Hydropower Optimization Software
THE IMPORTANCE OF HYDROPOWER
The hydropower is green renewable energy i.e. the electrical power is produced by water therefore the production of the hydropower won't pollute the air.
At the present time the worldwide production of hydropower is around 4,327 TWh this figure varies from year to year due to the seasonal nature of the river flows and in the recent years due to the climate changes.
The importance of hydropower in relation to the other sources of electrical power is the greatest, mainly due to the fact that it can provide power to the electrical grid immediately and at the same time it provides back-up power that can be used during major electricity outages. The water that is used to produce electricity can be stored in reservoirs and it can be used when required. It is important to stress that no other energy source is flexible as the hydropower in ensuring the supply-side flexibility.
The electrical power system consist of energy producers like hydropower plants, thermal power plants nuclear power plants and in the last decades big progress is made of using solar and wind to produce the electrical energy. But none of those sources of energy production, except the hydropower, can store huge amount of electrical energy or store the huge amount of fuel to be used for energy production when required i.e. immediately.
In the hydropower, the main sources of flexibility and security is the availability of water stored in the reservoirs. The ability to stop and start the generating units in short notice makes the hydropower an important component in the electrical power grid security and flexibility chain.
In addition the electrical power system consists of transmission and distribution networks. Distribution networks are complex systems, but in a nutshell they operate on this simple principle, (electric power in = electric power out), this means that the electrical system is at specific voltage and frequency, this relationship has to be balanced at all times.
Even though there is some flexibility in the system in regards to the above (electric power in = electric power out) this is very small and not without some penalties. Ultimately if this equation is not satisfied then collapse of the power system is inevitable.
At the present time the worldwide production of hydropower is around 4,327 TWh this figure varies from year to year due to the seasonal nature of the river flows and in the recent years due to the climate changes.
The importance of hydropower in relation to the other sources of electrical power is the greatest, mainly due to the fact that it can provide power to the electrical grid immediately and at the same time it provides back-up power that can be used during major electricity outages. The water that is used to produce electricity can be stored in reservoirs and it can be used when required. It is important to stress that no other energy source is flexible as the hydropower in ensuring the supply-side flexibility.
The electrical power system consist of energy producers like hydropower plants, thermal power plants nuclear power plants and in the last decades big progress is made of using solar and wind to produce the electrical energy. But none of those sources of energy production, except the hydropower, can store huge amount of electrical energy or store the huge amount of fuel to be used for energy production when required i.e. immediately.
In the hydropower, the main sources of flexibility and security is the availability of water stored in the reservoirs. The ability to stop and start the generating units in short notice makes the hydropower an important component in the electrical power grid security and flexibility chain.
In addition the electrical power system consists of transmission and distribution networks. Distribution networks are complex systems, but in a nutshell they operate on this simple principle, (electric power in = electric power out), this means that the electrical system is at specific voltage and frequency, this relationship has to be balanced at all times.
Even though there is some flexibility in the system in regards to the above (electric power in = electric power out) this is very small and not without some penalties. Ultimately if this equation is not satisfied then collapse of the power system is inevitable.
Building new hydropower systems is expensive and in some part of the world especially the developed it is limited because the existing opportunities has been used up and at the same time some of the hydropower stations are more than a 100 years old. Even though the possibilities for building new hydropower capacities are limited there are still opportunities for big improvements to be made.
Opportunities for hydropower
1
Improvements of the operation of the powerplant
Optimal operation of hydropower systems, reservoir(s) and associated power station(s) depends on a large number of variables and constraints, which interact in an infinite number of combinations. Therefore is extremely complex to derive in advance, a universal operating rule that would allow Optimal operation in all situations.
Real-time optimization overcomes the problem by analyzing each combination of variables as it happens (in real-time) and provides an optimum operating rule for each particular situation. The derived operating rule can be applied immediately.
Optimization in general, is the search for a feasible operational policy that maximizes or minimizes the value of the objective function.
Hydropower is non-linear function though the operation problems in hydropower are non-linear problems. The best solution to non-linear problems can be obtained by application of non-linear optimization techniques. MaxHydro and Allocate are excellent tools to help with those problems.
