Mid and long-term optimize scheduling of cascade hydro-power stations based on modified GA-POA method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiqing; Yang, Xiong

2018-06-01

In this paper, to explore the efficiency and rationality of the cascade combined generation, a cascade combined optimal model with the maximum generating capacity is established, and solving the model by the modified GA-POA method. It provides a useful reference for the joint development of cascade hydro-power stations in large river basins. The typical annual runoff data are selected to calculate the difference between the calculated results under different representative years. The results show that the cascade operation of cascaded hydro-power stations can significantly increase the overall power generation of cascade and ease the flood risk caused by concentration of flood season.

Short-Term Planning of Hybrid Power System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knežević, Goran; Baus, Zoran; Nikolovski, Srete

2016-07-01

In this paper short-term planning algorithm for hybrid power system consist of different types of cascade hydropower plants (run-of-the river, pumped storage, conventional), thermal power plants (coal-fired power plants, combined cycle gas-fired power plants) and wind farms is presented. The optimization process provides a joint bid of the hybrid system, and thus making the operation schedule of hydro and thermal power plants, the operation condition of pumped-storage hydropower plants with the aim of maximizing profits on day ahead market, according to expected hourly electricity prices, the expected local water inflow in certain hydropower plants, and the expected production of electrical energy from the wind farm, taking into account previously contracted bilateral agreement for electricity generation. Optimization process is formulated as hourly-discretized mixed integer linear optimization problem. Optimization model is applied on the case study in order to show general features of the developed model.

Quadrennial Technology Review 2015: Technology Assessments--Hydropower

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sam Baldwin, Gilbert Bindewald, Austin Brown, Charles Chen, Kerry Cheung, Corrie Clark, Joe Cresko,

Hydropower has provided reliable and flexible base and peaking power generation in the United States for more than a century, contributing on average 10.5% of cumulative U.S. power sector net generation over the past six and one-half decades (1949–2013). It is the nation’s largest source of renewable electricity, with 79 GW of generating assets and 22 GW of pumped-storage assets in service, with hydropower providing half of all U.S. renewable power-sector generation (50% in 2014). In addition to this capacity, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has identified greater than 80 GW of new hydropower resource potential: at least 5more » GW from rehabilitation and expansion of existing generating assets, up to 12 GW of potential at existing dams without power facilities, and over 60 GW of potential low-impact new development (LIND) in undeveloped stream reaches. However, despite this growth potential, hydropower capacity and production growth have stalled in recent years, with existing assets even experiencing decreases in capacity and production from lack of sustaining investments in infrastructure and increasing constraints on water use.« less

National hydroelectric power resources study. Preliminary inventory of hydropower resources. Volume 1. Pacific Northwest region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

1979-07-01

The preliminary inventory and analysis procedures provide a comprehensive assessment of the undeveloped hydroelectric power potential in the US and determines which sites merit more thorough investigation. Over 5400 existing structures have been identified as having the physical potential to add hydropower plants or increase hydropower output thereby increasing our present hydropower capacity from a total of 64,000 MW to 158,000 MW and our energy from 280,000 GWH to 503,000 GWH. While the physical potential for this increase is clearly available, some of these projects will undoubtedly not satisfy more-detailed economic analysis as well as the institutional and environmental criteriamore » which will be imposed upon them. Summary tables include estimates of the potential capacity and energy at each site in the inventory. In some cases, individual projects may be site alternatives to others in the same general location, when only one can be considered for hydropower development. The number of sites per state is identified, but specific information is included for only the sites in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in this first volume.« less

18 CFR 141.14 - Form No. 80, Licensed Hydropower Development Recreation Report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Form No. 80, Licensed Hydropower Development Recreation Report. 141.14 Section 141.14 Conservation of Power and Water Resources... Hydropower Development Recreation Report. The form of the report, Licensed Hydropower Development Recreation...

Game theory competition analysis of reservoir water supply and hydropower generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, T.

2013-12-01

The total installed capacity of the power generation systems in Taiwan is about 41,000 MW. Hydropower is one of the most important renewable energy sources, with hydropower generation capacity of about 4,540 MW. The aim of this research is to analyze competition between water supply and hydropower generation in water-energy systems. The major relationships between water and energy systems include hydropower generation by water, energy consumption for water system operation, and water consumption for energy system. In this research, a game-theoretic Cournot model is formulated to simulate oligopolistic competition between water supply, hydropower generation, and co-fired power generation in water-energy systems. A Nash equilibrium of the competitive market is derived and solved by GAMS with PATH solver. In addition, a case study analyzing the competition among water supply and hydropower generation of De-ji and Ku-Kuan reservoirs, Taipower, Star Energy, and Star-Yuan power companies in central Taiwan is conducted.

Hydropower Resource Assessment of Brazilian Streams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Douglas G. Hall

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with the assistance of the Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE) and the Agencia Nacional de Energia Electrica (ANEEL) has performed a comprehensive assessment of the hydropower potential of all Brazilian natural streams. The methodology by which the assessment was performed is described. The results of the assessment are presented including an estimate of the hydropower potential for all of Brazil, and the spatial distribution of hydropower potential thus providing results on a state by state basis. The assessment results have been incorporated into a geographic information systemmore » (GIS) application for the Internet called the Virtual Hydropower Prospector do Brasil. VHP do Brasil displays potential hydropower sites on a map of Brazil in the context of topography and hydrography, existing power and transportation infrastructure, populated places and political boundaries, and land use. The features of the application, which includes tools for finding and selecting potential hydropower sites and other features and displaying their attributes, is fully described.« less

U.S. hydropower resource assessment for Idaho

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Conner, A.M.; Francfort, J.E.

1998-08-01

The US Department of Energy is developing an estimate of the undeveloped hydropower potential in the US. The Hydropower Evaluation Software (HES) is a computer model that was developed by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for this purpose. HES measures the undeveloped hydropower resources available in the US, using uniform criteria for measurement. The software was developed and tested using hydropower information and data provided by the Southwestern Power Administration. It is a menu-driven program that allows the personal computer user to assign environmental attributes to potential hydropower sites, calculate development suitability factors for each site based onmore » the environmental attributes present, and generate reports based on these suitability factors. This report describes the resource assessment results for the State of Idaho.« less

Minimizing water consumption when producing hydropower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leon, A. S.

2015-12-01

In 2007, hydropower accounted for only 16% of the world electricity production, with other renewable sources totaling 3%. Thus, it is not surprising that when alternatives are evaluated for new energy developments, there is strong impulse for fossil fuel or nuclear energy as opposed to renewable sources. However, as hydropower schemes are often part of a multipurpose water resources development project, they can often help to finance other components of the project. In addition, hydropower systems and their associated dams and reservoirs provide human well-being benefits, such as flood control and irrigation, and societal benefits such as increased recreational activities and improved navigation. Furthermore, hydropower due to its associated reservoir storage, can provide flexibility and reliability for energy production in integrated energy systems. The storage capability of hydropower systems act as a regulating mechanism by which other intermittent and variable renewable energy sources (wind, wave, solar) can play a larger role in providing electricity of commercial quality. Minimizing water consumption for producing hydropower is critical given that overuse of water for energy production may result in a shortage of water for other purposes such as irrigation, navigation or fish passage. This paper presents a dimensional analysis for finding optimal flow discharge and optimal penstock diameter when designing impulse and reaction water turbines for hydropower systems. The objective of this analysis is to provide general insights for minimizing water consumption when producing hydropower. This analysis is based on the geometric and hydraulic characteristics of the penstock, the total hydraulic head and the desired power production. As part of this analysis, various dimensionless relationships between power production, flow discharge and head losses were derived. These relationships were used to withdraw general insights on determining optimal flow discharge and

Thayer Lake Hydropower Development -- Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matousek, Mark

The Thayer Lake Hydropower Development (THLD) has been under study since the late 1970’s as Angoon explored opportunities to provide lower cost renewable power to the Community and avoid the high cost of diesel generation. Kootznoowoo Inc. (Kootznoowoo), the tribal corporation for Angoon’s current and past residents, was provided the rights by Congress to develop a hydropower project within the Admiralty Island National Monument. This grant (DE-EE0002504) by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Indian Energy and a matching grant from the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) were provided to Kootznoowoo to enable the design, engineering and permitting of thismore » hydropower project on Thayer Creek. Prior to the grant, the USFS had performed a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) and issued a Record of Decision (ROD) in 2009 for a 1.2 MW hydropower project on Thayer Creek that would Angoon’s needs with substantial excess capacity for growth. Kootznoowoo hired Alaska Power & Telephone (AP&T) in 2013 to manage this project and oversee its development. AP&T and its subcontractors under Kootznoowoo’s guidance performed several activities, aligned with the task plan defined in the grant.« less

Wind-Driven Ecological Flow Regimes Downstream from Hydropower Dams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kern, J.; Characklis, G. W.

2012-12-01

Conventional hydropower can be turned on and off quicker and less expensively than thermal generation (coal, nuclear, or natural gas). These advantages enable hydropower utilities to respond to rapid fluctuations in energy supply and demand. More recently, a growing renewable energy sector has underlined the need for flexible generation capacity that can complement intermittent renewable resources such as wind power. While wind power entails lower variable costs than other types of generation, incorporating it into electric power systems can be problematic. Due to variable and unpredictable wind speeds, wind power is difficult to schedule and must be used when available. As a result, integrating large amounts of wind power into the grid may result in atypical, swiftly changing demand patterns for other forms of generation, placing a premium on sources that can be rapidly ramped up and down. Moreover, uncertainty in wind power forecasts will stipulate increased levels of 'reserve' generation capacity that can respond quickly if real-time wind supply is less than expected. These changes could create new hourly price dynamics for energy and reserves, altering the short-term financial signals that hydroelectric dam operators use to schedule water releases. Traditionally, hourly stream flow patterns below hydropower dams have corresponded in a very predictable manner to electricity demand, whose primary factors are weather (hourly temperature) and economic activity (workday hours). Wind power integration has the potential to yield more variable, less predictable flows at hydro dams, flows that at times could resemble reciprocal wind patterns. An existing body of research explores the impacts of standard, demand-following hydroelectric dams on downstream ecological flows; but weighing the benefits of increased reliance on wind power against further impacts to ecological flows may be a novel challenge for the environmental community. As a preliminary step in meeting this

HEPS4Power - Extended-range Hydrometeorological Ensemble Predictions for Improved Hydropower Operations and Revenues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogner, Konrad; Monhart, Samuel; Liniger, Mark; Spririg, Christoph; Jordan, Fred; Zappa, Massimiliano

2015-04-01

In recent years large progresses have been achieved in the operational prediction of floods and hydrological drought with up to ten days lead time. Both the public and the private sectors are currently using probabilistic runoff forecast in order to monitoring water resources and take actions when critical conditions are to be expected. The use of extended-range predictions with lead times exceeding 10 days is not yet established. The hydropower sector in particular might have large benefits from using hydro meteorological forecasts for the next 15 to 60 days in order to optimize the operations and the revenues from their watersheds, dams, captions, turbines and pumps. The new Swiss Competence Centers in Energy Research (SCCER) targets at boosting research related to energy issues in Switzerland. The objective of HEPS4POWER is to demonstrate that operational extended-range hydro meteorological forecasts have the potential to become very valuable tools for fine tuning the production of energy from hydropower systems. The project team covers a specific system-oriented value chain starting from the collection and forecast of meteorological data (MeteoSwiss), leading to the operational application of state-of-the-art hydrological models (WSL) and terminating with the experience in data presentation and power production forecasts for end-users (e-dric.ch). The first task of the HEPS4POWER will be the downscaling and post-processing of ensemble extended-range meteorological forecasts (EPS). The goal is to provide well-tailored forecasts of probabilistic nature that should be reliable in statistical and localized at catchment or even station level. The hydrology related task will consist in feeding the post-processed meteorological forecasts into a HEPS using a multi-model approach by implementing models with different complexity. Also in the case of the hydrological ensemble predictions, post-processing techniques need to be tested in order to improve the quality of the

China's rising hydropower demand challenges water sector.

PubMed

Liu, Junguo; Zhao, Dandan; Gerbens-Leenes, P W; Guan, Dabo

2015-07-09

Demand for hydropower is increasing, yet the water footprints (WFs) of reservoirs and hydropower, and their contributions to water scarcity, are poorly understood. Here, we calculate reservoir WFs (freshwater that evaporates from reservoirs) and hydropower WFs (the WF of hydroelectricity) in China based on data from 875 representative reservoirs (209 with power plants). In 2010, the reservoir WF totaled 27.9 × 10(9) m(3) (Gm(3)), or 22% of China's total water consumption. Ignoring the reservoir WF seriously underestimates human water appropriation. The reservoir WF associated with industrial, domestic and agricultural WFs caused water scarcity in 6 of the 10 major Chinese river basins from 2 to 12 months annually. The hydropower WF was 6.6 Gm(3) yr(-1) or 3.6 m(3) of water to produce a GJ (10(9) J) of electricity. Hydropower is a water intensive energy carrier. As a response to global climate change, the Chinese government has promoted a further increase in hydropower energy by 70% by 2020 compared to 2012. This energy policy imposes pressure on available freshwater resources and increases water scarcity. The water-energy nexus requires strategic and coordinated implementations of hydropower development among geographical regions, as well as trade-off analysis between rising energy demand and water use sustainability.

Regional water consumption for hydro and thermal electricity generation in the United States

DOE PAGES

Lee, Uisung; Han, Jeongwoo; Elgowainy, Amgad; ...

2017-05-18

Water is an essential resource for most electric power generation technologies. Thermal power plants typically require a large amount of cooling water whose evaporation is regarded to be consumed. Hydropower plants result in evaporative water loss from the large surface areas of the storing reservoirs. This paper estimated the regional water consumption factors (WCFs) for thermal and hydro electricity generation in the United States, because the WCFs of these power plants vary by region and water supply and demand balance are of concern in many regions. For hydropower, total WCFs were calculated using a reservoir’s surface area, state-level water evaporation,more » and background evapotranspiration. Then, for a multipurpose reservoir, a fraction of its WCF was allocated to hydropower generation based on the share of the economic valuation of hydroelectricity among benefits from all purposes of the reservoir. For thermal power plants, the variations in WCFs by type of cooling technology, prime mover technology, and by region were addressed. The results show that WCFs for electricity generation vary significantly by region. Finally, the generation-weighted average WCFs of thermoelectricity and hydropower are 1.25 (range of 0.18–2.0) and 16.8 (range of 0.67–1194) L/kWh, respectively, and the generation-weighted average WCF by the U.S. generation mix in 2015 is estimated at 2.18 L/kWh.« less

Regional water consumption for hydro and thermal electricity generation in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Uisung; Han, Jeongwoo; Elgowainy, Amgad

Water is an essential resource for most electric power generation technologies. Thermal power plants typically require a large amount of cooling water whose evaporation is regarded to be consumed. Hydropower plants result in evaporative water loss from the large surface areas of the storing reservoirs. This paper estimated the regional water consumption factors (WCFs) for thermal and hydro electricity generation in the United States, because the WCFs of these power plants vary by region and water supply and demand balance are of concern in many regions. For hydropower, total WCFs were calculated using a reservoir’s surface area, state-level water evaporation,more » and background evapotranspiration. Then, for a multipurpose reservoir, a fraction of its WCF was allocated to hydropower generation based on the share of the economic valuation of hydroelectricity among benefits from all purposes of the reservoir. For thermal power plants, the variations in WCFs by type of cooling technology, prime mover technology, and by region were addressed. The results show that WCFs for electricity generation vary significantly by region. Finally, the generation-weighted average WCFs of thermoelectricity and hydropower are 1.25 (range of 0.18–2.0) and 16.8 (range of 0.67–1194) L/kWh, respectively, and the generation-weighted average WCF by the U.S. generation mix in 2015 is estimated at 2.18 L/kWh.« less

Systematic high-resolution assessment of global hydropower potential.

PubMed

Hoes, Olivier A C; Meijer, Lourens J J; van der Ent, Ruud J; van de Giesen, Nick C

2017-01-01

Population growth, increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves necessitate a search for sustainable alternatives for electricity generation. Hydropower could replace a large part of the contribution of gas and oil to the present energy mix. However, previous high-resolution estimates of hydropower potential have been local, and have yet to be applied on a global scale. This study is the first to formally present a detailed evaluation of the hydropower potential of each location, based on slope and discharge of each river in the world. The gross theoretical hydropower potential is approximately 52 PWh/year divided over 11.8 million locations. This 52 PWh/year is equal to 33% of the annually required energy, while the present energy production by hydropower plants is just 3% of the annually required energy. The results of this study: all potentially interesting locations for hydroelectric power plants, are available online.

Systematic high-resolution assessment of global hydropower potential

PubMed Central

van de Giesen, Nick C.

