can overcome intermittency and smooth fluctuating output from 2000 to 3000 MW of wind turbines. The wind output powers pumping in the main power station to store seawater in a large hydro storage reservoir. There are 37 Herstellung der Durchgängigkeit an Staustufen von Bundeswasserstrassen, Fischökologische Einstufung der Dringlichkeit von Maßnahmen für den Fischaufstieg. BfG Bericht 1697. www.bafg.de 38 Frankfurter Allgemeine. 18. September 2010. 700 Millionen Euro für Fischtreppen by Henrike Rossbach at http://www.faz.net/s/Rub0E9EEF84AC1E4A389A8DC6C23161FE44/Doc~E11818A5C588C46A7990427F355B1FA 1A~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html 40
over 50 valleys along the west coast of Ireland located 1-3 km inland from the Atlantic shore. Natural Hydro Energy Ltd is currently raising capital for a massive hydro storage project formed from a rock fill dam across the mouth of one of these natural valleys. It is hoped this first and subsequent similar projects will make Ireland a significant player in European energy markets. The cost of the first 1,5GW station with networks to collect wind energy and transmit bulk hydro and combined wind power to the east coast for connection to the National Grid and interconnectors for export to the UK and Europe is some €2 Bn. The plan envisages construction of large, industrial scale wind farms of around 100 MW, by independent operators. This size will ensure economy of scale. They will be connected to the Hydro Storage Reservoir by 220kV collection networks. Energy will be stored in the reservoir, primarily at night. The reservoir capacity of over 10 days full load generation will be released as hydro generation during the day and combined with incoming wind energy to eliminate fluctuations in wind output and provide a steady flow of controllable / dispatchable power. This will eliminate both wind intermittency and the need for curtailment. 3.5 Hydropower – highly efficient, affordable and climate friendly Optimizing the use of available resources is certainly one way that leads to a more sustainable future. Therefore, it is also important to take energy efficiency considerations into account in the energy supply domain, where efficiency is essentially based on two factors: • energy conversion rate, and • energy payback ratio. Energy conversion rate refers to the number of manipulations required until a primary natural resource, such as coal, is transformed into electricity. For example, hydropower and wind power convert natural flows of energy in the form of wind or water into the useful form of electricity. Both have very short and efficient energy chains, compared to fossil fuels, which require multiple processing steps. Hydropower plants provide the most efficient energy conversion process. Modern plants can convert more than 95% of moving water's energy into electricity, while even the best fossil fuel plants are only about 60% efficient. 3.5.1 Hydropower is the most efficient of all renewable energy sources Typically, hydropower efficiency rates are ranging between 85% to 95%, what is significantly higher when compared to about 55% for combined-cycle gas turbines, 30 % to 40% for coal or oil fired plants, 30% for wind power and 7% to 17% for solar photovoltaic panels (IEA. 2000. p.11). Achieving high efficiencies is possible thanks to the simplicity of the electricity generation process in a hydropower plant: there is no combustion involved; only direct conversion of mechanical energy into electricity. 41
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 and 30: Fig. 13 Illustration of the operati
Page 31 and 32: Pumped storage facilities work as a
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: Even though the permit process fore
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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