Pumped Hydropower Conversion and Renewable Hybrid Power Plants at Senja

Abstract

With an increasing demand for power on a global scale, and an increasing interest in renewable energy sources, both solar and wind power is growing fast. Their efficiency is increasing while the prices are decreasing, and the forecasts for these technologies shows a promising future. Along with these intermittent energy sources, storage solutions are also continuously developing, whereas pumped hydropower is the most prevalent. Even if Norway is mainly self-supplied by renewable hydropower production, the population and energy demand is increasing, and so is installation of wind and solar power. Norway, with its mountains and fjords, have some challenges regarding power supply, since there often is long distances between production and demand. One of these locations is found at the northern part of Senja, where voltage drops are causing severe challenges for the seafood industry and contributing to the rise of this thesis. A total upgrade of the power network at northern Senja is estimated to cost in the order of 45M€, and an alternative solution is being sought to solve this challenge.

In this thesis, an evaluation is performed regarding locally produced solar and wind power, so that production is closer to the demand. In addition, power production is normally more profitable than network construction. One of the main challenges for solar and wind power is their intermittent nature, demanding a source for storage. Therefore, the main focus in this thesis is on the possibility of converting already existing hydropower plants into pumped hydroelectricity storage, and by this constructing a renewable hydro power plant. Several suitable solutions are found, and even the most expensive is estimated to cost 4/5 of a total upgrade of the power network. It is also found that solar and wind resources act as complementary sources. While wind power could help off with power production during the heavy load period at wintertime, solar power could work as a good source for seasonal energy storage of pumped hydro. Based on the findings in this thesis, suggestions to topics of further work is given.