Abstract
This paper presents a technical review of the existing pumped storage plants in Norway. The power system is changing towards integrating more and more renewable energy, especially from variable renewable energy sources, leading to new challenges for the security of supply, power, frequency, and voltage regulation. Thus, energy storage options are a highly researched topic in the current situation. Even though there are many energy storage technologies, most are optimal for short term grid balancing, and few are capable of providing long term (weekly or seasonal) storage. One exception is pumped storage, a mature technology capable of delivering both short term and long term energy storage. In this paper, the ten existing pumped storage plants in Norway are presented, several of which are capable of seasonal energy storage. The Norwegian knowledge and experience with pumped storage plants technology is provided as a basis for future research within the field. The review provides information about energy production and storage capabilities, construction costs, specific costs per kW and stored kWh, electromechanical installation, technical specifications, and operational experience with focus on the design of the tunnel system layout. The data presented in this review are unique and previously unpublished. A discussion and conclusions regarding the current situation, trends, and future outlook for pumped storage plants in Norway within the European power market are provided.
Highlights
Growing concerns regarding the climate change have led to a worldwide shift of focus from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (RES) in order to reduce the environmental impacts of energy generation
All ten pumped storage plants in Norway were not designed for system services or daily peak demand, but for pumping water during flood season, in order to store it for the high demand periods
The results show that the specific costs per kW is low and the specific cost per storage kWh is very low compared with published numbers from pumped storage plants (PSPs) in other countries
Summary
Growing concerns regarding the climate change have led to a worldwide shift of focus from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (RES) in order to reduce the environmental impacts of energy generation. Despite a low round-trip efficiency of less than 50% [5], hydrogen energy storage has a high storing capacity comparing to all other energy storage technologies, being able to provide seasonal and annual energy storage, which led to an increased research interest into further developing it. Norway is 10th in Europe in terms of pumped storage installed capacity, with 1369 MW, leaving it with a high pumped hydro development capability, as Norwegian reservoirs equivalate nearly 87 TWh of energy storage [14], with 10–20 TWh of available capacity most of the time [26]. The data about hydro potential in different counties shows that Norway has the largest unexploited storage capacity that can serve as support for further integration of the variable renewable energy sources into the European power system
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