Integration of wind power into energy systems with high share of nuclear capacity- The case of Finland 2020-2030

Finland's energy policy has plans to expand the nuclear power capacity up to 40% of the national electricity supply by 2030. To meet the electricity demand in 2030, an additional capacity of 6 GW is still expected to avert power imports. The updated version of Government's Energy and Climate Strategy aims at 9 TWh wind power in Finland by 2025. This combination of high share of nuclear baseload and large-scale intermittent wind energy will imply new challenges in economic planning and optimal operation of Finnish power system, which is also connected to the international electricity markets. In this study, a holistic techno-economic model of Finland's energy system in 2020-2030 is presented and analyzed to illustrate the maximum feasible capacity of wind generation. Based on hourly energy system analysis, a number of future scenarios with low CO₂ emissions are analyzed. Flexible demand, energy storage, electric heating, large-scale heat pups with heat storage are studied as potential means to ease the large-scale penetration of wind into the Finnish energy system. The results illustrate the economy of each technology under different scenarios, introducing heat pumps as the most efficient alternative in dealing with power oversupply.