2
Improvements and refurbishing of the existing installed capacities
Improvements and refurbishment of the existing hydropower plants is an important issue for power
generation utilities because of constant shortage of electrical power.
As a result, in the recent years there has been great deal of interest in refurbishment and upgrading of
hydropower plants for more effective utilization of hydropower potential.
MaxHydro and Allocate are excellent tools to help during this process.
3
Pumped storage
Pumped storage hydropower is a type of hydropower energy storage.
It consist of two water reservoirs at different elevations that can generate hydropower as water moves
down from the upper reservoir passing through a turbine.
The system also requires power as it pumps water back into the upper reservoir.
Pumped storage hydropower is the most dominant form of energy storage on the electric grid today.
It also plays an important role in bringing more renewable resources onto the electrical grid.
MaxHydro and Allocate are excellent tools to help here as well.
The hydropower plant operation depends on several factors. The main factor that determines how the power plant is operated is the reservoir size; it determines the role of the powerplant in the wider power system. If the reservoir is of a smaller size relative to the river flows and cannot be used to balance the inflows from day to day or week to week, then the operation of the powerplant is much more simpler but still complex. Consider this scenario:
Optimization problem formulation
1
The reservoir is at certain level
We start the optimization problem with known reservoir level i.e. the current reservoir level. This is the first boundary condition at the start of the optimization problem.
2
The inflow to the reservoir is known
The inflows are forecasted in the next 24 hours and we will use 1 hourly time steps. Having the inflow series we can determine what is de desired or required reservoir level at the end of the optimization problem. This is know as end boundary condition usually associated with the annual or seasonal plan of the reservoir operation.
3
The power plant has let say 4 turbines
The power plant will have 4 generating units of same size and characteristics. The characteristics of the generating units is described with the efficiency charts of hill charts of each generating unit. The question that need to be answered here is given the power plant discharge or release what will be load of each individual generating unit. This is not easy problem to solve and it gets more complicated as the number of the generating units increases or the generating unit characteristics change from generating unit to generating unit.
4
The power plant is part of wider power system and it is required to produce certain amount of power in the next 24 hours
The operation of the power plant should be operated based on long term plan which for each hydropower system is determined yearly. Based on the annual plan or the shorter seasonal plan the hydropower operators will know those criteria.
If there is no reservoir into consideration, then the operation of the power plant should be simple, the operators should only be looking at loading the generating units in an optimal way i.e. produce maximum power with the available inflow or in other words produce the power with maximum efficiency.
But with the addition of the reservoir the operation of the power station is more complicated. The reservoir and particularly its size relative to the river flows, creates additional variables that need to be considered when operating the power plant.
Usually the operation of the reservoir is determined with separate studies and those studies produce annual or seasonal operating rules for the reservoir. The power plant operation should follow those rule curves as much as possible during the day to day operation of the power plant.
There could be several ways to produce the power but it is essential that the power is always produced with minimum amount of water, meaning that the power is generated with maximum efficiency.
There are several factors that should be taken into consideration like number of generating units, the load of the units, the total power generated, the reservoir level variation, the hydraulic losses, the tail water level etc.
As we can see from this simplified example the task in front of the hydropower system operators is very difficult. The operators in the past relied on experience, charts and tables usually derived based on historical data. This has been improved over the years and at the present days most operators rely on some kind of software solution that present the operators a optimal or near optimal solution.
There are several techniques that are used to help the hydropower plant operators in their daily decision making processes. Those techniques are either based on simulation or optimization. The simulation techniques are simpler to use but not always accurate to a required degree. The optimization techniques are more complex but could provide more accurate results that may lead in some cases to significant improvements in the operation of the hydropower systems, which ultimately result in significant monetary benefits.
Some of our clients over the years
Pricing
MaxHydro and Allocate are of the shelves software solutions that are highly flexible to formulate different optimization problems and provide very accurate solutions to the formulated optimization problems.
MaxHydro 4.1
$2995
- — single user
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Allocate 3.5
$2995
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Try or Use it, fully functional version (MaxHydro 4.1) for 1 Month
$500/mo
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- — trouble shooting
