IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2020 - 34

When the reservoir is full, it can look like any lake, but when
the water level is low, the shores appear like a deserted area.
When the majority of Norway's hydropower stations were
erected (from the 1960s to the 1980s), it was more imperative
to build the country's infrastructure and provide electricity
than it was to preserve nature. More recently, there has been
significant opposition to the planning and construction of
new hydropower plants. The same goes for large wind parks,
which are now being built. However, most of the construction takes place in remote areas, meaning that there is a limited number of people being directly impacted.
The downstream flow of water will be affected by the
production of the power station for run-of-river power plants.
This is based on the electricity markets. There are, however,
conditions given in the concession for building a power plant
that govern how to operate and secure a minimum flow of
water in a river. Similarly, there may be rules for the maximum flow in a river. In this way, a power plant helps to control the flow of water in a river during flood situations.

homes and need time to relocate. For some, this could result in
life-long difficulties and a lower quality of life.
A further social impact is experienced downstream of a
dam. Since the availability of water in a river is no longer
natural, it is heavily influenced by the amount let through
the dam. This is, in fact, ruled by the electricity markets, not
by nature and seasonal changes. This can be a problem if
the river is also used for irrigation, transportation, and recreation. Often, the residents who are negatively affected by
the construction of a hydropower reservoir are not the same
people who benefit the most. The residents experience only
the downside, while others will profit. Since hydropower
plants in Norway are mostly located in remote areas, the
impact is often felt by a small number of people and local
communities. It should be noted that the municipalities with
larger hydropower stations are among the wealthiest in the
country, and they can often offer better services to their residents than what is common elsewhere.

Social Impact

The current developments are dominated by the deployment
of new renewable resources: wind and solar in continental
Europe and small-scale hydro and wind in Norway. Most of
these mean noncontrollable capacities. As a consequence, flexibility in other resources in the production systems is becoming more important and will be more valuable. Since 2003,
there has been a common balancing market for the exchange of
reserves in the Nordic countries. In continental Europe, there
has been cooperation in the development of an integrated balancing mechanism. The cost of keeping reserves in the power
systems has been reduced by this type of cooperation.
Even though there is cooperation at a regional level to optimize
the balancing of the power systems, there is still considerable

Creating hydropower reservoirs through the construction of
dams can potentially cause a social impact in addition to the
more evident influence on the environment. If the possible
social impact of creating hydropower reservoirs is not observed
and dealt with in time, great opposition can result. The social
impact can be presented in several ways, the most severe being
the displacement of residents whose homes would be flooded by
a reservoir. Residents often protest against the projects and try in
every possible way to prevent construction. Even if communities
are resettled and there are no negative financial consequences
(the company or authority demanding the resettlement provides
a fair financial compensation), residents are still taken from their

What Are the Current Developments?

90
80

10,000

70
Day-Ahead Price (Euros)

15,000

5,000
60

-5,000

-10,000
-15,000

-20,000
20

-25,000

10
0

-30,000
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Average Hydrological Balance/Week (GWh)

20,000
Day-Ahead Price
Hydrological Balance

-35,000

figure 7. The average hydrological balance per week and the day-ahead prices.
34

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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2020

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