2017-01-01

Population growth, increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves necessitate a search for sustainable alternatives for electricity generation. Hydropower could replace a large part of the contribution of gas and oil to the present energy mix. However, previous high-resolution estimates of hydropower potential have been local, and have yet to be applied on a global scale. This study is the first to formally present a detailed evaluation of the hydropower potential of each location, based on slope and discharge of each river in the world. The gross theoretical hydropower potential is approximately 52 PWh/year divided over 11.8 million locations. This 52 PWh/year is equal to 33% of the annually required energy, while the present energy production by hydropower plants is just 3% of the annually required energy. The results of this study: all potentially interesting locations for hydroelectric power plants, are available online. PMID:28178329

Projecting changes in annual hydropower generation using regional runoff data: An assessment of the United States federal hydropower plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kao, Shih -Chieh; Sale, Michael J.; Ashfaq, Moetasim

Federal hydropower plants account for approximately half of installed US conventional hydropower capacity, and are an important part of the national renewable energy portfolio. Utilizing the strong linear relationship between the US Geological Survey WaterWatch runoff and annual hydropower generation, a runoff-based assessment approach is introduced in this study to project changes in annual and regional hydropower generation in multiple power marketing areas. Future climate scenarios are developed with a series of global and regional climate models, and the model output is bias-corrected to be consistent with observed data for the recent past. Using this approach, the median decrease inmore » annual generation at federal projects is projected to be less than –2 TWh, with an estimated ensemble uncertainty of ±9 TWh. Although these estimates are similar to the recently observed variability in annual hydropower generation, and may therefore appear to be manageable, significantly seasonal runoff changes are projected and it may pose significant challenges in water systems with higher limits on reservoir storage and operational flexibility. Lastly, future assessments will be improved by incorporating next-generation climate models, by closer examination of extreme events and longer-term change, and by addressing the interactions among hydropower and other water uses.« less

Projecting changes in annual hydropower generation using regional runoff data: An assessment of the United States federal hydropower plants

DOE PAGES

Kao, Shih -Chieh; Sale, Michael J.; Ashfaq, Moetasim; ...

2014-12-18

Federal hydropower plants account for approximately half of installed US conventional hydropower capacity, and are an important part of the national renewable energy portfolio. Utilizing the strong linear relationship between the US Geological Survey WaterWatch runoff and annual hydropower generation, a runoff-based assessment approach is introduced in this study to project changes in annual and regional hydropower generation in multiple power marketing areas. Future climate scenarios are developed with a series of global and regional climate models, and the model output is bias-corrected to be consistent with observed data for the recent past. Using this approach, the median decrease inmore » annual generation at federal projects is projected to be less than –2 TWh, with an estimated ensemble uncertainty of ±9 TWh. Although these estimates are similar to the recently observed variability in annual hydropower generation, and may therefore appear to be manageable, significantly seasonal runoff changes are projected and it may pose significant challenges in water systems with higher limits on reservoir storage and operational flexibility. Lastly, future assessments will be improved by incorporating next-generation climate models, by closer examination of extreme events and longer-term change, and by addressing the interactions among hydropower and other water uses.« less

Economic implications of climate-driven trends in global hydropower generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, S. W. D.; Galelli, S.; Hejazi, M. I.; Clarke, L.; Edmonds, J.; Kim, S. H.

2017-12-01

Recent progress in global scale hydrological and dam modeling has allowed for the study of climate change impacts on global hydropower production. Here we explore how these impacts could affect the composition of global electricity supply, and what those changes could mean for power sector emissions and investment needs in the 21st century. Regional hydropower projections are developed for two emissions scenarios by forcing a coupled global hydrological and dam model (1593 major hydropower dams; 54% global installed capacity) with downscaled, bias-corrected climate realizations derived from sixteen General Circulation Models (GCMs). To incorporate possible non-linearity in hydropower response to climate change, dam simulations incorporate plant specifications (e.g., maximum turbine flow), reservoir storage dynamics, reservoir bathymetry, evaporation losses and bespoke, site specific operations. Consequent impacts on regional and global-level electricity generation and associated emissions and investment costs are examined using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). We show that changes in hydropower generation resulting from climate change can shift power demands onto and away from carbon intensive technologies, resulting in significant impacts on CO2 emissions for several regions. Many of these countries are also highly vulnerable to investment impacts (costs of new electricity generating facilities to make up for shortfalls in hydro), which in some cases amount to tens of billions of dollars by 2100. The Balkans region—typified by weak economies in a drying region that relies heavily on hydropower—emerges as the most vulnerable. Reduced impacts of climate change on hydropower production under a low emissions scenario coincide with increased costs of marginal power generating capacity (low emissions requires greater uptake of clean generating technologies, which are more expensive). This means impacts on power sector investment costs are similar for high

The influence of climate change on Tanzania's hydropower sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sperna Weiland, Frederiek; Boehlert, Brent; Meijer, Karen; Schellekens, Jaap; Magnell, Jan-Petter; Helbrink, Jakob; Kassana, Leonard; Liden, Rikard

2015-04-01

Economic costs induced by current climate variability are large for Tanzania and may further increase due to future climate change. The Tanzanian National Climate Change Strategy addressed the need for stabilization of hydropower generation and strengthening of water resources management. Increased hydropower generation can contribute to sustainable use of energy resources and stabilization of the national electricity grid. To support Tanzania the World Bank financed this study in which the impact of climate change on the water resources and related hydropower generation capacity of Tanzania is assessed. To this end an ensemble of 78 GCM projections from both the CMIP3 and CMIP5 datasets was bias-corrected and down-scaled to 0.5 degrees resolution following the BCSD technique using the Princeton Global Meteorological Forcing Dataset as a reference. To quantify the hydrological impacts of climate change by 2035 the global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB was set-up for Tanzania at a resolution of 3 minutes and run with all 78 GCM datasets. From the full set of projections a probable (median) and worst case scenario (95th percentile) were selected based upon (1) the country average Climate Moisture Index and (2) discharge statistics of relevance to hydropower generation. Although precipitation from the Princeton dataset shows deviations from local station measurements and the global hydrological model does not perfectly reproduce local scale hydrographs, the main discharge characteristics and precipitation patterns are represented well. The modeled natural river flows were adjusted for water demand and irrigation within the water resources model RIBASIM (both historical values and future scenarios). Potential hydropower capacity was assessed with the power market simulation model PoMo-C that considers both reservoir inflows obtained from RIBASIM and overall electricity generation costs. Results of the study show that climate change is unlikely to negatively affect the

Addressing biogenic greenhouse gas emissions from hydropower in LCA.

PubMed

Hertwich, Edgar G

2013-09-03

The ability of hydropower to contribute to climate change mitigation is sometimes questioned, citing emissions of methane and carbon dioxide resulting from the degradation of biogenic carbon in hydropower reservoirs. These emissions are, however, not always addressed in life cycle assessment, leading to a bias in technology comparisons, and often misunderstood. The objective of this paper is to review and analyze the generation of greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs for the purpose of technology assessment, relating established emission measurements to power generation. A literature review, data collection, and statistical analysis of methane and CO2 emissions are conducted. In a sample of 82 measurements, methane emissions per kWh hydropower generated are log-normally distributed, ranging from micrograms to 10s of kg. A multivariate regression analysis shows that the reservoir area per kWh electricity is the most important explanatory variable. Methane emissions flux per reservoir area are correlated with the natural net primary production of the area, the age of the power plant, and the inclusion of bubbling emissions in the measurement. Even together, these factors fail to explain most of the variation in the methane flux. The global average emissions from hydropower are estimated to be 85 gCO2/kWh and 3 gCH4/kWh, with a multiplicative uncertainty factor of 2. GHG emissions from hydropower can be largely avoided by ceasing to build hydropower plants with high land use per unit of electricity generated.

Exemplary Design Envelope Specification for Standard Modular Hydropower Technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Witt, Adam M.; Smith, Brennan T.; Tsakiris, Achilleas

Hydropower is an established, affordable renewable energy generation technology supplying nearly 18% of the electricity consumed globally. A hydropower facility interacts continuously with the surrounding water resource environment, causing alterations of varying magnitude in the natural flow of water, energy, fish, sediment, and recreation upstream and downstream. A universal challenge in facility design is balancing the extraction of useful energy and power system services from a stream with the need to maintain ecosystem processes and natural environmental function. On one hand, hydroelectric power is a carbon-free, renewable, and flexible asset to the power system. On the other, the disruption ofmore » longitudinal connectivity and the artificial barrier to aquatic movement created by hydraulic structures can produce negative impacts that stress fresh water environments. The growing need for carbon-free, reliable, efficient distributed energy sources suggests there is significant potential for hydropower projects that can deploy with low installed costs, enhanced ecosystem service offerings, and minimal disruptions of the stream environment.« less

Data-Based Performance Assessments for the DOE Hydropower Advancement Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

March, Patrick; Wolff, Dr. Paul; Smith, Brennan T

2012-01-01

The U. S. Department of Energy s Hydropower Advancement Project (HAP) was initiated to characterize and trend hydropower asset conditions across the U.S.A. s existing hydropower fleet and to identify and evaluate the upgrading opportunities. Although HAP includes both detailed performance assessments and condition assessments of existing hydropower plants, this paper focuses on the performance assessments. Plant performance assessments provide a set of statistics and indices that characterize the historical extent to which each plant has converted the potential energy at a site into electrical energy for the power system. The performance metrics enable benchmarking and trending of performance acrossmore » many projects in a variety contexts (e.g., river systems, power systems, and water availability). During FY2011 and FY2012, assessments will be performed on ten plants, with an additional fifty plants scheduled for FY2013. This paper focuses on the performance assessments completed to date, details the performance assessment process, and describes results from the performance assessments.« less

Climate impacts on hydropower and consequences for global electricity supply investment needs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turner, Sean W. D.; Hejazi, Mohamad; Kim, Son H.

Recent progress in global scale hydrological and dam modeling has allowed for the study of climate change impacts on global hydropower production. Here we explore the possible consequences of these impacts for the electricity supply sector. Regional hydropower projections are developed for two emissions scenarios by forcing a coupled global hydrological and dam model with downscaled, bias-corrected climate realizations derived from sixteen general circulation models. Consequent impacts on power sector composition and associated emissions and investment costs are explored using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). Changes in hydropower generation resulting from climate change can shift power demands onto andmore » away from carbon intensive technologies, resulting in significant impacts on power sector CO2 emissions for certain world regions—primarily those located in Latin America, as well as Canada and parts of Europe. Reduced impacts of climate change on hydropower production under a low emissions scenario coincide with increased costs of marginal power generating capacity—meaning impacts on power sector investment costs are similar for high and low emissions scenarios. Individual countries where impacts on investment costs imply significant risks or opportunities are identified.« less

78 FR 58535 - Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013; Supplemental Notice of Workshop

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-24

... license for hydropower development at non-powered dams and closed-loop pumped storage projects in... for licensing hydropower development at non-powered dams and closed-loop pumped storage projects... closed- loop pumped storage) affect the steps included in a two-year process? 3.9 Should there be a...

China’s rising hydropower demand challenges water sector

PubMed Central

Liu, Junguo; Zhao, Dandan; Gerbens-Leenes, P. W.; Guan, Dabo

2015-01-01

Demand for hydropower is increasing, yet the water footprints (WFs) of reservoirs and hydropower, and their contributions to water scarcity, are poorly understood. Here, we calculate reservoir WFs (freshwater that evaporates from reservoirs) and hydropower WFs (the WF of hydroelectricity) in China based on data from 875 representative reservoirs (209 with power plants). In 2010, the reservoir WF totaled 27.9 × 109 m3 (Gm3), or 22% of China’s total water consumption. Ignoring the reservoir WF seriously underestimates human water appropriation. The reservoir WF associated with industrial, domestic and agricultural WFs caused water scarcity in 6 of the 10 major Chinese river basins from 2 to 12 months annually. The hydropower WF was 6.6 Gm3 yr−1 or 3.6 m3 of water to produce a GJ (109 J) of electricity. Hydropower is a water intensive energy carrier. As a response to global climate change, the Chinese government has promoted a further increase in hydropower energy by 70% by 2020 compared to 2012. This energy policy imposes pressure on available freshwater resources and increases water scarcity. The water-energy nexus requires strategic and coordinated implementations of hydropower development among geographical regions, as well as trade-off analysis between rising energy demand and water use sustainability. PMID:26158871

Determining the effect of key climate drivers on global hydropower production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galelli, S.; Ng, J. Y.; Lee, D.; Block, P. J.

2017-12-01

Accounting for about 17% of total global electrical power production, hydropower is arguably the world's main renewable energy source and a key asset to meet Paris climate agreements. A key component of hydropower production is water availability, which depends on both precipitation and multiple drivers of climate variability acting at different spatial and temporal scales. To understand how these drivers impact global hydropower production, we study the relation between four patterns of ocean-atmosphere climate variability (i.e., El Niño Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation) and monthly time series of electrical power production for over 1,500 hydropower reservoirs—obtained via simulation with a high-fidelity dam model forced with 20th century climate conditions. Notably significant relationships between electrical power productions and climate variability are found in many climate sensitive regions globally, including North and South America, East Asia, West Africa, and Europe. Coupled interactions from multiple, simultaneous climate drivers are also evaluated. Finally, we highlight the importance of using these climate drivers as an additional source of information within reservoir operating rules where the skillful predictability of inflow exists.

75 FR 18193 - Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-09

... Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Motions To Intervene and... No.: 12626-002. c. Date filed: March 31, 2009. d. Applicant: Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC. e... Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r). h. Applicant Contact: Damon Zdunich, Northern Illinois Hydropower...

Performance assessment of deterministic and probabilistic weather predictions for the short-term optimization of a tropical hydropower reservoir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mainardi Fan, Fernando; Schwanenberg, Dirk; Alvarado, Rodolfo; Assis dos Reis, Alberto; Naumann, Steffi; Collischonn, Walter

2016-04-01

Hydropower is the most important electricity source in Brazil. During recent years, it accounted for 60% to 70% of the total electric power supply. Marginal costs of hydropower are lower than for thermal power plants, therefore, there is a strong economic motivation to maximize its share. On the other hand, hydropower depends on the availability of water, which has a natural variability. Its extremes lead to the risks of power production deficits during droughts and safety issues in the reservoir and downstream river reaches during flood events. One building block of the proper management of hydropower assets is the short-term forecast of reservoir inflows as input for an online, event-based optimization of its release strategy. While deterministic forecasts and optimization schemes are the established techniques for the short-term reservoir management, the use of probabilistic ensemble forecasts and stochastic optimization techniques receives growing attention and a number of researches have shown its benefit. The present work shows one of the first hindcasting and closed-loop control experiments for a multi-purpose hydropower reservoir in a tropical region in Brazil. The case study is the hydropower project (HPP) Três Marias, located in southeast Brazil. The HPP reservoir is operated with two main objectives: (i) hydroelectricity generation and (ii) flood control at Pirapora City located 120 km downstream of the dam. In the experiments, precipitation forecasts based on observed data, deterministic and probabilistic forecasts with 50 ensemble members of the ECMWF are used as forcing of the MGB-IPH hydrological model to generate streamflow forecasts over a period of 2 years. The online optimization depends on a deterministic and multi-stage stochastic version of a model predictive control scheme. Results for the perfect forecasts show the potential benefit of the online optimization and indicate a desired forecast lead time of 30 days. In comparison, the use of

Optimizing Hydropower Day-Ahead Scheduling for the Oroville-Thermalito Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veselka, T. D.; Mahalik, M.

2012-12-01

Under an award from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Water Power Program, a team of national laboratories is developing and demonstrating a suite of advanced, integrated analytical tools to assist managers and planners increase hydropower resources while enhancing the environment. As part of the project, Argonne National Laboratory is developing the Conventional Hydropower Energy and Environmental Systems (CHEERS) model to optimize day-ahead scheduling and real-time operations. We will present the application of CHEERS to the Oroville-Thermalito Project located in Northern California. CHEERS will aid California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) schedulers in making decisions about unit commitments and turbine-level operating points using a system-wide approach to increase hydropower efficiency and the value of power generation and ancillary services. The model determines schedules and operations that are constrained by physical limitations, characteristics of plant components, operational preferences, reliability, and environmental considerations. The optimization considers forebay and afterbay implications, interactions between cascaded power plants, turbine efficiency curves and rough zones, and operator preferences. CHEERS simultaneously considers over time the interactions among all CDWR power and water resources, hydropower economics, reservoir storage limitations, and a set of complex environmental constraints for the Thermalito Afterbay and Feather River habitats. Power marketers, day-ahead schedulers, and plant operators provide system configuration and detailed operational data, along with feedback on model design and performance. CHEERS is integrated with CDWR data systems to obtain historic and initial conditions of the system as the basis from which future operations are then optimized. Model results suggest alternative operational regimes that improve the value of CDWR resources to the grid while

Water, energy and agricultural landuse trends at Shiroro hydropower station and environs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adegun, Olubunmi; Ajayi, Olalekan; Badru, Gbolahan; Odunuga, Shakirudeen

2018-02-01

The study examines the interplay among water resources, hydropower generation and agricultural landuse at the Shiroro hydropower station and its environs, in north-central Nigeria. Non-parametric trend analysis, hydropower footprint estimation, reservoir performance analysis, change detection analysis, and inferential statistics were combined to study the water-energy and food security nexus. Results of Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator for the period 1960 to 2013 showed a declining rainfall trend at Jos, around River Kaduna headwaters at -2.6 mm yr-1, while rainfall at Kaduna and Minna upstream and downstream of the reservoir respectively showed no trend. Estimates of hydropower footprint varied between 130.4 and 704.1 m3 GJ-1 between 1995 and 2013. Power generation reliability and resilience of the reservoir was 31.6 and 38.5 % respectively with year 2011 being the most vulnerable and least satisfactory. In addition to poor reliability and resilience indices, other challenges militating against good performance of hydropower generation includes population growth and climate change issues as exemplified in the downward trend observed at the headwaters. Water inflow and power generation shows a weak positive relationship with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.48, indicating less than optimal power generation. Total area of land cultivated increased from 884.59 km2 in 1986 prior to the commissioning of the hydropower station to 1730.83 km2 in 2016 which signifies an increased contribution of the dam to ensuring food security. The reality of reducing upstream rainfall amount coupled with high water footprint of electricity from the reservoir, therefore requires that a long term roadmap to improve operational coordination and management have to be put in place.

