scholarly journals Small Hydropower Plants with Variable Speed Operation—An Optimal Operation Curve Determination

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6230
Author(s):  
Dariusz Borkowski ◽  
Marek Majdak
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Control Point ◽  
Analytical Formula ◽  
Optimal Operation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Variable Speed ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Control Techniques ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Water Turbine

In recent times, much attention has been paid to small hydropower plants (SHPs) with variable speed operation and different control techniques. Control complexity in SHPs is mainly caused by specific steady-state features of the water turbine, the long time constants of the hydraulic system and significant seasonal and/or aging-related deterioration in the system performance. This paper presents the most important features of the turbine model from a control point of view. It classifies control techniques for SHPs with variable speed operation in terms of the turbine type and SHP function (run-of-the-river and reservoir). Furthermore, various control methods are analysed taking into account the complexity of the method, dynamics, adaptability and applicability. The novelty of this study is the proposal of a simple, universal analytical formula, which, based on the basic dimensions of the turbine, determines the optimal operating curve. The proposed formula is verified on a real SHP 150 kW by comparison with measurements in the form of operational characteristics. The analysis of the annual energy production confirms the effectiveness of the approximation precision, yielding only 1% production losses, and shows an advantage of variable speed over constant speed in annual energy production of 16%.

scholarly journals Advances in the Definition of Needs and Specifications for a Climate Service Tool Aimed at Small Hydropower Plants’ Operation and Management

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Contreras ◽  
Javier Herrero ◽  
Louise Crochemore ◽  
Ilias Pechlivanidis ◽  
Christiana Photiadou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Flow ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Climate Forecasting ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Climate Service ◽  
Definition Of

The operation feasibility of small hydropower plants in mountainous sites is subjected to the run-of-river flow, which is also dependent on a high variability in precipitation and snow cover. Moreover, the management of this kind of system has to be performed with some particular operation conditions of the plant (e.g., turbine minimum and maximum discharge) but also some environmental flow requirements. In this context, a technological climate service is conceived in a tight connection with end users, perfectly answering the needs of the management of small hydropower systems in a pilot area, and providing a forecast of the river streamflow together with other operation data. This paper presents an overview of the service but also a set of lessons learnt related to the features, requirements, and considerations to bear in mind from the point of view of climate service developers. In addition, the outcomes give insight into how this kind of service could change the traditional management (normally based on past experience), providing a probability range of the future river flow based on future weather scenarios according to the range of future weather possibilities. This highlights the utility of the co-generation process to implement climate services for water and energy fields but also that seasonal climate forecasting could improve the business as usual of this kind of facility.

Setting the problem of energy production forecasting for small hydropower plants in the Target Model era

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Korina Konstantina Drakaki ◽  
Georgia-Konstantina Sakki ◽  
Ioannis Tsoukalas ◽  
Panagiotis Kossieris ◽  
Andreas Efstratiadis
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Market ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Target Model ◽  
Production Forecasting ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Hydropower Production ◽  
Alternative Sources

<p>The highly-competitive electricity market over EU and the challenges induced by the so-called “Target Model”, introduce significant uncertainties to day-ahead trades involving renewable energy, since most of these sources are driven by non-controllable weather processes (wind, solar, hydro). Here, we explore the case of small hydropower plants that have negligible storage capacity, and thus their production is just a nonlinear transformation of inflows. We discuss different forecasting approaches, which take advantage of  alternative sources of information, depending on data availability. Among others, we investigate whether is it preferable to employ day-ahead predictions based on past energy production data per se, or use these data in order to retrieve past inflows, which allows for introducing hydrological knowledge within predictions. Overall objective is to move beyond the standard, yet risky, point forecasting methods, providing a single expected value of hydropower production, thus quantifying the overall uncertainty of each forecasting method. Power forecasts are evaluated in terms of economic efficiency, accounting for the impacts of over- and under-estimations in the real-world electricity market.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluation of the possibilities of using water-damming devices on the Tyśmienica River to build small hydropower plants

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Kowalczyk-Juśko ◽  
Andrzej Mazur ◽  
Antoni Grzywna ◽  
Agnieszka Listosz ◽  
Roman Rybicki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Hydroelectric Power ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Technical Capacity

