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Norway is a huge energy exporter, but regularly imports because of reduced hydro generating capacity. I have recently come to the conclusion that hydro is a ve
by goodcanadian 5y ago
Norway is a huge energy exporter, but regularly imports because of reduced hydro generating capacity.
I have recently come to the conclusion that hydro is a very good complement to wind because the hydro is dispatchable when the wind doesn't blow. As long as the average wind and hydro together exceed needed capacity, things should be good.
As I understand it, this is what Norway is doing. Importing wind from Germany when there is excess and exporting hydro when there is a shortage.
- otherme123 5y agoA similar dynamic between Spain and France: Spain sells wind to France, France sells nuclear to Spain.
- vidarh 5y agoYes, and when you have already paid the environmental cost of hydro, it's a good tradeoff. If you need to destroy new large parts of your ecology and display people, it's a much trickier decision. I'm not fundamentally opposed to hydro including building new dams, but it's important people are aware that they have both massive ecological and humanitarian challenges, and create a long term maintenance commitment (or they become potentially disastrous) that means they're not no brainers. When they're still a decent fit, they're then absolutely a good complement to other renewable resources.