Small Hydropower in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hadjerioua, Boualem; Johnson, Kurt

Small hydropower, defined in this report as hydropower with a generating capacity of up to 10 MW typically built using existing dams, pipelines, and canals has substantial opportunity for growth. Existing small hydropower comprises about 75% of the current US hydropower fleet in terms of number of plants. The economic feasibility of developing new small hydropower projects has substantially improved recently, making small hydropower the type of new hydropower development most likely to occur. In 2013, Congress unanimously approved changes to simplify federal permitting requirements for small hydropower, lowering costs and reducing the amount of time required to receive federalmore » approvals. In 2014, Congress funded a new federal incentive payment program for hydropower, currently worth approximately 1.5 cents/kWh. Federal and state grant and loan programs for small hydropower are becoming available. Pending changes in federal climate policy could benefit all renewable energy sources, including small hydropower. Notwithstanding remaining barriers, development of new small hydropower is expected to accelerate in response to recent policy changes.« less

Complementing hydropower with PV and wind: optimal energy mix in a fully renewable Switzerland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dujardin, Jérôme; Kahl, Annelen; Kruyt, Bert; Lehning, Michael

2017-04-01

Like several other countries, Switzerland plans to phase out its nuclear power production and will replace most or all of it by renewables. Switzerland has the chance to benefit from a large hydropower potential and has already exploited almost all of it. Currently about 60% of the Swiss electricity consumption is covered by hydropower, which will eventually leave a gap of about 40% to the other renewables mainly composed of photovoltaics (PV) and wind. With its high flexibility, storage hydropower will play a major role in the future energy mix, providing valuable power and energy balance. Our work focuses on the interplay between PV, wind and storage hydropower, to analyze the dynamics of this complex system and to identify the best PV-wind mixing ratio. Given the current electricity consumption and the currently installed pumping capacity of the storage hydropower plants, it appears that the Swiss hydropower system can completely alleviate the intermittency of PV and wind. However, some seasonal mismatch between production and demand will remain, but we show that oversizing the production from PV and wind or enlarging the reservoir capacity can be a solution to keep it to an acceptable level or even eliminate it. We found that PV, wind and hydropower performs the best together when the share of PV in the solar - wind mix is between 20 and 60%. These findings are quantitatively specific for Switzerland but qualitatively transferable to similar mountainous environments with abundant hydropower resources.

The future of hydropower planning modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haas, J.; Zuñiga, D.; Nowak, W.; Olivares, M. A.; Castelletti, A.; Thilmant, A.

2017-12-01

Planning the investment and operation of hydropower plants with optimization tools dates back to the 1970s. The focus used to be solely on the provision of energy. However, advances in computational capacity and solving algorithms, dynamic markets, expansion of renewable sources, and a better understanding of hydropower environmental impacts have recently led to the development of novel planning approaches. In this work, we provide a review, systematization, and trend analysis of these approaches. Further, through interviews with experts, we outline the future of hydropower planning modeling and identify the gaps towards it. We classified the found models along environmental, economic, multipurpose and technical criteria. Environmental interactions include hydropeaking mitigation, water quality protection and limiting greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs. Economic and regulatory criteria consider uncertainties of fossil fuel prices and relicensing of water rights and power purchase agreements. Multipurpose considerations account for irrigation, tourism, flood protection and drinking water. Recently included technical details account for sedimentation in reservoirs and variable efficiencies of turbines. Additional operational considerations relate to hydrological aspects such as dynamic reservoir inflows, water losses, and climate change. Although many of the above criteria have been addressed in detail on a project-to-project basis, models remain overly simplistic for planning large power fleets. Future hydropower planning tools are expected to improve the representation of the water-energy nexus, including environmental and multipurpose criteria. Further, they will concentrate on identifying new sources of operational flexibility (e.g. through installing additional turbines and pumps) for integrating renewable energy. The operational detail will increase, potentially emphasizing variable efficiencies, storage capacity losses due to sedimentation, and the

Watering Down Barriers to Using Hydropower through Fisheries Research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ham, Ken

Much of our work on clean energy is targeted at improving performance of hydropower, the largest source of renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest and the nation. PNNL experts in hydropower—from computer scientists to biologists and engineers—are helping to optimize the efficiency and environmental performance of hydroelectric plants. The Columbia River is the nation’s most important hydropower resource, producing 40 percent of the nation’s hydroelectric generation and up to 70 percent of the region’s power. At PNNL, Fisheries Biologist Ken Ham and others are working with stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest, the Army Corps of Engineers and DOE to ensuremore » that this resource continues to provide its many benefits while setting a new standard for environmental sustainability. As aging turbines are replaced in existing hydropower dams, computational modeling and state-of-the-art fisheries research combine to aid the design of a next-generation hydro turbine that meets or exceeds current biological performance standards and produces more power.« less

Climate impacts on hydropower and consequences for global electricity supply investment needs

DOE PAGES

Turner, Sean W. D.; Hejazi, Mohamad; Kim, Son H.; ...

2017-11-15

Climate change is projected to increase hydropower generation in some parts of the world and decrease it in others. Here we explore the possible consequences of these impacts for the electricity supply sector at the global scale. Regional hydropower projections are developed by forcing a coupled global hydrological and dam model with downscaled, bias-corrected climate realizations. Consequent impacts on power sector composition and associated emissions and investment costs are explored using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). We find that climate-driven changes in hydropower generation may shift power demands onto and away from carbon intensive technologies. This then causes significantlymore » altered power sector CO 2 emissions in several hydro-dependent regions, although the net global impact is modest. For drying regions, we estimate a global, cumulative investment need of approximately one trillion dollars (±$500 billion) this century to make up for deteriorated hydropower generation caused by climate change. Total investments avoided are of a similar magnitude across regions projected to experience increased precipitation. Investment risks and opportunities are concentrated in hydro-dependent countries for which significant climate change is expected. Various countries throughout the Balkans, Latin America and Southern Africa are most vulnerable, whilst Norway, Canada, and Bhutan emerge as clear beneficiaries.« less

Climate impacts on hydropower and consequences for global electricity supply investment needs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turner, Sean W. D.; Hejazi, Mohamad; Kim, Son H.

Climate change is projected to increase hydropower generation in some parts of the world and decrease it in others. Here we explore the possible consequences of these impacts for the electricity supply sector at the global scale. Regional hydropower projections are developed by forcing a coupled global hydrological and dam model with downscaled, bias-corrected climate realizations. Consequent impacts on power sector composition and associated emissions and investment costs are explored using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). We find that climate-driven changes in hydropower generation may shift power demands onto and away from carbon intensive technologies. This then causes significantlymore » altered power sector CO 2 emissions in several hydro-dependent regions, although the net global impact is modest. For drying regions, we estimate a global, cumulative investment need of approximately one trillion dollars (±$500 billion) this century to make up for deteriorated hydropower generation caused by climate change. Total investments avoided are of a similar magnitude across regions projected to experience increased precipitation. Investment risks and opportunities are concentrated in hydro-dependent countries for which significant climate change is expected. Various countries throughout the Balkans, Latin America and Southern Africa are most vulnerable, whilst Norway, Canada, and Bhutan emerge as clear beneficiaries.« less

The Second Assessment of the Effects of Climate Change on Federal Hydropower

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kao, Shih-Chieh; Ashfaq, Moetasim; Naz, Bibi S.

Hydropower is a key contributor to the US renewable energy portfolio due to its established development history and the diverse benefits it provides to the electric power system. Ensuring the sustainable operation of existing hydropower facilities is of great importance to the US renewable energy portfolio and the reliability of electricity grid. As directed by Congress in Section 9505 of the SECURE Water Act (SWA) of 2009 (Public Law 111-11), the US Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with the federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) and other federal agencies, has prepared a second quinquennial report on examining the potential effectsmore » of climate change on water available for hydropower at federal facilities and on the marketing of power from these federal facilities. This Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Technical Memorandum, referred to as the 9505 assessment, describes the technical basis for the report to Congress that was called for in the SWA. To evaluate the potential climate change effects on 132 federal hydropower plants across the entire US, a spatially consistent assessment approach is designed to enable an interregional comparison. This assessment uses a series of models and methods with different spatial resolutions to gradually downscale the global climate change signals into watershed-scale hydrologic projections to support hydropower impact assessment. A variety of historic meteorological and hydrologic observations, hydropower facility characteristics, and geospatial datasets is collected to support model development, calibration, and verification. Among most of the federal hydropower plants throughout the US, the most important climate change effect on hydrology is likely to be the trend toward earlier snowmelt and change of runoff seasonality. Under the projections of increasing winter/spring runoff and decreasing summer/fall runoff, water resource managers may need to consider different water use allocations. With the

Steady and transient regimes in hydropower plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gajic, A.

2013-12-01

Hydropower plant that has been in operation for about 30 years has to be reconstructed. They have already installed 12 Kaplan turbines, the largest in the world at that time. The existing CAM relationship was determined based on hydraulic model tests and checked by efficiency on-site tests. It was also tested based on turbine bearing vibrations. In order to discover vibrations and long cracks on stay vanes detailed on-site measurements were performed. Influence of the modification of the trailing edges on the dynamic stresses of the stay vanes is also shown. In order to improve power output transient regimes were analyzed, both experimentally and numerically. Reversible hydropower plant, a pioneer in Europe since it was the first Pump storage power plant constructed with the highest head pump-turbines in the world. Analyses of transient regimes discover some problems with S-shaped characteristics coupled with non-symmetrical penstock.

Water Power Research | Water Power | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Water Power Research Water Power Research NREL conducts water power research; develops design tools Columbia River, Washington. Hydropower Research Hydropower technologies convert the energy of water moving ; and evaluates, validates, and supports the demonstration of innovative water power technologies. Photo

Sensitivity of Regional Hydropower Generation to the Projected Changes in Future Watershed Hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kao, S. C.; Naz, B. S.; Gangrade, S.

2015-12-01

Hydropower is a key contributor to the renewable energy portfolio due to its established development history and the diverse benefits it provides to the electric power systems. With the projected change in the future watershed hydrology, including shift of snowmelt timing, increasing occurrence of extreme precipitation, and change in drought frequencies, there is a need to investigate how the regional hydropower generation may change correspondingly. To evaluate the sensitivity of watershed storage and hydropower generation to future climate change, a lumped Watershed Runoff-Energy Storage (WRES) model is developed to simulate the annual and seasonal hydropower generation at various hydropower areas in the United States. For each hydropower study area, the WRES model use the monthly precipitation and naturalized (unregulated) runoff as inputs to perform a runoff mass balance calculation for the total monthly runoff storage in all reservoirs and retention facilities in the watershed, and simulate the monthly regulated runoff release and hydropower generation through the system. The WRES model is developed and calibrated using the historic (1980-2009) monthly precipitation, runoff, and generation data, and then driven by a large set of dynamically- and statistically-downscaled Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 climate projections to simulate the change of watershed storage and hydropower generation under different future climate scenarios. The results among different hydropower regions, storage capacities, emission scenarios, and timescales are compared and discussed in this study.

Hydropower assessment of Bolivia—A multisource satellite data and hydrologic modeling approach

USGS Publications Warehouse

Velpuri, Naga Manohar; Pervez, Shahriar; Cushing, W. Matthew

2016-11-28

This study produced a geospatial database for use in a decision support system by the Bolivian authorities to investigate further development and investment potentials in sustainable hydropower in Bolivia. The study assessed theoretical hydropower of all 1-kilometer (km) stream segments in the country using multisource satellite data and a hydrologic modeling approach. With the assessment covering the 2 million square kilometer (km2) region influencing Bolivia’s drainage network, the potential hydropower figures are based on theoretical yield assuming that the systems generating the power are 100 percent efficient. There are several factors to consider when determining the real-world or technical power potential of a hydropower system, and these factors can vary depending on local conditions. Since this assessment covers a large area, it was necessary to reduce these variables to the two that can be modeled consistently throughout the region, streamflow or discharge, and elevation drop or head. First, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission high-resolution 30-meter (m) digital elevation model was used to identify stream segments with greater than 10 km2 of upstream drainage. We applied several preconditioning processes to the 30-m digital elevation model to reduce errors and improve the accuracy of stream delineation and head height estimation. A total of 316,500 1-km stream segments were identified and used in this study to assess the total theoretical hydropower potential of Bolivia. Precipitation observations from a total of 463 stations obtained from the Bolivian Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (Bolivian National Meteorology and Hydrology Service) and the Brazilian Agência Nacional de Águas (Brazilian National Water Agency) were used to validate six different gridded precipitation estimates for Bolivia obtained from various sources. Validation results indicated that gridded precipitation estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

Enhancing water quality in hydropower system operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayes, Donald F.; Labadie, John W.; Sanders, Thomas G.; Brown, Jackson K.

1998-03-01

The quality of impounded waters often degrades over time because of thermal stratification, sediment oxygen demands, and accumulation of pollutants. Consequently, reservoir releases impact water quality in tailwaters, channels, and other downstream water bodies. Low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in the Cumberland River below Old Hickory dam result from stratification of upstream reservoirs and seasonally low release rates. Operational changes in upstream hydropower reservoirs may be one method to increase DO levels without substantially impacting existing project purposes. A water quality model of the upper Cumberland basin is integrated into an optimal control algorithm to evaluate water quality improvement opportunities through operational modifications. The integrated water quantity/quality model maximizes hydropower revenues, subject to various flow and headwater operational restrictions for satisfying multiple project purposes, as well as maintenance of water quality targets. Optimal daily reservoir release policies are determined for the summer drawdown period which increase DO concentrations under stratification conditions with minimal impact on hydropower production and other project purposes. Appendixes A-D available with entire article on microfiche. Order by mail from AGU, 2000 Florida Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20009 or by phone at 800-966-2481; $2.50. Document W97-003. Payment must accompany order.

76 FR 6459 - Mahoning Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-04

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 13954-000] Mahoning Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments... Hydropower, LLC filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power...

76 FR 7838 - Mahoning Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-11

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 13953-000] Mahoning Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments... Hydropower, LLC filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power...

Efficient Operation of a Multi-purpose Reservoir in Chile: Integration of Economic Water Value for Irrigation and Hydropower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olivares, M. A.; Gonzalez Cabrera, J. M., Sr.; Moreno, R.

2016-12-01

Operation of hydropower reservoirs in Chile is prescribed by an Independent Power System Operator. This study proposes a methodology that integrates power grid operations planning with basin-scale multi-use reservoir operations planning. The aim is to efficiently manage a multi-purpose reservoir, in which hydroelectric generation is competing with other water uses, most notably irrigation. Hydropower and irrigation are competing water uses due to a seasonality mismatch. Currently, the operation of multi-purpose reservoirs with substantial power capacity is prescribed as the result of a grid-wide cost-minimization model which takes irrigation requirements as constraints. We propose advancing in the economic co-optimization of reservoir water use for irrigation and hydropower at the basin level, by explicitly introducing the economic value of water for irrigation represented by a demand function for irrigation water. The proposed methodology uses the solution of a long-term grid-wide operations planning model, a stochastic dual dynamic program (SDDP), to obtain the marginal benefit function for water use in hydropower. This marginal benefit corresponds to the energy price in the power grid as a function of the water availability in the reservoir and the hydrologic scenarios. This function allows capture technical and economic aspects to the operation of hydropower reservoir in the power grid and is generated with the dual variable of the power-balance constraint, the optimal reservoir operation and the hydrologic scenarios used in SDDP. The economic value of water for irrigation and hydropower are then integrated into a basin scale stochastic dynamic program, from which stored water value functions are derived. These value functions are then used to re-optimize reservoir operations under several inflow scenarios.

