Balancing of Variable Wind and Solar Production in Continental Europe with Nordic Hydropower – A Review of Simulation Studies

The objective of this paper is to identify the state-of-the-art related to use of Nordic hydropower for balancing and storage of variable wind and solar based power production in the future Northern European system. The following topics are studied: 1) The need for balancing and storage; 2) Possible further development of the Nordic power system; 3) Consequences of different market solutions and 4) Changes in operation patterns of the Nordic system. Twelve scientific papers are reviewed. None of the studies have modelled the future variability in both wind and solar power sufficiently realistic. Further research should start with establishing such a model.