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Here you can find Atle Harby's presentation
Project: Cedren
www.cedren.no
Centre Director: Atle Harby
The increasing use of solar and wind power in Europe leads to a rising need to store energy for periods with lower energy production. Norwegian hydropower can balance energy production and demand in Europe.
Norway is Europe's cheapest battery
Read the whole story here: http://gemini.no/en/2014/12/norway-is-europes-cheapest-battery/
"Germany has installed a great deal of solar and wind-power in its energy system. So much, in fact, that the country will soon need better access to generation sources that can be switched in rapidly when the sun disappears or the wind doesn't blow," says Magnus Korpås, scientific advisor in SINTEF and professor at NTNU. Together with colleagues from SINTEF, he has calculated what it would cost to meet Germany's needs for backup power – or "balance power" as the experts call it.
The scientists calculated the costs of two competing solutions.
Germany could either build rapid start-up gas-fired power stations that can be quickly switched on and off to deal with peak loads – or use Norwegian hydropower as a "battery" by importing power from Norway when it is in short supply in Germany and later send back surplus power that can pump water back up into Norwegian reservoirs (see fact-sheets).
These are currently the two most likely alternative solutions.
Read the whole story here: http://gemini.no/en/2014/12/norway-is-europes-cheapest-battery/
Additional information:
* This text is background information for the participants at the "On Beyond Oil"-event.