Thermoelectric power generator for variable thermal power source

DOEpatents

Bell, Lon E; Crane, Douglas Todd

2015-04-14

Traditional power generation systems using thermoelectric power generators are designed to operate most efficiently for a single operating condition. The present invention provides a power generation system in which the characteristics of the thermoelectrics, the flow of the thermal power, and the operational characteristics of the power generator are monitored and controlled such that higher operation efficiencies and/or higher output powers can be maintained with variably thermal power input. Such a system is particularly beneficial in variable thermal power source systems, such as recovering power from the waste heat generated in the exhaust of combustion engines.

Using Conventional Hydropower to Help Alleviate Variable Resource Grid Integration Challenges in the Western U.S

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veselka, T. D.; Poch, L.

2011-12-01

Integrating high penetration levels of wind and solar energy resources into the power grid is a formidable challenge in virtually all interconnected systems due to the fact that supply and demand must remain in balance at all times. Since large scale electricity storage is currently not economically viable, generation must exactly match electricity demand plus energy losses in the system as time unfolds. Therefore, as generation from variable resources such as wind and solar fluctuate, production from generating resources that are easier to control and dispatch need to compensate for these fluctuations while at the same time respond to both instantaneous change in load and follow daily load profiles. The grid in the Western U.S. is not exempt to grid integration challenges associated with variable resources. However, one advantage that the power system in the Western U.S. has over many other regional power systems is that its footprint contains an abundance of hydropower resources. Hydropower plants, especially those that have reservoir water storage, can physically change electricity production levels very quickly both via a dispatcher and through automatic generation control. Since hydropower response time is typically much faster than other dispatchable resources such as steam or gas turbines, it is well suited to alleviate variable resource grid integration issues. However, despite an abundance of hydropower resources and the current low penetration of variable resources in the Western U.S., problems have already surfaced. This spring in the Pacific Northwest, wetter than normal hydropower conditions in combination with transmission constraints resulted in controversial wind resource shedding. This action was taken since water spilling would have increased dissolved oxygen levels downstream of dams thereby significantly degrading fish habitats. The extent to which hydropower resources will be able to contribute toward a stable and reliable Western grid is

Hydro-power production and fish habitat suitability: Assessing impact and effectiveness of ecological flows at regional scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceola, Serena; Pugliese, Alessio; Ventura, Matteo; Galeati, Giorgio; Montanari, Alberto; Castellarin, Attilio

2018-06-01

Anthropogenic activities along streams and rivers may be of major concern for fluvial ecosystems, e.g. abstraction and impoundment of surface water resources may profoundly alter natural streamflow regimes. An established approach aimed at preserving the behavior and distribution of fluvial species relies on the definition of ecological flows (e-flows) downstream of dams and diversion structures. E-flow prescriptions are usually set by basin authorities at regional scale, often without a proper assessment of their impact and effectiveness. On the contrary, we argue that e-flows should be identified on the basis of (i) regional and (ii) quantitative assessments. We focus on central Italy and evaluate the effects on habitat suitability of two near-threatened fish species (i.e. Barbel and Chub) and an existing hydro-power network when shifting from the current time-invariant e-flow policy to a tighter and seasonally-varying soon-to-be-enforced one. Our example clearly shows that: (a) quantitative regional scale assessments are viable even when streamflow observations are entirely missing at study sites; (b) aprioristic e-flows policies may impose releases that exceed natural streamflows for significantly long time intervals (weeks, or months); (c) unduly tightening e-flow policies may heavily impact regional hydro-power productivity (15% and 42% losses on annual and seasonal basis, respectively), yet resulting in either marginal or negligible improvements of fluvial ecosystem.

75 FR 8320 - Coastal Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-24

... Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Competing Applications February 18, 2010. On November 5, 2009, Coastal Hydropower LLC filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act...

78 FR 69080 - Houtama Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-18

... Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Competing Applications On August 14, 2013, Houtama Hydropower LLC filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), proposing to...

Asynchrony of wind and hydropower resources in Australia.

PubMed

Gunturu, Udaya Bhaskar; Hallgren, Willow

2017-08-18

Wind and hydropower together constitute nearly 80% of the renewable capacity in Australia and their resources are collocated. We show that wind and hydro generation capacity factors covary negatively at the interannual time scales. Thus, the technology diversity mitigates the variability of renewable power generation at the interannual scales. The asynchrony of wind and hydropower resources is explained by the differential impact of the two modes of the El Ni˜no Southern Oscillation - canonical and Modoki - on the wind and hydro resources. Also, the Modoki El Ni˜no and the Modoki La Ni˜na phases have greater impact. The seasonal impact patterns corroborate these results. As the proportion of wind power increases in Australia's energy mix, this negative covariation has implications for storage capacity of excess wind generation at short time scales and for generation system adequacy at the longer time scales.

Hydrogen production at hydro-power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarnay, D. S.

A tentative design for hydrogen-producing installations at hydropower facilities is discussed from technological, economic and applications viewpoints. The plants would use alternating current to electrolyze purified river water. The hydrogen would be stored in gas or liquid form and oxygen would be sold or vented to the atmosphere. The hydrogen could later be burned in a turbine generator for meeting peak loads, either in closed or open cycle systems. The concept would allow large hydroelectric plants to function in both base- and peak-load modes, thus increasing the hydraulic utilization of the plant and the capacity factor to a projected 0.90. Electrolyzer efficiencies ranging from 0.85-0.90 have been demonstrated. Excess hydrogen can be sold for other purposes or, eventually, as domestic and industrial fuel, at prices competitive with current industrial hydrogen.

Alpine hydropower in a low carbon economy: Assessing the local implication of global policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anghileri, Daniela; Castelletti, Andrea; Burlando, Paolo

2016-04-01

In the global transition towards a more efficient and low-carbon economy, renewable energy plays a major role in displacing fossil fuels, meeting global energy demand while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In Europe, Variable Renewable Sources (VRS), such as wind and solar power sources, are becoming a relevant share of the generation portfolios in many countries. Beside the indisputable social and environmental advantages of VRS, on the short medium term the VRS-induced lowering energy prices and increasing price's volatility might challenge traditional power sources and, among them, hydropower production, because of smaller incomes and higher maintenance costs associated to a more flexible operation of power systems. In this study, we focus on the Swiss hydropower sector analysing how different low-carbon targets and strategies established at the Swiss and European level might affect energy price formation and thus impact - through hydropower operation - water availability and ecosystems services at the catchment scale. We combine a hydrological model to simulate future water availability and an electricity market model to simulate future evolution of energy prices based on official Swiss and European energy roadmaps and CO2 price trends in the European Union. We use Multi-Objective optimization techniques to design alternative hydropower reservoir operation strategies, aiming to maximise the hydropower companies' income or to provide reliable energy supply with respect to the energy demand. This integrated model allows analysing to which extent global low-carbon policies impact reservoir operation at the local scale, and to gain insight on how to prioritise compensation measures and/or adaptation strategies to mitigate the impact of VRS on hydropower companies in increasingly water constrained settings. Numerical results are shown for a real-world case study in the Swiss Alps.

The Economic Benefits Of Multipurpose Reservoirs In The United States- Federal Hydropower Fleet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hadjerioua, Boualem; Witt, Adam M.; Stewart, Kevin M.

The United States is home to over 80,000 dams, of which approximately 3% are equipped with hydroelectric generating capabilities. When a dam serves as a hydropower facility, it provides a variety of energy services that range from clean, reliable power generation to load balancing that supports grid stability. In most cases, the benefits of dams and their associated reservoirs go far beyond supporting the nation s energy demand. As evidenced by the substantial presence of non-powered dams with the ability to store water in large capacities, the primary purpose of a dam may not be hydropower, but rather one ofmore » many other purposes. A dam and reservoir may support navigation, recreation, flood control, irrigation, and water supply, with each multipurpose benefit providing significant social and economic impacts on a local, regional, and national level. When hydropower is one of the services provided by a multipurpose reservoir, it is then part of an integrated system of competing uses. Operating rules, management practices, consumer demands, and environmental constraints must all be balanced to meet the multipurpose project s objectives. When federal dams are built, they are authorized by Congress to serve one or more functions. Legislation such as the Water Resources Development Act regulates the operation of the facility in order to coordinate the authorized uses and ensure the dam s intended objectives are being met. While multipurpose reservoirs account for billions of dollars in contributions to National Economic Development (NED) every year, no attempt has been made to evaluate their benefits on a national scale. This study is an on-going work conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in an effort to estimate the economic benefits of multipurpose hydropower reservoirs in the United States. Given the important role that federal hydropower plays in the U.S., the first focus of this research will target the three main federal hydropower owners Tennessee

Modelling a hydropower plant with reservoir with the micropower optimisation model (HOMER)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canales, Fausto A.; Beluco, Alexandre; Mendes, Carlos André B.

2017-08-01

Hydropower with water accumulation is an interesting option to consider in hybrid systems, because it helps dealing with the intermittence characteristics of renewable energy resources. The software HOMER (version Legacy) is extensively used in research works related to these systems, but it does not include a specific option for modelling hydro with reservoir. This paper describes a method for modelling a hydropower plant with reservoir with HOMER by adapting an existing procedure used for modelling pumped storage. An example with two scenarios in southern Brazil is presented for illustrating and validating the method explained in this paper. The results validate the method by showing a direct correspondence between an equivalent battery and the reservoir. The refill of the reservoir, its power output as a function of the flow rate and installed hydropower capacity are effectively simulated, indicating an adequate representation of a hydropower plant with reservoir is possible with HOMER.

Hydropower resources at risk: The status of hydropower regulation and development - 1997

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hunt, R.T.; Hunt, J.A.

This report documents today`s hydropower licensing and development status based on published data as follows: (a) Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) databases, maintained by FERC`s Office of Hydropower Licensing, of: (1) operating FERC-regulated projects, federal projects, and known unlicensed projects; (2) surrendered licenses; and, (3) recent licensing and relicensing actions; (b) Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on installed capacity and generation from 1949 through 1995 for the various resources used to produce electricity in the U.S.; and, (c) FERC licensing orders, and environmental assessments or environmental impact statements for each individual project relicensed since 1980. The analysis conducted to preparemore » this paper includes the effects of all FERC hydropower licensing actions since 1980, and applies those findings to estimate the costs of hydropower licensing and development activity for the next 15 years. It also quantifies the national cost of hydropower regulation. The future estimates are quite conservative. The are presented in 1996 dollars without speculating on the effects of future inflation, license surrenders, conditions imposed through open-ended license articles, license terms greater than 30 years, or low water years. Instead, they show the most directly predictable influences on licensing outcomes using actual experiences since ECPA (after 1986).« less

Regulation of hydropower: Who is in charge?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molm, J.

1995-12-31

The regulatory, legislative and judicial branches of government all have played a role in twisting and changing FERC`s authority over hydropower. At times authority over hydropower is kept at FERC; at other times it is granted to state or federal agencies. At present, decisions are driven by competing uses of water that require differing flows or quantities of water. It is the highest and best use of the f lows and the quantities that will dictate whether water quantities are used for hydropower or fish habitat. However, that is not where it all started. In First Iowa, the Federal Powermore » Commission ({open_quotes}FPC{close_quotes}) (predecessor to FERC) dismissed a license application solely on the ground of the failure of the license applicant to comply with Iowa statutes. Iowa law provided that no dam could be constructed or operated unless a permit had been issued by a state agency. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Commission deciding that the Iowa statute would vest in an Iowa agency a veto power over a federal project and thereby subordinate the FPC`s comprehensive planning obligation to state control. The Court ruled that there is a separation of those subjects that are under the jurisdiction of the states from those subjects that the Constitution delegates to the United States and over which Congress vests the FPC with authority to act. The Court stated that this {open_quotes}duality does not require two agencies to share in the final decision of the same issue.{close_quotes} Although the Supreme Court ruled that federal jurisdiction is preeminent, it should be underscored that it was the FPC`s decision to defer to state authority in the first place. The Supreme Court decision is a determinations that flows for hydropower purposes should be made by the FPC under authority of the Federal Power Act.« less

State Models to Incentivize and Streamline Small Hydropower Development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Curtis, Taylor; Levine, Aaron; Johnson, Kurt

In 2016, the hydropower fleet in the United States produced more than 6 percent (approximately 265,829 gigawatt-hours [GWh]) of the total net electricity generation. The median-size hydroelectric facility in the United States is 1.6 MW and 75 percent of total facilities have a nameplate capacity of 10 MW or less. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydropower Vision study identified approximately 79 GW hydroelectric potential beyond what is already developed. Much of the potential identified is at low-impact new stream-reaches, existing conduits, and non-powered dams with a median project size of 10 MW or less. To optimize the potential andmore » value of small hydropower development, state governments are crafting policies that provide financial assistance and expedite state and federal review processes for small hydroelectric projects. This report analyzes state-led initiatives and programs that incentivize and streamline small hydroelectric development.« less

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - National Solar Thermal Power Facility

Science.gov Websites

| Concentrating Solar Power | NREL National Solar Thermal Power Facility Status Date: February 13, 2014 Project Overview Project Name: National Solar Thermal Power Facility Country: India Location Capacity (Net): 1.0 MW Output Type: Steam Rankine Thermal Storage Storage Type: None

Enhancing the resiliency of small hydropower projects: environmental function, modularity, and stakeholder elicitation as design priorities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Witt, Adam M; Smith, Brennan T

Small hydropower plants supply reliable renewable energy to the grid, though few new plants have been developed in the Unites States over the past few decades due to complex environmental challenges and poor project economics. This paper describes the current landscape of small hydropower development, and introduces a new approach to facility design that co-optimizes the extraction of hydroelectric power from a stream with other important environmental functions such as fish, sediment, and recreational passage. The approach considers hydropower facilities as an integrated system of standardized interlocking modules, designed to sustain stream functions, generate power, and interface with the streambed.more » It is hypothesized that this modular eco-design approach, when guided by input from the broader small hydropower stakeholder community, can lead to cost savings across the facility, reduced licensing and approval timelines, and ultimately, to enhanced resiliency through improved environmental performance over the lifetime of the project.« less

Operation of hydropower generation systems in the Alps under future climate and socio-economic drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anghileri, Daniela; Castelletti, Andrea; Burlando, Paolo

2015-04-01

Alpine hydropower systems are an important source of renewable energy for many countries in Europe. In Switzerland, for instance, they represent the most important domestic source of renewable energy (around 55%). However, future hydropower production may be threatened by unprecedented challenges, such as a decreasing water availability, due to climate change (CC) and associated glacier retreat, and uncertain operating conditions, such as future power needs and highly fluctuating demand on the energy market. This second aspect has gained increasingly relevance since the massive introduction of solar and wind generating systems in the portfolios of many European countries. Because hydropower systems have the potential to provide backup storage of energy to compensate for fluctuations that are typical, for instance, of solar and wind generation systems, it is important to investigate how the increased demand for flexible operation, together with climate change challenge and fluctuating markets, can impact their operating policies. The Swiss Competence Center on Supply of Electricity (www.sccer-soe.ch) has been recently established to explore new potential paths for the development of future power generation systems. In this context, we develop modelling and optimization tools to design and assess new operation strategies for hydropower systems to increase their reliability, flexibility, and robustness to future operation conditions. In particular, we develop an advanced modelling framework for the integrated simulation of the operation of hydropower plants, which accounts for CC-altered streamflow regimes, new demand and market conditions, as well as new boundary conditions for operation (e.g., aquatic ecosystem conservation). The model construction consists of two primary components: a physically based and spatially distributed hydrological model, which describes the relevant hydrological processes at the basin scale, and an agent based decision model, which

Hydropower generation, flood control and dam cascades: A national assessment for Vietnam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen-Tien, Viet; Elliott, Robert J. R.; Strobl, Eric A.

2018-05-01

Vietnam is a country with diverse terrain and climatic conditions and a dependency on hydropower for a significant proportion of its power needs and as such, is particularly vulnerable to changes in climate. In this paper we apply SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) derived discharge simulation results coupled with regression analysis to estimate the performance of hydropower plants for Vietnam between 1995 and mid-2014 when both power supply and demand increased rapidly. Our approach is to examine the watershed formed from three large inter-boundary basins: The Red River, the Vietnam Coast and the Lower Mekong River, which have a total area of 977,964 km2. We then divide this area into 7,887 sub-basins with an average area of 131.6 km2 (based on level 12 of HydroSHEDS/HydroBASINS datasets) and 53,024 Hydrological Response Units (HRUs). Next we simulate river flow for the 40 largest hydropower plants across Vietnam. Our validation process demonstrates that the simulated flows are significantly correlated with the gauged inflows into these dams and are able to serve as a good proxy for the inflows into hydropower dams in our baseline energy regression, which captures 87.7% of the variation in monthly power generation. In other results we estimate that large dams sacrifice on average around 18.2% of their contemporaneous production for the purpose of flood control. When we assess Vietnam's current alignment of dams we find that the current cascades of large hydropower dams appear to be reasonably efficient: each MWh/day increase in upstream generation adds 0.146 MWh/day to downstream generation. The study provides evidence for the multiple benefits of a national system of large hydropower dams using a cascade design. Such a system may help overcome future adverse impacts from changes in climate conditions. However, our results show that there is still room for improvement in the harmonization of cascades in some basins. Finally, possible adverse hydro

Environmental sustainability assessment of hydropower plant in Europe using life cycle assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmud, M. A. P.; Huda, N.; Farjana, S. H.; Lang, C.

