As the latter are faced with the risk that a high share of variable renewables such as wind and solar reduces the number of hours during which a given demand is guaranteed (compression effect), the role of smart grids in this case is to reshape the residual demand curve. Through demand response, load shifting and integration of storage applications, smart grids might change the load curve and re-establish a stable, continuous demand for longer periods of time. This way, a minimum demand over a sufficiently high number of hours could be achieved, resulting in a role for nuclear baseload even in systems with a strong penetration of renewable energy sources.