“Due to declining frequency quality, higher demands are being placed on units providing frequency regulation services in the Nordic Power System. Improvements of the existing units are needed to enable a quicker response and secure the stability of the power system in the future. Adding fast and precise energy storage to hydropower plants results in better performance and less mechanical wear and tear, but also opens up an exciting new area of research and development in how to build up these hybrid power plants.”
“With the increased amount of non-flexible power production from wind and solar; the value of flexible hydro power assets is increasing. Our aging hydropower fleet was not designed for intermittent operations with daily multiple starts and stops and tough frequency regulations – needed to satisfy new market requirements, ancillary services, and grid regulation. Intermittent operations have an impact of the lifetime of our generating units, and we are using measurements and analyses to predict the remaining lifetime and timing of rehabilitation”
“Dispatchable Hydropower plants have an increasing contribution to the
network balancing, which is priced in the energy market mechanisms.
These, especially the flexibility markets, are currently undergoing significant evolution, and with climate change, we also face a worsening of water availability.
In this context, how to make the most value out of the flexibility while satisfying the increasingly demanding constraints that stem from water multiple-use?”
— Marion Chotard, Chief Operating Officer, SHEM (Engie), France
“Digitalization in energy generation is extremely important for the electricity sector because, with the changes in the hydrological regime, it becomes necessary to optimize processes and energy generation to make better use of water resources. This is important today and will continue to be so for decades to come.”