2018-05-01

Hydropower is the oldest and most common type of renewable source of electricity available on this planet. The end of life process of hydropower plant have significant environmental impacts, which needs to be identified and minimized to ensure an environment friendly power generation. However, identifying the environmental impacts and health hazards are very little explored in the hydropower processing routes despite a significant quantity of production worldwide. This paper highlight the life-cycle environmental impact assessment of the reservoir based hydropower generation system located in alpine and non-alpine region of Europe, addressing their ecological effects by the ReCiPe and CML methods under several impact-assessment categories such as human health, ecosystems, global warming potential, acidification potential, etc. The Australasian life-cycle inventory database and SimaPro software are utilized to accumulate life-cycle inventory dataset and to evaluate the impacts. The results reveal that plants of alpine region offer superior environmental performance for couple of considered categories: global warming and photochemical oxidation, whilst in the other cases the outcomes are almost similar. Results obtained from this study will take part an important role in promoting sustainable generation of hydropower, and thus towards environment friendly energy production.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Redstone Solar Thermal Power Plant |

Science.gov Websites

Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Redstone Solar Thermal Power Plant Status Date: September 8 , 2016 Project Overview Project Name: Redstone Solar Thermal Power Plant Country: South Africa Location ): 100.0 MW Turbine Capacity (Net): 100.0 MW Cooling Method: Dry cooling Thermal Storage Storage Type: 2

Environmental Issues Related to Conventional Hydropower

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Deng, Zhiqun; Colotelo, Alison HA; Brown, Richard S.

Hydropower is the largest renewable electrical energy source in the world and has a total global capacity of approximately 1,010 GW from 150 countries. Although hydropower has many environmental advantages, hydropower dams have potential adverse ecological impacts such as fish passage, water quality, and habitat alterations.

Providing security for automated process control systems at hydropower engineering facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasiliev, Y. S.; Zegzhda, P. D.; Zegzhda, D. P.

2016-12-01

This article suggests the concept of a cyberphysical system to manage computer security of automated process control systems at hydropower engineering facilities. According to the authors, this system consists of a set of information processing tools and computer-controlled physical devices. Examples of cyber attacks on power engineering facilities are provided, and a strategy of improving cybersecurity of hydropower engineering systems is suggested. The architecture of the multilevel protection of the automated process control system (APCS) of power engineering facilities is given, including security systems, control systems, access control, encryption, secure virtual private network of subsystems for monitoring and analysis of security events. The distinctive aspect of the approach is consideration of interrelations and cyber threats, arising when SCADA is integrated with the unified enterprise information system.

Chapter 11: Marine and Hydrokinetic Power Generation and Power Plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muljadi, Eduard; Yu, Yi-Hsiang

Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) power generation is a relatively new type of renewable generation. Predecessors such as wind power generation, hydropower plant generation, geothermal generation, photovoltaic generation, and solar thermal generation have gained a lot of attention because of their successful implementation. The successful integration of renewable generation into the electric power grid has energized the power system global communities to take the lessons learned, innovations, and market structure to focus on the large potential of MHK to also contribute to the pool of renewable energy generation. This chapter covers the broad spectrum of MHK generation. The state-of-the-art power takeoffmore » methods will be discussed. Types of electrical generators will be presented, and the options for implementation will be presented.« less

Turbine Aeration Design Software for Mitigating Adverse Environmental Impacts Resulting From Conventional Hydropower Turbines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gulliver, John S.

2015-03-01

Conventional hydropower turbine aeration test-bed for computational routines and software tools for improving environmental mitigation technologies for conventional hydropower systems. In achieving this goal, we have partnered with Alstom, a global leader in energy technology development and United States power generation, with additional funding from the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE) and the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at the UMN

Greenhouse gas emissions of hydropower in the Mekong River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Räsänen, Timo A.; Varis, Olli; Scherer, Laura; Kummu, Matti

2018-03-01

The Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia is undergoing extensive hydropower development, but the magnitudes of related greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are not well known. We provide the first screening of GHG emissions of 141 existing and planned reservoirs in the basin, with a focus on atmospheric gross emissions through the reservoir water surface. The emissions were estimated using statistical models that are based on global emission measurements. The hydropower reservoirs (119) were found to have an emission range of 0.2-1994 kg CO2e MWh-1 over a 100 year lifetime with a median of 26 kg CO2e MWh-1. Hydropower reservoirs facilitating irrigation (22) had generally higher emissions reaching over 22 000 kg CO2e MWh-1. The emission fluxes for all reservoirs (141) had a range of 26-1813 000 t CO2e yr-1 over a 100 year lifetime with a median of 28 000 t CO2e yr-1. Altogether, 82% of hydropower reservoirs (119) and 45% of reservoirs also facilitating irrigation (22) have emissions comparable to other renewable energy sources (<190 kg CO2e MWh-1), while the rest have higher emissions equalling even the emission from fossil fuel power plants (>380 kg CO2e MWh-1). These results are tentative and they suggest that hydropower in the Mekong Region cannot be considered categorically as low-emission energy. Instead, the GHG emissions of hydropower should be carefully considered case-by-case together with the other impacts on the natural and social environment.

Development of Sustainability Assessment Framework in Hydropower sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soliha Sahimi, Nur; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Johan, Kartina

2017-08-01

Nowadays, Malaysian demand in energy sector was drastically increase due to technological developments. Since, hydropower is one of potential renewable energy source in Malaysia. The largest electricity utility company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad was provide an electricity to more than seven million people via independent suppliers in peninsular Malaysia and Sabah by intended a potential sustainable hydropower system. In order to increasingly the power capacity from current use, 1882 MW to more than 3000 MW by years 2020. In this study, the environmental issues and also the penalty to the responsible company especially on Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) towards their project or business are one of the problems. Other than that, every project or business has to prepare a sustainability statement or sustainability report as vital to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad under their listing requirements. Next, the sustainability performance on their project cannot be determined to achieve the key performance indicators (KPI) satisfaction from Government, stakeholder or any responsible agencies. This study presents an exhaustive review of these studies and suggests a direction for future developments. Sustainability Assessment framework or self-assessment is decidedly as a significant framework to assist towards sustainability reporting and to produce a Sustainability index for Hydropower sector using a mathematical model study. The results reveal that, the quantitative measurement from Sustainability Assessment framework to Systematic Sustainability Asssesment tool can be produce. In doing so, it is possible to improve the performance of the project especially in hydropower planner.

Interactions Between Land Use, Climate and Hydropower in Scotland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sample, J.

2014-12-01

To promote the transition towards a low carbon economy, the Scottish Government has adopted ambitious energy targets, including generating all electricity from renewable sources by 2020. To achieve this, continued investment will be required across a range of sustainable technologies. Hydropower has a long history in Scotland and the present-day operational capacity of ~1.5 GW makes a substantial contribution to the national energy budget. In addition, there remains potential for ~500 MW of further development, mostly in the form of small to medium size run-of-river schemes. Climate change is expected to lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle, leading to changes in both the magnitude and seasonality of river flows. There may also be indirect effects, such as changing land use, enhanced evapotranspiration rates and an increased demand for irrigation, all of which could affect the water available for energy generation. Preliminary assessments of hydropower commonly use flow duration curves (FDCs) to estimate the power generation potential at proposed new sites. In this study, we use spatially distributed modelling to generate daily and monthly FDCs for a range of Scottish catchments using a variety of future land use and climate change scenarios. These are then used to assess Scotland's future hydropower potential under different flow regimes. The results are spatially variable and include large uncertainties, but some consistent patterns emerge. Many locations are predicted to experience enhanced seasonality, with lower power generation potential in the summer months and greater potential during the autumn and winter. Some sites may require infrastructural changes in order to continue operating at optimum efficiency. We discuss the implications and limitations of our results, and highlight design and adaptation options for maximising the resilience of hydropower installations under changing future flow patterns.

Tapping hidden hydropower potential in Swiss Alpine catchments in the context of the planned nuclear power phase out

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Ana Clara; Schaefli, Bettina; Manso, Pedro; Schleiss, Anton; Portela, Maria Manuela; Rinaldo, Andrea

2015-04-01

In its Energy Strategy 2050, Switzerland is revising its energy perspectives with a strong focus on renewable sources of energy and in particular hydropower. In this context, the Swiss Government funded a number of competence centers for energy research (SCCERs), including one on the Supply of Energy (SCCER-SoE), which develops fundamental research and innovative solutions in geoenergies and hydropower . Hydropower is already the major energy source in Switzerland, corresponding to approximately 55% of the total national electricity production (which was 69 TWh in 2014). The Energy Strategy 2050 foresees at least a net increase by 1.53 TWh/year in average hydrological conditions, in a context were almost all major river systems are already exploited and a straightforward application of recent environmental laws will impact (reduce) current hydropower production. In this contribution, we present the roadmap of the SCCER-SoE and an overview of our strategy to unravel currently non-exploited hydropower potential, in particular in river systems that are already used for hydropower production. The aim is hereby to quantify non-exploited natural flows, unnecessary water spills or storage volume deficits, whilst considering non-conventional approaches to water resources valuation and management. Such a better understanding of the current potential is paramount to justify future scenarios of adaptation of the existing hydropower infrastructure combining the increase of storage capacity with new connections between existing reservoirs, heightening or strengthening existing dams, increasing the operational volume of natural lakes (including new glacier lakes), or by building new dams. Tapping hidden potential shall also require operational changes to benefit from new flow patterns emerging under an evolving climate and in particular in the context of the ongoing glacier retreat. The paper shall present a broad view over the mentioned issues and first conclusions of ongoing

Power Electronics Thermal Management | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Power Electronics Thermal Management Power Electronics Thermal Management A photo of water boiling in liquid cooling lab equipment. Power electronics thermal management research aims to help lower the investigates and develops thermal management strategies for power electronics systems that use wide-bandgap

Operational Constraints on Hydropeaking and its Effects on the Hydrologic and Thermal Regime of a River in Central Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olivares, M. A.; Guzman, C.; Rossel, V.; De La Fuente, A.

2013-12-01

Hydropower accounts for about 44% of installed capacity in Chile's Central Interconnected System, which serves most of the Chilean population. Hydropower reservoir projects can affect ecosystems by changing the hydrologic regime and water quality. Given its volumen regulation capacity, low operation costs and fast response to demand fluctuations, reservoir hydropower plants commonly operate on a load-following or hydropeaking scheme. This short-term operational pattern produces alterations in the hydrologic regime downstream the reservoir. In the case of thermally stratified reservoirs, peaking operations can affect the thermal structure of the reservoir, as well as the thermal regime downstream. In this study, we assessed the subdaily hydrologic and thermal alteration donwstream of Rapel reservoir in Central Chile for alternative operational scenarios, including a base case and several scenarios involving minimum instream flow (Qmin) and maximum hourly ramping rates (ΔQmax). Scenarios were simulated for the stratification season of summer 2009-2012 in a grid-wide short-term economic dispatch model which prescribes hourly power production by every power plant on a weekly horizon. Power time series are then translated into time series of turbined flows at each hydropower plants. Indicators of subdaily hydrologic alteration (SDHA) were computed for every scenario. Additionally, turbined flows were used as input data for a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model (CWR-ELCOM) of the reservoir which simulated the vertical temperature profile in the reservoir and the outflow temperature. For the time series of outflow temperatures we computed several indicators of subdaily thermal alteration (SDTA). Operational constraints reduce the values of both SDHA and SDTA indicators with respect to the base case. When constraints are applied separately, the indicators of SDHA decrease as each type of constraint (Qmin or ΔQmax) becomes more stringent. However, ramping rate

21st century Himalayan hydropower: Growing exposure to glacial lake outburst floods?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwanghart, Wolfgang; Worni, Raphael; Huggel, Christian; Stoffel, Markus; Korup, Oliver

2014-05-01

Primary energy demand in China and India has increased fivefold since 1980. To avoid power shortages and blackouts, the hydropower infrastructure in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region is seeing massive development, a strategy supported by the policy of the World Bank and in harmony with the framework of the Kyoto Protocol. The targeted investments in clean energy from water resources, however, may trigger far-reaching impacts to downstream communities given that hydropower projects are planned and constructed in close vicinity to glaciated areas. We hypothesize that the location of these new schemes may be subject to higher exposure to a broad portfolio of natural hazards that proliferate in the steep, dissected, and tectonically active topography of the Himalayas. Here we focus on the hazard from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), and offer an unprecedented regional analysis for the Hindu Kush-Himalaya orogen. We compiled a database of nearly 4,000 proglacial lakes that we mapped from satellite imagery; and focus on those as potential GLOF sources that are situated above several dozen planned and existing hydropower plants. We implemented a scenario-based flood-wave propagation model of hypothetic GLOFs, and compared thus simulated peak discharges with those of the local design floods at the power plants. Multiple model runs confirm earlier notions that GLOF discharge may exceed meteorological, i.e. monsoon-fed, flood peaks by at least an order of magnitude throughout the Hindu Kush-Himalaya. We further show that the current trend in hydropower development near glaciated areas may lead to a >15% increase of projects that may be impacted by future GLOFs. At the same time, the majority of the projects are to be sited where outburst flood modelling produces its maximum uncertainty, highlighting the problem of locating minimum risk sites for hydropower. Exposure to GLOFs is not uniformly distributed in the Himalayas, and is particularly high in rivers draining the Mt

Land Systems Impacts of Hydropower Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, G. C.; Torn, M. S.

2016-12-01

Hydropower is often seen as the low-cost, low-carbon, and high-return technology for meeting rising electricity demand and fueling economic growth. Despite the magnitude and pace of hydropower expansion in many developing countries, the potential land use and land cover change (LULCC), particularly indirect LULCC, resulting from hydropower development is poorly understood. Hydropower-driven LULCC can have multiple impacts ranging from global and local climate modification (e.g., increased extreme precipitation events or increased greenhouse gas emissions), ecosystem degradation and fragmentation, to feedbacks on hydropower generation (e.g., increased sedimentation of the reservoir). As a result, a better understanding of both direct and indirect LULCC impacts can inform a more integrated and low-impact model for energy planning in countries with transitioning or growing energy portfolios. This study uses multi-scale remote sensing imagery (Landsat, MODIS, fine-resolution commercial imagery) to estimate LULCC from past hydropower projects intended primarily for electricity generation in 12 countries in Africa, South and Central America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It is important to examine multiple locations to determine how socio-political and environmental context determines the magnitude of LULCC. Previous studies have called for the need to scale-up local case studies to examine "cumulative impacts" of multiple development activities within a watershed. We use a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design using a time series of classified images and vegetation indices before and after hydropower plant construction as the response variable in an interrupted time series regression analysis. This statistical technique measures the "treatment" effect of hydropower development on indirect LULCC. Preliminary results show land use change and landscape fragmentation following hydropower development, primarily agricultural and urban in nature. These results suggest

Sharing the opportunity cost among power companies to support hydropower-to-environment water transfers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilmant, Amaury; Marques, Guilherme

2016-04-01

Among the environmental impacts caused by dams, the alteration of flow regimes is one of the most critical to river ecosystems given its influence in long river reaches and its continuous pattern. Provided it is technically feasible, the reoperation of hydroelectric reservoir systems can, in principle, mitigate the impacts on degraded freshwater ecosystems by recovering some of the natural flow regime. The typical approach to implement hydropower-to-environment water transfers focuses on the reoperation of the dam located immediately upstream of the environmentally sensitive area, meaning that only one power station will bear the brunt of the benefits forgone for the power sector. By ignoring the contribution of upstream infrastructures to the alteration of the flow regime, the opportunity cost associated with the restoration of a flow regime is not equitably distributed among the power companies in the river basin, therefore slowing the establishment of environmental flow programs. Yet, there is no criterion, nor institutional mechanisms, to ensure a fair distribution of the opportunity cost among power stations. This paper addresses this issue by comparing four rules to redistribute the costs faced by the power sector when environmental flows must be implemented in a multireservoir system. The rules are based on the the installed capacity of the power plants, the live storage capacity of the reservoirs, the ratio between the incremental flows and the live storage capacity, and the extent of the storage services; that is, the volume of water effectively transferred by each reservoir. The analysis is carried out using the Parana River Basin (Brazil) as a case study.

