Dynamic Water-Level Regulation at Run-of-River Hydropower Plants to Increase Efficiency and Generation

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

In times of the energy transition and the intensified expansion of renewable energy systems, this article presents an optimization approach for run-of-river power, i.e., dynamic water-level regulation. Its basic idea is to use river sections influenced by backwater more evenly via the operating regime of a hydropower plant. In contrast to conventional dam and weir water level management, the head of the reservoir is not shifted toward the weir while the discharge rate increases but is kept in position by temporarily raising the water level. This generates a greater head for higher discharge rates of an operating regime. As can be shown using an example, this has a direct effect on the performance and, in interaction with the discharge duration curve, on the annual work of the plant. The dynamic water-level regulation, thus, represents an environmentally compatible, energy-efficient optimization for run-of-river hydropower plants.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number2983
Number of pages11
JournalWater
Volume13
Issue number21
Publication statusPublished - 22 Oct 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85117843496
ORCID /0000-0001-6022-8910/work/142244458

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

Keywords

  • dynamic water-level regulation, run-of-river hydropower, efficiency increase, generation increase