AbstractHydropower plants in Poland currently use only 19% of the river’s energy potential. Development of hydropower is limited by environmental regulations as well as by economic grounds. From the environmental point of view, it is desirable to build small hydropower plants integrated into the local landscape. This paper presents results of the research aimed at estimating the amount of energy that could be produced in the case of small hydroelectric power plants on weirs existing on the Tyśmienica River. There is also a legal framework that should be adapted at hydropower development. It was calculated that the technical capacity of the small hydropower plants that could be built on 4 existing weirs, is 0.131 MW. These power plants could produce 786 MWh of electricity per year. The economic efficiency of this production is currently difficult to assess, because a new support system for renewable energy sources is currently being implemented, which will be a decisive factor for entrepreneurs. It should be borne in mind that potential investments will be made in protected areas within the Natura 2000 network, which may limit their constructing or impose the obligation to assess their impact on selected environmental elements. Location within the protective area does not eliminate such investments, especially when solutions with the least possible environmental impact are used.

On the Use of 2 DOF Planetary Gears as “Speed Increasers” in Small Hydros and Wind Turbines

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radu Saulescu ◽  
Codruta Jaliu ◽  
Oliver Climescu ◽  
Dorin Valentin Diaconescu
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbines ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Planetary Gear ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Classical Solutions ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Electric Generator ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Water Turbine ◽  
System Functioning

A specific issue both for small hydropower plants and wind turbines refers to the discrepancy between the relatively low speed of the water turbine / wind rotor and relatively high speed of the electric generator: the turbine / rotor has higher performances at lower speeds, while the generator performances are increasing with the speed. Usually, this problem can be solved connecting a proper speed increaser between the turbine and generator. This paper aims to model and simulate a new solving variant for this issue. The solution uses 2 turbines and a generator, connected through a planetary gear with 2 inputs (the turbines) and 1 output (generator). The counter-rotating system functioning is based on the property of the 2 DOF planetary gear sets about summing 2 input motions into an output motion. The transmissions running conditions are modeled in the paper, with examples in relevant applications; the numerical simulation results are comparatively analyzed to those of classical solutions and recommendations concerning their use are settled.

scholarly journals Day-ahead energy production in small hydropower plants: uncertainty-aware forecasts through effective coupling of knowledge and data

2022 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 155-162
Author(s):  
Korina-Konstantina Drakaki ◽  
Georgia-Konstantina Sakki ◽  
Ioannis Tsoukalas ◽  
Panagiotis Kossieris ◽  
Andreas Efstratiadis
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Market ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Power Production ◽  
Training Procedure ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Model Training ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Run Of River

Abstract. Motivated by the challenges induced by the so-called Target Model and the associated changes to the current structure of the energy market, we revisit the problem of day-ahead prediction of power production from Small Hydropower Plants (SHPPs) without storage capacity. Using as an example a typical run-of-river SHPP in Western Greece, we test alternative forecasting schemes (from regression-based to machine learning) that take advantage of different levels of information. In this respect, we investigate whether it is preferable to use as predictor the known energy production of previous days, or to predict the day-ahead inflows and next estimate the resulting energy production via simulation. Our analyses indicate that the second approach becomes clearly more advantageous when the expert's knowledge about the hydrological regime and the technical characteristics of the SHPP is incorporated within the model training procedure. Beyond these, we also focus on the predictive uncertainty that characterize such forecasts, with overarching objective to move beyond the standard, yet risky, point forecasting methods, providing a single expected value of power production. Finally, we discuss the use of the proposed forecasting procedure under uncertainty in the real-world electricity market.

scholarly journals The influence of hydrotechnical conditions on energy production in small-scale hydropower plants / Wpływ warunków hydrotechnicznych na wielkość produkcji energii w małych elektrowniach wodnych

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Marcin Bukowski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Biomass Combustion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Technical Parameters ◽  
Energy Factors ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Polish accession to the EU was followed by a need of adaptation of Polish legislation to the European requirements, also with regard to the energetic sector. The need of achieving 15% share of electric power from renewable sources in the total energy consumption till the year 2010 is a consequence of this decision. This target may be achieved in Polish conditions based on water and wind energy and from biomass combustion. The paper presents the influence of hydrologic conditions and technical parameters on the amount of produced energy. Factors affecting energy production in small hydropower plants were analysed. The formula was proposed to describe the effect of water flow in a river on energy production in small hydropower plants.

scholarly journals Optimal selection of pumps as turbines for maximizing electrical energy production