Are Wind Power and Hydropower Complements or Competitors? An Analysis of Ecosystem Service Constraints in the Roanoke Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reed, P. M.; Fernandez, A. R.; Blumsack, S.

2011-12-01

Hydropower can provide inexpensive, flexible fill-in power to compensate for intermittent renewable generation. Policies for hydropower dams maintain multiple services beyond electric generation, including environmental protection, flood control and recreation. We model the decision of a hydroelectric generator to shift some of its power production capacity away from the day-ahead energy market into a "wind-following" service that smoothes the intermittent production of wind turbines. Offering such a service imposes both private and social opportunity costs. Since fluctuations in wind energy output are not perfectly correlated with day-ahead energy prices, a wind-following service will necessarily affect generator revenues. Seasonal wind patterns produce conflicts with the goal of managing rivers for "ecosystem services" - the maintenance or enhancement of downstream ecosystems. We illustrate our decision model using the Kerr Dam in PJM's territory in North Carolina. We simulate the operation of Kerr Dam over a three-year period that features hydrologic variability from normal water years to extreme drought conditions. We use an optimization framework to estimate reservation prices for Kerr Dam offering wind-following services in the PJM market. Wind-following may be profitable for Kerr Dam at low capacity levels during some time periods if ecosystems services are neglected and if side payments, or reserves-type payments, are provided. Wind-following with ecosystem services yields revenue losses that typically cannot be recovered with reserves market payments. Water release patterns are inconsistent with ecosystem-services goals when Kerr Dam dedicates significant capacity to wind-following, particularly in drought years.

A Holistic Framework for Environmental Flows Determination in Hydropower Contexts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McManamay, Ryan A; Bevelhimer, Mark S

2013-05-01

Among the ecological science community, the consensus view is that the natural flow regime sustains the ecological integrity of river systems. This prevailing viewpoint by many environmental stakeholders has progressively led to increased pressure on hydropower dam owners to change plant operations to affect downstream river flows with the intention of providing better conditions for aquatic biological communities. Identifying the neccessary magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, or rate of change of stream flows to meet ecological needs in a hydropower context is challenging because the ecological responses to changes in flows may not be fully known, there are usually a multitudemore » of competing users of flow, and implementing environmental flows usually comes at a price to energy production. Realistically, hydropower managers must develop a reduced set of goals that provide the most benefit to the identified ecological needs. As a part of the Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Program, the Instream Flow Project (IFP) was carried out by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Argon National Laboratory (ANL) as an attempt to develop tools aimed at defining environmental flow needs for hydropower operations. The application of these tools ranges from national to site-specific scales; thus, the utility of each tool will depend on various phases of the environmental flow process. Given the complexity and sheer volume of applications used to determine environmentally acceptable flows for hydropower, a framework is needed to organize efforts into a staged process dependent upon spatial, temporal, and functional attributes. By far, the predominant domain for determining environmental flows related to hydropower is within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing process. This process can take multiple years and can be very expensive depending on the scale of each hydropower project. The utility

Hydropower into the mainstream: A view from the Potomac

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clarke, D.H.

1992-04-01

This article discusses the regulatory and political environment in Washington, D.C. as it affects the hydro power industry, and the actions of the National Hydropower Association in ensuring that regulators, politicians, and federal agencies understand the issues necessary to maintaining hydro power as a mainstream energy source for the U.S. Some of the issues discussed are the Clean Water Act reauthorization, the Endangered Species Act reauthorization, National Energy Strategy legislation, and trends in FERC regulation.

Exploring the hydropower potential of future ice-free glacier basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Round, Vanessa; Farinotti, Daniel; Huss, Matthias

2017-04-01

The retreat of glaciers over the next century will present new challenges related to water availability and cause significant changes to the landscape. The construction of dams in areas becoming ice-free has previously been suggested as a mitigation measure against changes to water resources in the European Alps. In Switzerland, a number of hydropower dams already exist directly below glaciers, and the hydropower potential of natural lakes left by retreating glaciers has been recognised. We expand these concepts to the regional, and ultimately global, scale to assess the potential of creating hydropower dams in glacier basins, encouraged by advantages such as relatively low ecological and social impacts, and the possibility to replicate the water storage capabilities of glaciers. In a first order assessment, dam volumes are computed using a subglacial topography model and dam walls simulated at the terminus of each glacier. Potential power production is then estimated from projected glacier catchment runoff until 2100 based on the Global Glacier Evolution Model (GloGEM), and penstock head approximated from a global digital elevation model. Based on this, a feasibility ranking system is presented which takes into account various proxies for cost, demand and impact, such as proximity to populations and existing infrastructure, geological risks and threatened species. The ultimate objective is to identify locations of glacier retreat which could most feasibly and beneficially be used for hydropower production.

The role of energy systems on hydropower in Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuksel, Ibrahim; Arman, Hasan; Halil Demirel, Ibrahim

2017-11-01

Over the last two decades, global electricity production has more than doubled and electricity demand is rising rapidly around the world as economic development spreads to emerging economies. Not only has electricity demand increased significantly, it is the fastest growing end-use of energy. Therefore, technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power make it an important contributor to the future world energy mix, particularly in the developing countries. On the other hand, the hydropower industry is closely linked to both water management and renewable energy production, and so has a unique role to play in contributing to sustainable development in a world where billions of people lack access to safe drinking water and adequate energy supplies. In addition to, approximately 1.6 billion people have no access to electricity and about 1.1 billion are without adequate water supply. However, resources for hydropower development are widely spread around the world. Potential exists in about 150 countries, and about 70% of the economically feasible potential remains to be developed-mostly in developing countries where the needs are most urgent. This paper deals with renewable energy systems and the role of hydropower in Turkey.

Interactions between land use, climate and hydropower in Scotland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sample, James

2015-04-01

To promote the transition towards a low carbon economy, the Scottish Government has adopted ambitious energy targets, including generating all electricity from renewable sources by 2020. To achieve this, continued investment will be required across a range of sustainable technologies. Hydropower has a long history in Scotland and the present-day operational capacity of ~1.5 GW makes a substantial contribution to the national energy budget. In addition, there remains potential for ~500 MW of further development, mostly in the form of small to medium size run-of-river schemes. Climate change is expected to lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle, leading to changes in both the magnitude and seasonality of river flows. There may also be indirect effects, such as changing land use, enhanced evapotranspiration rates and an increased demand for irrigation, all of which could affect the water available for energy generation. Preliminary assessments of hydropower commonly use flow duration curves (FDCs) to estimate the power generation potential at proposed new sites. In this study, we use spatially distributed modelling to generate daily and monthly FDCs on a 1 km by 1 km grid across Scotland, using a variety of future land use and climate change scenarios. Parameter-related uncertainty in the model has been constrained using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to derive posterior probability distributions for key model parameters. Our results give an indication of the sensitivity and vulnerability of Scotland's run-of-river hydropower resources to possible changes in climate and land use. The effects are spatially variable and the range of uncertainty is sometimes large, but consistent patterns do emerge. For example, many locations are predicted to experience enhanced seasonality, with significantly lower power generation potential in the summer months and greater potential during the autumn and winter. Some sites may require

Advanced Pumped Storage Hydropower and Ancillary Services Provision

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muljadi, Eduard; Gevorgian, Vahan; Mohanpurkar, Manish

This paper presents a high-level overview of the capability of advanced pumped storage hydropower to provide ancillary services including frequency regulation and oscillation damping. Type 3 and Type 4 generators are discussed. The examples given are for a small power system that uses a diesel generator as the main generator and a very large system that uses a gas turbine as the main generator.

Examining global electricity supply vulnerability to climate change using a high-fidelity hydropower dam model.

PubMed

Turner, Sean W D; Ng, Jia Yi; Galelli, Stefano

2017-07-15

An important and plausible impact of a changing global climate is altered power generation from hydroelectric dams. Here we project 21st century global hydropower production by forcing a coupled, global hydrological and dam model with three General Circulation Model (GCM) projections run under two emissions scenarios. Dams are simulated using a detailed model that accounts for plant specifications, storage dynamics, reservoir bathymetry and realistic, optimized operations. We show that the inclusion of these features can have a non-trivial effect on the simulated response of hydropower production to changes in climate. Simulation results highlight substantial uncertainty in the direction of change in globally aggregated hydropower production (~-5 to +5% change in mean global production by the 2080s under a high emissions scenario, depending on GCM). Several clearly impacted hotspots are identified, the most prominent of which encompasses the Mediterranean countries in southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. In this region, hydropower production is projected to be reduced by approximately 40% on average by the end of the century under a high emissions scenario. After accounting for each country's dependence on hydropower for meeting its current electricity demands, the Balkans countries emerge as the most vulnerable (~5-20% loss in total national electricity generation depending on country). On the flipside, a handful of countries in Scandinavia and central Asia are projected to reap a significant increase in total electrical production (~5-15%) without investing in new power generation facilities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Examining global electricity supply vulnerability to climate change using a high-fidelity hydropower dam model

DOE PAGES

Turner, Sean W. D.; Ng, Jia Yi; Galelli, Stefano

2017-03-07

Here, an important and plausible impact of a changing global climate is altered power generation from hydroelectric dams. Here we project 21st century global hydropower production by forcing a coupled, global hydrological and dam model with three General Circulation Model (GCM) projections run under two emissions scenarios. Dams are simulated using a detailed model that accounts for plant specifications, storage dynamics, reservoir bathymetry and realistic, optimized operations. We show that the inclusion of these features can have a non-trivial effect on the simulated response of hydropower production to changes in climate. Simulation results highlight substantial uncertainty in the direction ofmore » change in globally aggregated hydropower production (~–5 to + 5% change in mean global production by the 2080s under a high emissions scenario, depending on GCM). Several clearly impacted hotspots are identified, the most prominent of which encompasses the Mediterranean countries in southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. In this region, hydropower production is projected to be reduced by approximately 40% on average by the end of the century under a high emissions scenario. After accounting for each country's dependence on hydropower for meeting its current electricity demands, the Balkans countries emerge as the most vulnerable (~ 5–20% loss in total national electricity generation depending on country). On the flipside, a handful of countries in Scandinavia and central Asia are projected to reap a significant increase in total electrical production (~ 5–15%) without investing in new power generation facilities.« less

Examining global electricity supply vulnerability to climate change using a high-fidelity hydropower dam model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turner, Sean W. D.; Ng, Jia Yi; Galelli, Stefano

Here, an important and plausible impact of a changing global climate is altered power generation from hydroelectric dams. Here we project 21st century global hydropower production by forcing a coupled, global hydrological and dam model with three General Circulation Model (GCM) projections run under two emissions scenarios. Dams are simulated using a detailed model that accounts for plant specifications, storage dynamics, reservoir bathymetry and realistic, optimized operations. We show that the inclusion of these features can have a non-trivial effect on the simulated response of hydropower production to changes in climate. Simulation results highlight substantial uncertainty in the direction ofmore » change in globally aggregated hydropower production (~–5 to + 5% change in mean global production by the 2080s under a high emissions scenario, depending on GCM). Several clearly impacted hotspots are identified, the most prominent of which encompasses the Mediterranean countries in southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. In this region, hydropower production is projected to be reduced by approximately 40% on average by the end of the century under a high emissions scenario. After accounting for each country's dependence on hydropower for meeting its current electricity demands, the Balkans countries emerge as the most vulnerable (~ 5–20% loss in total national electricity generation depending on country). On the flipside, a handful of countries in Scandinavia and central Asia are projected to reap a significant increase in total electrical production (~ 5–15%) without investing in new power generation facilities.« less

Hydropower | Climate Neutral Research Campuses | NREL

Science.gov Websites

how hydropower may fit into your climate action plans. Campus Options Considerations Sample Project action plan. A history of the Cornell hydropower plant is available on the university's website. Examples

Assessing Hydropower in the West

DOE PAGES

Johnson, Megan M.; Uria Martinez, Rocio

2015-06-01

On April 27, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the 2014 Hydropower Market Report, which provides a quantitative baseline on the distribution, capabilities, and status of hydropower in the United States. Although the report shows many interesting trends and figures, this article focuses on those related to the western region.

Thermal batteries for aircraft emergency power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, David M.

1993-02-01

Thermal batteries are being proposed for the Emergency Power System for aircraft. Thermal batteries are a reserve type battery which is essentially inert until activated. Thermal batteries can generate full power in several seconds and nominally produce 20 WHr/Ib and operate over a temperature range of -65 deg to 165 deg. Thermal batteries have a proven field storage life exceeding 25 years. They contain no liquids, can be maintained at any attitude, operate at any altitude, and do not leak any toxic or noxious materials. Expended thermal batteries contain no lead or cadmium and do not represent a significant disposal or environmental problem. Thermal batteries have a thirty year history of excellent performance providing on-board power for missiles and other weapons and have a proven safety record with no field injuries ever. Thermal batteries have a relatively low cost of initial ownership and require no maintenance.

Multi-Model Assessment of Global Hydropower and Cooling Water Discharge Potential Under Climate Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

van Vliet, M. T. H.; van Beek, L. P. H.; Eisener, S.; Wada, Y.; Bierkens, M. F. P.

2016-01-01

Worldwide, 98% of total electricity is currently produced by thermoelectric power and hydropower. Climate change is expected to directly impact electricity supply, in terms of both water availability for hydropower generation and cooling water usage for thermoelectric power. Improved understanding of how climate change may impact the availability and temperature of water resources is therefore of major importance. Here we use a multi-model ensemble to show the potential impacts of climate change on global hydropower and cooling water discharge potential. For the first time, combined projections of streamflow and water temperature were produced with three global hydrological models (GHMs) to account for uncertainties in the structure and parametrization of these GHMs in both water availability and water temperature. The GHMs were forced with bias-corrected output of five general circulation models (GCMs) for both the lowest and highest representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5). The ensemble projections of streamflow and water temperature were then used to quantify impacts on gross hydropower potential and cooling water discharge capacity of rivers worldwide. We show that global gross hydropower potential is expected to increase between +2.4% (GCM-GHM ensemble mean for RCP 2.6) and +6.3% (RCP 8.5) for the 2080s compared to 1971-2000. The strongest increases in hydropower potential are expected for Central Africa, India, central Asia and the northern high-latitudes, with 18-33% of the world population living in these areas by the 2080s. Global mean cooling water discharge capacity is projected to decrease by 4.5-15% (2080s). The largest reductions are found for the United States, Europe, eastern Asia, and southern parts of South America, Africa and Australia, where strong water temperature increases are projected combined with reductions in mean annual streamflow. These regions are expected to affect 11-14% (for RCP2.6 and the shared socioeconomic

Thermal-powered reciprocating pump

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sabelman, E. E.

1972-01-01

Waste heat from radioisotope thermal generators in spacecraft is transported to keep instruments warm by two-cylinder reciprocating pump powered by energy from warm heat exchange fluid. Each cylinder has thermally nonconductive piston, heat exchange coil, and heat sink surface.

Evaluating and optimizing the operation of the hydropower system in the Upper Yellow River: A general LINGO-based integrated framework.

PubMed

Si, Yuan; Li, Xiang; Yin, Dongqin; Liu, Ronghua; Wei, Jiahua; Huang, Yuefei; Li, Tiejian; Liu, Jiahong; Gu, Shenglong; Wang, Guangqian

2018-01-01

The hydropower system in the Upper Yellow River (UYR), one of the largest hydropower bases in China, plays a vital role in the energy structure of the Qinghai Power Grid. Due to management difficulties, there is still considerable room for improvement in the joint operation of this system. This paper presents a general LINGO-based integrated framework to study the operation of the UYR hydropower system. The framework is easy to use for operators with little experience in mathematical modeling, takes full advantage of LINGO's capabilities (such as its solving capacity and multi-threading ability), and packs its three layers (the user layer, the coordination layer, and the base layer) together into an integrated solution that is robust and efficient and represents an effective tool for data/scenario management and analysis. The framework is general and can be easily transferred to other hydropower systems with minimal effort, and it can be extended as the base layer is enriched. The multi-objective model that represents the trade-off between power quantity (i.e., maximum energy production) and power reliability (i.e., firm output) of hydropower operation has been formulated. With equivalent transformations, the optimization problem can be solved by the nonlinear programming (NLP) solvers embedded in the LINGO software, such as the General Solver, the Multi-start Solver, and the Global Solver. Both simulation and optimization are performed to verify the model's accuracy and to evaluate the operation of the UYR hydropower system. A total of 13 hydropower plants currently in operation are involved, including two pivotal storage reservoirs on the Yellow River, which are the Longyangxia Reservoir and the Liujiaxia Reservoir. Historical hydrological data from multiple years (2000-2010) are provided as input to the model for analysis. The results are as follows. 1) Assuming that the reservoirs are all in operation (in fact, some reservoirs were not operational or did not

Effects of the uncertainty of energy price and water availability forecasts on the operation of Alpine hydropower reservoir systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anghileri, D.; Castelletti, A.; Burlando, P.

