IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2020 - 35

of development needed to produce a harmonized common balancing market in Europe. There are several ongoing projects
to develop and implement markets for the different balancing products that are used. These solutions will be based on a
number of platforms for the exchange of reserves with different
time responses. For NorNed, there have not been exchanges
of reserves; however, when the new platforms are in place,
reserve exchanges are expected to be available on this interconnector. This can add more to the benefits of the link.

The Role of Norwegian Hydro
in Meeting European Climate Goals
In high rainfall years, there will be excess energy in the Norwegian reservoirs, meaning there is more water running into
the reservoirs than needed for meeting the country's electricity demands. At some point, this influx could result in the
reservoirs being fully stocked. To avoid wasting this energy
and letting it out via a bypass, it is better to produce electricity and transport it to other countries in Europe. Therefore,
Norwegian hydropower directly contributes to the climate
goals of Europe since, as a result, high-emitting thermal
power plants can run down or even stop their production.
Another way to help reach European climate goals is to
balance the production of renewable sources, such as wind
and solar. The ever-increasing penetration of wind and solar
power throughout Europe presents society with challenges
related to the volatile nature of those resources. This can
result in production that exceeds demand on a sunny and,
at the same time, windy day, perhaps during the summer
holidays, when demand is low. It would be unfortunate to
regulate down the renewable sources and waste their energy,
and it would be better to sell this excess energy for a lower
price to Norway. In that country, this will result in reducing the generation from the hydropower plants, thus keeping
the water in the reservoirs. In this manner, the renewable
energy coming from wind and solar is stored (indirectly) in
the Norwegian reservoirs. If, in the future, there is little wind
and solar energy being produced, the hydropower plants can
speed up, and the originally stored energy can be released
and sold for better prices back to continental Europe. Therefore, there are financial benefits in both systems, and the
available wind and solar power is better utilized to help
reach European climate goals.
There are, of course, limits to the possibilities of both the
connections between Norway and the surrounding systems,
such as continental Europe and the capacities of the reservoirs. This means there are limits to the amount of energy
that can be transported to and from Norway and that the
storage capacity of the reservoirs is limited. Remember that
the natural inflow coming from rain and melting snow and
ice need to be taken into account.

Outlook for the (Near) Future
If the exchange of energy between Norway and the neighboring countries in continental Europe and the United Kingdom
september/october 2020

is to be increased, new interconnector capacity and flexible production facilities in Norway are needed. Regarding
interconnector capacities, there are already two projects in
the construction phase. The NordLink project between Norway and Germany, with a capacity of 1,400 MW, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020. The new interconnector
will be owned by Statnett and TenneT Germany. There is
also a project linking Norway and Great Britain, the NSL.
This interconnector will also have a capacity of 1,400 MW.
Owned by Statnett and National Grid, it has a planned commissioning at the end of 2021. Furthermore, the NorthConnect project, linking western Norway to Scotland, is currently in the licensing process. This cable is also planned
with a capacity of 1,400 MW.
There is an expected need for more flexibility to control
the increasing amount of volatile wind and solar production.
This flexibility is also assumed to become more valuable. In
Norway, it can be found either by utilizing the existing system
more effectively or building new capacity. In the latter case,
new pump storage plants can be interesting. The existing Norwegian pump storage plants were built for seasonal operation.
There have been research projects and plans looking into new
pump storage installations. The most interesting concept has
been to look for an existing power station with reasonably large
reservoirs both upstream and downstream. There are several
possible locations for such a project. It has, however, been
found that it is not economical to start developing a project
further. Studies have shown that the Norwegian and Nordic
systems can manage a considerable increase in noncontrollable
generation. Because of this, it is hard to find economy in new
pump storage plants in Norway in the short term.
The expectations from project developments 20-30 years
ago have been fulfilled. The development of large amounts
of uncontrollable wind and solar resources has increased
the value of the interconnectors, both economically and
environmentally.

For Further Reading
"Overview of Norway's electricity history: Information from
NVE and Norad," Norwegian Water Resources and Energy
Directorate, Oslo, Nov. 2016.
"The Norwegian Hydro Power History Report," The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Oslo.
CIGRE JWG C2/C5-05, "Changes in the business and
interfaces of system operators facing liberalisation and restructuring," CIGRE, Paris, France, C2/C5-05, Rep. no. 39203, 2002.
"Joint declaration on main market coupling principles by
the TSOs of the CWE and Nordic regions,"

Biographies
Tom Tellefsen is with Statnett, Oslo, Norway.
Jan van Putten is with TenneT, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Ole Gjerde is with Statnett, Oslo, Norway.
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