Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Aw shucks, there goes the plan for a solar powered Lapland.

It won't work well as the only source of power, but that doesn't mean it can't be a major source:
http://www.nordicenergy.org/articles/solar-power-at-the-arctic-circle/

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
For hydro power you need that rain to fall down from something.

yes, mountains and/or relatively high hills/slopes. Fortunately, excluding countries consisting of desert, most countries in the world have at least one with some real potential for hydro power.

Most places are not suitable for building big hydroelectric dams but one thing people usually don't appreciate is that you don't necessarily need big dams for very cost effective hydro power because you can have what is called "run-off-the-river" hydro power which, at the cost of sacrificing energy storage, requires either extremely small dams or no dams at all! With the main disadvantage of sacrificing energy storage, this has several big advantages (over hydro power with big dams ) mainly being lower costs of construction and generally lower environmental impact (no need to flood vast areas of forest, farms, etc ).

I have the suspicion that, thanks to people's general lack of knowledge/awareness and appreciation of this, run-off-the-river hydro power is currently a massively under-exploited source of potentially relatively cheap electric power.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Aw shucks, there goes the plan for a solar powered Lapland.

Don't think of solar power entirely of electrical production in big scale. Many houses generate heat water by solar panel on their roofs. That mean that they can shut down the electrical heating of water.

My brother-in-law, living deep in the woodlands with his wife children and some animals, is a magician in his house (that he build by his own hands), cutting down his electrical bill considerably.

Another way that is quite common where I live is geo energy. They drill two holes in the ground and feed with cold water and bring up warmer water from the other hole in a closed system. From that they gain thermal energy to heat their houses.

Another way to heat houses is to take the excess warm water from nearby industry and deliver it as a heat source, instead of letting it out in the nearest stream. Free energy, but expensive delivery, but still effective!