2016-12-01

European energy markets have experienced dramatic changes in the last years because of the massive introduction of Variable Renewable Sources (VRSs), such as wind and solar power sources, in the generation portfolios in many countries. VRSs i) are intermittent, i.e., their production is highly variable and only partially predictable, ii) are characterized by no correlation between production and demand, iii) have negligible costs of production, and iv) have been largely subsidized. These features result in lower energy prices, but, at the same time, in increased price volatility, and in network stability issues, which pose a threat to traditional power sources because of smaller incomes and higher maintenance costs associated to a more flexible operation of power systems. Storage hydropower systems play an important role in compensating production peaks, both in term of excess and shortage of energy. Traditionally, most of the research effort in hydropower reservoir operation has focused on modeling and forecasting reservoir inflow as well as designing reservoir operation accordingly. Nowadays, price variability may be the largest source of uncertainty in the context of hydropower systems, especially when considering medium-to-large reservoirs, whose storage can easily buffer small inflow fluctuations. In this work, we compare the effects of uncertain inflow and energy price forecasts on hydropower production and profitability. By adding noise to historic inflow and price trajectories, we build a set of synthetic forecasts corresponding to different levels of predictability and assess their impact on reservoir operating policies and performances. The study is conducted on different hydropower systems, including storage systems and pumped-storage systems, with different characteristics, e.g., different inflow-capacity ratios. The analysis focuses on Alpine hydropower systems where the hydrological regime ranges from purely ice and snow-melt dominated to mixed snow

Thermal batteries for aircraft emergency power

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ryan, D.M.

1993-01-01

Thermal batteries are being proposed for the Emergency Power System for aircraft. Thermal batteries are a reserve type battery which is essentially inert until activated. Thermal batteries can generate full power in several seconds and nominally produce 20 WHr/Ib and operate over a temperature range of -65 deg to 165 deg. Thermal batteries have a proven field storage life exceeding 25 years. They contain no liquids, can be maintained at any attitude, operate at any altitude, and do not leak any toxic or noxious materials. Expended thermal batteries contain no lead or cadmium and do not represent a significant disposalmore » or environmental problem. Thermal batteries have a thirty year history of excellent performance providing on-board power for missiles and other weapons and have a proven safety record with no field injuries ever. Thermal batteries have a relatively low cost of initial ownership and require no maintenance.« less

National Hydropower Plant Dataset, Version 2 (FY18Q3)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Samu, Nicole; Kao, Shih-Chieh; O'Connor, Patrick

The National Hydropower Plant Dataset, Version 2 (FY18Q3) is a geospatially comprehensive point-level dataset containing locations and key characteristics of U.S. hydropower plants that are currently either in the hydropower development pipeline (pre-operational), operational, withdrawn, or retired. These data are provided in GIS and tabular formats with corresponding metadata for each. In addition, we include access to download 2 versions of the National Hydropower Map, which was produced with these data (i.e. Map 1 displays the geospatial distribution and characteristics of all operational hydropower plants; Map 2 displays the geospatial distribution and characteristics of operational hydropower plants with pumped storagemore » and mixed capabilities only). This dataset is a subset of ORNL's Existing Hydropower Assets data series, updated quarterly as part of ORNL's National Hydropower Asset Assessment Program.« less

A Methodology for Protective Vibration Monitoring of Hydropower Units Based on the Mechanical Properties.

PubMed

Nässelqvist, Mattias; Gustavsson, Rolf; Aidanpää, Jan-Olov

2013-07-01

It is important to monitor the radial loads in hydropower units in order to protect the machine from harmful radial loads. Existing recommendations in the standards regarding the radial movements of the shaft and bearing housing in hydropower units, ISO-7919-5 (International Organization for Standardization, 2005, "ISO 7919-5: Mechanical Vibration-Evaluation of Machine Vibration by Measurements on Rotating Shafts-Part 5: Machine Sets in Hydraulic Power Generating and Pumping Plants," Geneva, Switzerland) and ISO-10816-5 (International Organization for Standardization, 2000, "ISO 10816-5: Mechanical Vibration-Evaluation of Machine Vibration by Measurements on Non-Rotating Parts-Part 5: Machine Sets in Hydraulic Power Generating and Pumping Plants," Geneva, Switzerland), have alarm levels based on statistical data and do not consider the mechanical properties of the machine. The synchronous speed of the unit determines the maximum recommended shaft displacement and housing acceleration, according to these standards. This paper presents a methodology for the alarm and trip levels based on the design criteria of the hydropower unit and the measured radial loads in the machine during operation. When a hydropower unit is designed, one of its design criteria is to withstand certain loads spectra without the occurrence of fatigue in the mechanical components. These calculated limits for fatigue are used to set limits for the maximum radial loads allowed in the machine before it shuts down in order to protect itself from damage due to high radial loads. Radial loads in hydropower units are caused by unbalance, shape deviations, dynamic flow properties in the turbine, etc. Standards exist for balancing and manufacturers (and power plant owners) have recommendations for maximum allowed shape deviations in generators. These standards and recommendations determine which loads, at a maximum, should be allowed before an alarm is sent that the machine needs maintenance. The radial

Impact of Different Time Series Streamflow Data on Energy Generation of a Run-of-River Hydropower Plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kentel, E.; Cetinkaya, M. A.

2013-12-01

Global issues such as population increase, power supply crises, oil prices, social and environmental concerns have been forcing countries to search for alternative energy sources such as renewable energy to satisfy the sustainable development goals. Hydropower is the most common form of renewable energy in the world. Hydropower does not require any fuel, produces relatively less pollution and waste and it is a reliable energy source with relatively low operating cost. In order to estimate the average annual energy production of a hydropower plant, sufficient and dependable streamflow data is required. The goal of this study is to investigate impact of streamflow data on annual energy generation of Balkusan HEPP which is a small run-of-river hydropower plant at Karaman, Turkey. Two different stream gaging stations are located in the vicinity of Balkusan HEPP and these two stations have different observation periods: one from 1986 to 2004 and the other from 2000 to 2009. These two observation periods show different climatic characteristics. Thus, annual energy estimations based on data from these two different stations differ considerably. Additionally, neither of these stations is located at the power plant axis, thus streamflow observations from these two stream gaging stations need to be transferred to the plant axis. This requirement introduces further errors into energy estimations. Impact of different streamflow data and transfer of streamflow observations to plant axis on annual energy generation of a small hydropower plant is investigated in this study.

Efficient operation of a multi-purpose reservoir in Chile: Tradeoffs between irrigation and hydropower production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez Cabrera, J. M., Sr.; Olivares, M. A.

2015-12-01

This study proposes a method to develop efficient operational policies for a reservoir the southern Chile. The main water uses in this system are hydropower and irrigation, with conflicting seasonal demands. The conflict between these two uses is currently managed through a so-called "irrigation agreement" which defines a series of operational conditions on the reservoir by restricting volumes used for power production depending on reservoir storage level. Other than that, the reservoir operation is driven by cost-minimization over the power grid. Recent evidence shows an increasing degree of conflict in this basin, which suggests that the static approach of irrigation agreements, might no longer be appropriate. Moreover, this agreement could be revised in light of decreased water availability. This problem poses a challenge related to the spatial scope of analysis. Thus, irrigation benefits are driven by decisions made within the basin, whereas hydropower benefits depend on the operation of the entire power grid. Exploring the tradeoffs between these two water uses involves modeling both scales. The proposed methodology integrates information from both a grid-wide power operations model and a basin-wide agro-economic model into a decision model for optimal reservoir operation. The first model, a hydrothermal coordination tool, schedules power production by each plant in the grid, and allows capturing technical and economic aspects to the operation of hydropower reservoirs. The agro-economic model incorporates economic features of irrigation in the basin, and allows obtaining irrigation water demand functions. Finally, the results of both models are integrated into a single model for optimal reservoir operation considering the tradeoffs between the two uses. The result of the joint operation of water resources, show a flexible coordination of uses, revealing the opportunity cost of irrigation, which it gives the possibility of negotiating transfers of water to

Solar energy thermally powered electrical generating system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owens, William R. (Inventor)

1989-01-01

A thermally powered electrical generating system for use in a space vehicle is disclosed. The rate of storage in a thermal energy storage medium is controlled by varying the rate of generation and dissipation of electrical energy in a thermally powered electrical generating system which is powered from heat stored in the thermal energy storage medium without exceeding a maximum quantity of heat. A control system (10) varies the rate at which electrical energy is generated by the electrical generating system and the rate at which electrical energy is consumed by a variable parasitic electrical load to cause storage of an amount of thermal energy in the thermal energy storage system at the end of a period of insolation which is sufficient to satisfy the scheduled demand for electrical power to be generated during the next period of eclipse. The control system is based upon Kalman filter theory.

18 CFR 2.23 - Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts. 2.23 Section 2.23 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES GENERAL...

18 CFR 2.23 - Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts. 2.23 Section 2.23 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES GENERAL...

18 CFR 2.23 - Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts. 2.23 Section 2.23 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES GENERAL...

18 CFR 2.23 - Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Use of reserved authority in hydropower licenses to ameliorate cumulative impacts. 2.23 Section 2.23 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY GENERAL RULES GENERAL...

Global analysis of a renewable micro hydro power generation plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Md. Shad; Nabil, Imtiaz Muhammed; Alam, M. Mahbubul

2017-12-01

Hydroelectric power or Hydropower means the power generated by the help of flowing water with force. It is one the best source of renewable energy in the world. Water evaporates from the earth's surface, forms clouds, precipitates back to earth, and flows toward the ocean. Hydropower is considered a renewable energy resource because it uses the earth's water cycle to generate electricity. As far as Global is concerned, only a small fraction of electricity is generated by hydro-power. The aim of our analysis is to demonstrate and observe the hydropower of the Globe in micro-scale by our experimental setup which is completely new in concept. This paper consists of all the Global and National Scenario of Hydropower. And how we can more emphasize the generation of Hydroelectric power worldwide.

78 FR 62322 - Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013; Notice of Rescheduled Two-Year Licensing Process...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-16

... at non-powered dams and closed-loop pumped storage projects in compliance with section 6 of the... process for licensing hydropower development at non-powered dams and closed-loop pumped storage projects...-powered dam versus closed- loop pumped storage) affect the steps included in a two-year process? 3.9...

Concentrating solar thermal power.

PubMed

Müller-Steinhagen, Hans

2013-08-13

In addition to wind and photovoltaic power, concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) will make a major contribution to electricity provision from renewable energies. Drawing on almost 30 years of operational experience in the multi-megawatt range, CSP is now a proven technology with a reliable cost and performance record. In conjunction with thermal energy storage, electricity can be provided according to demand. To date, solar thermal power plants with a total capacity of 1.3 GW are in operation worldwide, with an additional 2.3 GW under construction and 31.7 GW in advanced planning stage. Depending on the concentration factors, temperatures up to 1000°C can be reached to produce saturated or superheated steam for steam turbine cycles or compressed hot gas for gas turbine cycles. The heat rejected from these thermodynamic cycles can be used for sea water desalination, process heat and centralized provision of chilled water. While electricity generation from CSP plants is still more expensive than from wind turbines or photovoltaic panels, its independence from fluctuations and daily variation of wind speed and solar radiation provides it with a higher value. To become competitive with mid-load electricity from conventional power plants within the next 10-15 years, mass production of components, increased plant size and planning/operating experience will be accompanied by technological innovations. On 30 October 2009, a number of major industrial companies joined forces to establish the so-called DESERTEC Industry Initiative, which aims at providing by 2050 15 per cent of European electricity from renewable energy sources in North Africa, while at the same time securing energy, water, income and employment for this region. Solar thermal power plants are in the heart of this concept.

Evaluating and optimizing the operation of the hydropower system in the Upper Yellow River: A general LINGO-based integrated framework

PubMed Central

Si, Yuan; Liu, Ronghua; Wei, Jiahua; Huang, Yuefei; Li, Tiejian; Liu, Jiahong; Gu, Shenglong; Wang, Guangqian

2018-01-01

The hydropower system in the Upper Yellow River (UYR), one of the largest hydropower bases in China, plays a vital role in the energy structure of the Qinghai Power Grid. Due to management difficulties, there is still considerable room for improvement in the joint operation of this system. This paper presents a general LINGO-based integrated framework to study the operation of the UYR hydropower system. The framework is easy to use for operators with little experience in mathematical modeling, takes full advantage of LINGO’s capabilities (such as its solving capacity and multi-threading ability), and packs its three layers (the user layer, the coordination layer, and the base layer) together into an integrated solution that is robust and efficient and represents an effective tool for data/scenario management and analysis. The framework is general and can be easily transferred to other hydropower systems with minimal effort, and it can be extended as the base layer is enriched. The multi-objective model that represents the trade-off between power quantity (i.e., maximum energy production) and power reliability (i.e., firm output) of hydropower operation has been formulated. With equivalent transformations, the optimization problem can be solved by the nonlinear programming (NLP) solvers embedded in the LINGO software, such as the General Solver, the Multi-start Solver, and the Global Solver. Both simulation and optimization are performed to verify the model’s accuracy and to evaluate the operation of the UYR hydropower system. A total of 13 hydropower plants currently in operation are involved, including two pivotal storage reservoirs on the Yellow River, which are the Longyangxia Reservoir and the Liujiaxia Reservoir. Historical hydrological data from multiple years (2000–2010) are provided as input to the model for analysis. The results are as follows. 1) Assuming that the reservoirs are all in operation (in fact, some reservoirs were not operational or did

Producing more power from existing hydro resources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O'Connor, J.

1993-02-01

Rehabilitation is big business in the North American hydropower industry. Hydropower producers are replacing or rehabilitating turbines, uprating old hydro generators, and installing advanced control systems. Estimates indicate that as much as 15,000 MW of new electricall generating capacity can be obtained by rehabilitating existing hydro facilities. The cost of developing this capacity is far less than for building new power projects. In most rehabilitation projects, the existing dam, powerhouse, and access roads are retained; only new mechanical and electrica equipment is required. As a result, these projects often can be accomplished for about half the cost of developing amore » new thermal plant to provide an equivalent amount of capacity. This new power does not contribute to atmospheric pollution, cause increases in operations and maintenance costs, or create uncertainties about fuel sources. The Bureau of Reclamation, the Salt River Project, the New York Power Authority, and the Tennessee Valley Authority all are either in the midst of major hydro rehabilitation projects or gearing up for future work. This activity indicates a healthy market of hydro products and services for years to come.« less

Exploring current and projected tradeoffs between hydropower profitability and reliability of supply in the Alps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anghileri, D.; Castelletti, A.; Burlando, P.

2015-12-01

The recent spreading of renewable energy across Europe and the associated production variability and uncertainty are emerging challenges for hydropower system operation. Widely distributed and highly intermittent solar and wind power generation systems, along with feed-in-tariffs, at which they are remunerated, are threating the operation of traditional hydropower systems. For instance, in countries where the transition to a larger production by means of renewable power systems is a novel process, e.g. Switzerland, many hydropower companies are operating their reservoirs with low or no profits, claiming for a revision of the entire energy market system. This situation goes along with the problem of ensuring energy supply both nowadays and in the future, with changing energy demand and available water resources. In this work, we focus on a hydropower system in the Swiss Alps to explore how different operating policies can cope with both adequate energy supply and profitable operation under current and future climate and socio-economic conditions. We investigate the operation of the Mattmark reservoir in South-West Switzerland. Mattmark is a pumped reservoir of 98 106 m3 fed by a natural catchment of 37 km2 and contributing catchments, summing up to 51 km2, connected by several diversion channels. The hydrological regime, snow- and ice-melt dominated, has already experienced changes in the last decades due to glacier retreat and is expected to be strongly impacted by climate change in the future. We use Multi-Objective optimization techniques to explore current tradeoffs between profitability and secure supply. We then investigate how tradeoffs may evolve in time under different climate change projections and energy market scenarios. Results inform on the co-evolution of climate- and socio-economic induced variations, thus unveiling potential co-benefit situations to hydropower generation and providing insights to future energy market design.

Analysis on regulation strategies for extending service life of hydropower turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, W.; Norrlund, P.; Yang, J.

2016-11-01

Since a few years, there has been a tendency that hydropower turbines experience fatigue to a greater extent, due to increasingly more regulation movements of governor actuators. The aim of this paper is to extend the service life of hydropower turbines, by reasonably decreasing the guide vane (GV) movements with appropriate regulation strategies, e.g. settings of PI (proportional-integral) governor parameters and controller filters. The accumulated distance and number of GV movements are the two main indicators of this study. The core method is to simulate the long-term GV opening of Francis turbines with MATLAB/Simulink, based on a sequence of one-month measurements of the Nordic grid frequency. Basic theoretical formulas are also discussed and compared to the simulation results, showing reasonable correspondence. Firstly, a model of a turbine governor is discussed and verified, based on on-site measurements of a Swedish hydropower plant. Then, the influence of governor parameters is discussed. Effects of different settings of controller filters (e.g. dead zone, floating dead zone and linear filter) are also examined. Moreover, a change in GV movement might affect the quality of the frequency control. This is also monitored via frequency deviation characteristics, determined by elementary simulations of the Nordic power system. The results show how the regulation settings affect the GV movements and frequency quality, supplying suggestions for optimizing the hydropower turbine operation for decreasing the wear and tear.