2021 ◽  
Vol 238 ◽  
pp. 01005
Author(s):  
Lucrezia Manservigi ◽  
Mauro Venturini ◽  
Enzo Losi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
General Procedure ◽  
Water Distribution Network ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Performance Curves ◽  
Electrical Energy Production

A Pump as Turbine (PAT) is a renewable energy technology that can be a cost-effective and reliable alternative to hydraulic turbines in micro and small hydropower plants. In order to further favour PAT exploitation, a general procedure that allows the identification of the most suitable turbomachine to install is required. To this purpose, this paper develops a novel methodology aimed at selecting the best PAT that, among several alternatives, maximizes energy production. The methodology comprises two steps, which only require the knowledge of the best efficiency point of the considered pump and the hydraulic parameters of the site. The novel methodology is validated in this paper by calculating the electrical energy production of a simulated water distribution network coupled with several PATs, whose performance curves, both in direct and reverse modes, are taken from the literature. For the sake of generality, the considered turbomachines account for different geometrical characteristics, rotational speeds and operating ranges.

Using seasonal forecast for energy production: SHYMAT climate service, a small hydropower management and assessment tool

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Contreras Arribas ◽  
Javier Herrero Lantarón ◽  
Cristina Aguilar Porro ◽  
María José Polo Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Environmental Flow ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Operation Conditions ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Climate Service ◽  
Decision Support Process ◽  
Operation Center

<p>In small hydropower plants management, the operation feasibility is subjected to the Run-of-River (RoR) flow which is also depending on a high variability in water availability. The management has to accomplish with some particular operation conditions of the plant but also some environmental flow requirements. Normally hydropower plants managers use historical information of inflows in order to predict the production of energy. Although some forecast models have been already proposed and applied in the small hydropower production field, there are still an existing gap to link the results of the forecast with the decision support process. </p><p>In the framework of the H2020 project CLARA (Climate forecast enabled knowledge services) a climate service was developed in a co-generation process, bridging the gap between data providers who provides climate-impact data on one side, and managers and policy makers on the other side. The result is SHYMAT (Small Hydropower Management and Assessment Tool), a technological solution for the integrated management of RoR plants which offers a scalable and automatically updated database accessible through an administration panel and a web end user interface. </p><p>The pilot area is a three RoR system in the Poqueira River (southern Spain) where inflow is highly variable due to the irregularity in precipitation and snow cover duration in the contributing basin. The service combines past hydro-meteorological and forecast climate data stored with operation data for the particular plant in order to give the user a) a global view of the hydrological state of the basin, from measurements and a physically based hydrological model; b) a comparison of current information with past data; c) the expected operability of the RoR plant; d) information about the accomplishment of environmental flow requirements and water flow spill; e) the expected energy production. </p><p>SHYMAT is easy and fully scalable to new systems thanks to the administration panel and the topology panel. The service is addressed to technicians in charge of the control operation center of this kind of plants and managers at the regional administrative headquarters of hydropower companies. Energy market operators, river basin authorities and consultants can be also potential users.</p><p> </p><p>This research is supported by CLARA Project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Gran Agreement No 730482.</p>

scholarly journals Forecasting monthly energy production of small hydropower plants in ungauged basins using grey model and improved seasonal index

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 993-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Tian Cheng ◽  
Shu-Min Miao ◽  
Bin Luo ◽  
Yong-Jun Sun
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Moving Average ◽  
Grey Model ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
Ungauged Basin ◽  
Model Combining ◽  
Hydropower Plants ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Seasonal Index

Abstract A first-order one-variable grey model (GM(1,1)) is combined with improved seasonal index (ISI) to forecast monthly energy production for small hydropower plants (SHPs) in an ungauged basin, in which the ISI is used to weaken the seasonality of input data for the GM(1,1) model. The ISI is calculated by a hybrid model combining K-means clustering technique and ratio-to-moving-average method, which can adapt to different inflow scenarios. Based on the similar hydrological and meteorological conditions of large hydropower plants (LHPs) and SHPs in the same basin, a reference LHP is identified and its local inflow data, instead of the limited available data of SHPs, is used to calculate the ISI. Case study results for the Yangbi and Yingjiang counties in Yunnan Province, China are evaluated against observed data. Compared with the original GM(1,1) model, the GM(1,1) model combined with traditional seasonal index (TSI-GM(1,1)), and the linear regression model, the proposed ISI-GM(1,1) model gives the best performance, suggesting that it is a feasible way to forecast monthly energy production for SHPs in data-sparse areas.

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