Cool... good luck! (If you ever find an intuitive way to think about reactive power, please let me know... I get it in broad strokes, I've been trying to wrap my head around the details for over 20 years, off and on.)
> I have been told that the nature of hydroelectric power generator installations makes the act of balancing the power system in Norway quite different from what most other countries are dealing with
Hydro has both upsides and downsides. To the upside, they're easily able to respond to changes in demand. It's the difference between opening a wicket gate and adding fuel/air to boil more water, to make more steam, to apply more torque. Hydro can also support stored power.... sometimes you see what are known as pumped storage generators generate 'negative' output. This means they're running as a motor to pump water up a hill. When power is needed they can just drain the water through turbines to generate power.
That said, Hydro also has additional constraints on operation that can be imposed by flood control requirements, reservoir levels [1], environmental regulations, etc.
> I have been told that the nature of hydroelectric power generator installations makes the act of balancing the power system in Norway quite different from what most other countries are dealing with
Hydro has both upsides and downsides. To the upside, they're easily able to respond to changes in demand. It's the difference between opening a wicket gate and adding fuel/air to boil more water, to make more steam, to apply more torque. Hydro can also support stored power.... sometimes you see what are known as pumped storage generators generate 'negative' output. This means they're running as a motor to pump water up a hill. When power is needed they can just drain the water through turbines to generate power.
That said, Hydro also has additional constraints on operation that can be imposed by flood control requirements, reservoir levels [1], environmental regulations, etc.
1] https://wrrc.arizona.edu/drought-diminishes-hydropower