76 FR 81929 - Small Hydropower Development in the United States; Notice of Small/Low-Impact Hydropower Webinar

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-29

... Development in the United States; Notice of Small/Low-Impact Hydropower Webinar The Federal Energy Regulatory... participants to learn what types of hydropower projects qualify as a 5-megawatt (MW) exemption, how to file a... exemption. Additionally, participants have the opportunity to ask questions and learn how to get more...

Effects of Climate Change on Federal Hydropower. Report to Congress

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

This is a formal Department of Energy report to Congress. It outlines the findings of an assessment directed by Congress in Section 9505 of the SECURE Water Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11), the US Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with the federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) and other federal agencies, including federal dam owners, has prepared a comprehensive assessment examining the effects of climate change on water available for hydropower at federal facilities and on the marketing of power from these federal facilities.

Hydropower Optimization Using Artificial Neural Network Surrogate Models of a High-Fidelity Hydrodynamics and Water Quality Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaw, Amelia R.; Smith Sawyer, Heather; LeBoeuf, Eugene J.; McDonald, Mark P.; Hadjerioua, Boualem

2017-11-01

Hydropower operations optimization subject to environmental constraints is limited by challenges associated with dimensionality and spatial and temporal resolution. The need for high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality models within optimization schemes is driven by improved computational capabilities, increased requirements to meet specific points of compliance with greater resolution, and the need to optimize operations of not just single reservoirs but systems of reservoirs. This study describes an important advancement for computing hourly power generation schemes for a hydropower reservoir using high-fidelity models, surrogate modeling techniques, and optimization methods. The predictive power of the high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality model CE-QUAL-W2 is successfully emulated by an artificial neural network, then integrated into a genetic algorithm optimization approach to maximize hydropower generation subject to constraints on dam operations and water quality. This methodology is applied to a multipurpose reservoir near Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The model successfully reproduced high-fidelity reservoir information while enabling 6.8% and 6.6% increases in hydropower production value relative to actual operations for dissolved oxygen (DO) limits of 5 and 6 mg/L, respectively, while witnessing an expected decrease in power generation at more restrictive DO constraints. Exploration of simultaneous temperature and DO constraints revealed capability to address multiple water quality constraints at specified locations. The reduced computational requirements of the new modeling approach demonstrated an ability to provide decision support for reservoir operations scheduling while maintaining high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality information as part of the optimization decision support routines.

Hydropower Optimization Using Artificial Neural Network Surrogate Models of a High-Fidelity Hydrodynamics and Water Quality Model

DOE PAGES

Shaw, Amelia R.; Sawyer, Heather Smith; LeBoeuf, Eugene J.; ...

2017-10-24

Hydropower operations optimization subject to environmental constraints is limited by challenges associated with dimensionality and spatial and temporal resolution. The need for high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality models within optimization schemes is driven by improved computational capabilities, increased requirements to meet specific points of compliance with greater resolution, and the need to optimize operations of not just single reservoirs but systems of reservoirs. This study describes an important advancement for computing hourly power generation schemes for a hydropower reservoir using high-fidelity models, surrogate modeling techniques, and optimization methods. The predictive power of the high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality model CE-QUAL-W2more » is successfully emulated by an artificial neural network, then integrated into a genetic algorithm optimization approach to maximize hydropower generation subject to constraints on dam operations and water quality. This methodology is applied to a multipurpose reservoir near Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The model successfully reproduced high-fidelity reservoir information while enabling 6.8% and 6.6% increases in hydropower production value relative to actual operations for dissolved oxygen (DO) limits of 5 and 6 mg/L, respectively, while witnessing an expected decrease in power generation at more restrictive DO constraints. Exploration of simultaneous temperature and DO constraints revealed capability to address multiple water quality constraints at specified locations. Here, the reduced computational requirements of the new modeling approach demonstrated an ability to provide decision support for reservoir operations scheduling while maintaining high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality information as part of the optimization decision support routines.« less

Hydropower Optimization Using Artificial Neural Network Surrogate Models of a High-Fidelity Hydrodynamics and Water Quality Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaw, Amelia R.; Sawyer, Heather Smith; LeBoeuf, Eugene J.

Hydropower operations optimization subject to environmental constraints is limited by challenges associated with dimensionality and spatial and temporal resolution. The need for high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality models within optimization schemes is driven by improved computational capabilities, increased requirements to meet specific points of compliance with greater resolution, and the need to optimize operations of not just single reservoirs but systems of reservoirs. This study describes an important advancement for computing hourly power generation schemes for a hydropower reservoir using high-fidelity models, surrogate modeling techniques, and optimization methods. The predictive power of the high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality model CE-QUAL-W2more » is successfully emulated by an artificial neural network, then integrated into a genetic algorithm optimization approach to maximize hydropower generation subject to constraints on dam operations and water quality. This methodology is applied to a multipurpose reservoir near Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The model successfully reproduced high-fidelity reservoir information while enabling 6.8% and 6.6% increases in hydropower production value relative to actual operations for dissolved oxygen (DO) limits of 5 and 6 mg/L, respectively, while witnessing an expected decrease in power generation at more restrictive DO constraints. Exploration of simultaneous temperature and DO constraints revealed capability to address multiple water quality constraints at specified locations. Here, the reduced computational requirements of the new modeling approach demonstrated an ability to provide decision support for reservoir operations scheduling while maintaining high-fidelity hydrodynamic and water quality information as part of the optimization decision support routines.« less

Conflicting hydropower development and aquatic ecosystem conservation in Bhutan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wi, S.; Yang, Y. C. E.

2017-12-01

Hydropower is one of the clean energy sources that many Himalayan countries are eager to develop to solve their domestic energy deficit issue such as India, Nepal and Pakistan. Like other Himalayan countries, Bhutan also has a great potential for hydropower development. However, Bhutan is one of few countries that has a domestic energy surplus and export its hydropower generation to neighboring countries (mainly to India). Exporting hydropower is one of the major economic sources in Bhutan. However, constructions of dams and reservoirs for hydropower development inevitably involve habitat fragmentation, causing a conflict of interest with the pursuit of value in aquatic ecosystem conservation. The objectives of this study is to 1) develop a distributed hydrologic model with snow and glacier module to simulate the hydrologic regimes of seven major watersheds in Bhutan; 2) apply the hydrologic model to compute hydropower generation for all existing and potential dams; 3) evaluate cascade impacts of each individual dam on downstream regions by employing three hydro-ecological indicators: the River Connectivity Index (RCI), Dendritic Connectivity Index (DCI), total affected river stretch (ARS), and 4) analyze the tradeoffs between hydropower generation and river connectivity at the national scale by means of a multiple objective genetic algorithm. Modeling results of three Pareto Fronts between ecological indicators and hydropower generation accompany with future energy export targets from the government can inform dam selections that maximizing hydropower generation while minimizing the impact on the aquatic ecosystem (Figure 1a). The impacts of climate change on these Pareto front are also explored to identify robust dam selection under changing temperature and precipitation (Figure 1b).

Along-the-net reconstruction of hydropower potential with consideration of anthropic alterations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masoero, A.; Claps, P.; Gallo, E.; Ganora, D.; Laio, F.

2014-09-01

Even in regions with mature hydropower development, requirements for stable renewable power sources suggest revision of plans of exploitation of water resources, while taking care of the environmental regulations. Mean Annual Flow (MAF) is a key parameter when trying to represent water availability for hydropower purposes. MAF is usually determined in ungauged basins by means of regional statistical analysis. For this study a regional estimation method consistent along-the-river network has been developed for MAF estimation; the method uses a multi-regressive approach based on geomorphoclimatic descriptors, and it is applied on 100 gauged basins located in NW Italy. The method has been designed to keep the estimates of mean annual flow congruent at the confluences, by considering only raster-summable explanatory variables. Also, the influence of human alterations in the regional analysis of MAF has been studied: impact due to the presence of existing hydropower plants has been taken into account, restoring the "natural" value of runoff through analytical corrections. To exemplify the representation of the assessment of residual hydropower potential, the model has been applied extensively to two specific mountain watersheds by mapping the estimated mean flow for the basins draining into each pixel of a the DEM-derived river network. Spatial algorithms were developed using the OpenSource Software GRASS GIS and PostgreSQL/PostGIS. Spatial representation of the hydropower potential was obtained using different mean flow vs hydraulic-head relations for each pixel. Final potential indices have been represented and mapped through the Google Earth platform, providing a complete and interactive picture of the available potential, useful for planning and regulation purposes.

Power Electronics and Thermal Management | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Power Electronics and Thermal Management Power Electronics and Thermal Management This is the March Gearhart's testimony. Optical Thermal Characterization Enables High-Performance Electronics Applications New transient thermoreflectance measures the thermal performance of materials and their interfaces that cannot

Bridging the Information Gap: Remote Sensing and Micro Hydropower Feasibility in Data-Scarce Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller, Marc Francois

Access to electricity remains an impediment to development in many parts of the world, particularly in rural areas with low population densities and prohibitive grid extension costs. In that context, community-scale run-of-river hydropower---micro-hydropower---is an attractive local power generation option, particularly in mountainous regions, where appropriate slope and runoff conditions occur. Despite their promise, micro hydropower programs have generally failed to have a significant impact on rural electrification in developing nations. In Nepal, despite very favorable conditions and approximately 50 years of experience, the technology supplies only 4% of the 10 million households that do not have access to the central electricity grid. These poor results point towards a major information gap between technical experts, who may lack the incentives or local knowledge needed to design appropriate systems for rural villages, and local users, who have excellent knowledge of the community but lack technical expertise to design and manage infrastructure. Both groups suffer from a limited basis for evidence-based decision making due to sparse environmental data available to support the technical components of infrastructure design. This dissertation draws on recent advances in remote sensing data, stochastic modeling techniques and open source platforms to bridge that information gap. Streamflow is a key environmental driver of hydropower production that is particularly challenging to model due to its stochastic nature and the complexity of the underlying natural processes. The first part of the dissertation addresses the general challenge of Predicting streamflow in Ungauged Basins (PUB). It first develops an algorithm to optimize the use of rain gauge observations to improve the accuracy of remote sensing precipitation measures. It then derives and validates a process-based model to estimate streamflow distribution in seasonally dry climates using the stochastic

Predicting environmental mitigation requirements for hydropower projects through the integration of biophysical and socio-political geographies

DOE PAGES

Bevelhimer, Mark S.; DeRolph, Christopher R.; Schramm, Michael P.

2016-06-06

Uncertainty about environmental mitigation needs at existing and proposed hydropower projects makes it difficult for stakeholders to minimize environmental impacts. Hydropower developers and operators desire tools to better anticipate mitigation requirements, while natural resource managers and regulators need tools to evaluate different mitigation scenarios and order effective mitigation. Here we sought to examine the feasibility of using a suite of multidisciplinary explanatory variables within a spatially explicit modeling framework to fit predictive models for future environmental mitigation requirements at hydropower projects across the conterminous U.S. Using a database comprised of mitigation requirements from more than 300 hydropower project licenses, wemore » were able to successfully fit models for nearly 50 types of environmental mitigation and to apply the predictive models to a set of more than 500 non-powered dams identified as having hydropower potential. The results demonstrate that mitigation requirements have been a result of a range of factors, from biological and hydrological to political and cultural. Furthermore, project developers can use these models to inform cost projections and design considerations, while regulators can use the models to more quickly identify likely environmental issues and potential solutions, hopefully resulting in more timely and more effective decisions on environmental mitigation.« less

Predicting environmental mitigation requirements for hydropower projects through the integration of biophysical and socio-political geographies.

PubMed

DeRolph, Christopher R; Schramm, Michael P; Bevelhimer, Mark S

2016-10-01

Uncertainty about environmental mitigation needs at existing and proposed hydropower projects makes it difficult for stakeholders to minimize environmental impacts. Hydropower developers and operators desire tools to better anticipate mitigation requirements, while natural resource managers and regulators need tools to evaluate different mitigation scenarios and order effective mitigation. Here we sought to examine the feasibility of using a suite of multi-faceted explanatory variables within a spatially explicit modeling framework to fit predictive models for future environmental mitigation requirements at hydropower projects across the conterminous U.S. Using a database comprised of mitigation requirements from more than 300 hydropower project licenses, we were able to successfully fit models for nearly 50 types of environmental mitigation and to apply the predictive models to a set of more than 500 non-powered dams identified as having hydropower potential. The results demonstrate that mitigation requirements are functions of a range of factors, from biophysical to socio-political. Project developers can use these models to inform cost projections and design considerations, while regulators can use the models to more quickly identify likely environmental issues and potential solutions, hopefully resulting in more timely and more effective decisions on environmental mitigation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting environmental mitigation requirements for hydropower projects through the integration of biophysical and socio-political geographies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bevelhimer, Mark S.; DeRolph, Christopher R.; Schramm, Michael P.

Uncertainty about environmental mitigation needs at existing and proposed hydropower projects makes it difficult for stakeholders to minimize environmental impacts. Hydropower developers and operators desire tools to better anticipate mitigation requirements, while natural resource managers and regulators need tools to evaluate different mitigation scenarios and order effective mitigation. Here we sought to examine the feasibility of using a suite of multidisciplinary explanatory variables within a spatially explicit modeling framework to fit predictive models for future environmental mitigation requirements at hydropower projects across the conterminous U.S. Using a database comprised of mitigation requirements from more than 300 hydropower project licenses, wemore » were able to successfully fit models for nearly 50 types of environmental mitigation and to apply the predictive models to a set of more than 500 non-powered dams identified as having hydropower potential. The results demonstrate that mitigation requirements have been a result of a range of factors, from biological and hydrological to political and cultural. Furthermore, project developers can use these models to inform cost projections and design considerations, while regulators can use the models to more quickly identify likely environmental issues and potential solutions, hopefully resulting in more timely and more effective decisions on environmental mitigation.« less

Low-head hydropower assessment of the Brazilian State of São Paulo

USGS Publications Warehouse

Artan, Guleid A.; Cushing, W. Matthew; Mathis, Melissa L.; Tieszen, Larry L.

2014-01-01

This study produced a comprehensive estimate of the magnitude of hydropower potential available in the streams that drain watersheds entirely within the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Because a large part of the contributing area is outside of São Paulo, the main stem of the Paraná River was excluded from the assessment. Potential head drops were calculated from the Digital Terrain Elevation Data,which has a 1-arc-second resolution (approximately 30-meter resolution at the equator). For the conditioning and validation of synthetic stream channels derived from the Digital Elevation Model datasets, hydrography data (in digital format) supplied by the São Paulo State Department of Energy and the Agência Nacional de Águas were used. Within the study area there were 1,424 rain gages and 123 streamgages with long-term data records. To estimate average yearly streamflow, a hydrologic regionalization system that divides the State into 21 homogeneous basins was used. Stream segments, upstream areas, and mean annual rainfall were estimated using geographic information systems techniques. The accuracy of the flows estimated with the regionalization models was validated. Overall, simulated streamflows were significantly correlated with the observed flows but with a consistent underestimation bias. When the annual mean flows from the regionalization models were adjusted upward by 10 percent, average streamflow estimation bias was reduced from -13 percent to -4 percent. The sum of all the validated stream reach mean annual hydropower potentials in the 21 basins is 7,000 megawatts (MW). Hydropower potential is mainly concentrated near the Serra do Mar mountain range and along the Tietê River. The power potential along the Tietê River is mainly at sites with medium and high potentials, sites where hydropower has already been harnessed. In addition to the annual mean hydropower estimates, potential hydropower estimates with flow rates with exceedance probabilities of 40

Negotiating river ecosystems: Impact assessment and conflict mediation in the cases of hydro-power construction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karjalainen, Timo P., E-mail: timopauli.karjalainen@oulu.f; Jaervikoski, Timo, E-mail: timo.jarvikoski@oulu.f

2010-09-15

In this paper we discuss how the legitimacy of the impact assessment process is a key issue in conflict mediation in environmental impact assessment. We contrast two EIA cases in hydro-power generation plans made for the Ii River, Finland in different decades, and evaluate how impact assessment in these cases has contributed to the creation, mediation and resolution of conflicts. We focus on the elements of distributional and procedural justice that made the former EIA process more legitimate and consensual and the latter more conflictual. The results indicate that it is crucial for conflict mediation to include all the valuesmore » and interests of the parties in the goal-setting process and in the definition and assessment of alternatives. The analysis also indicates that procedural justice is the most important to help the people and groups involved to accept the legitimacy of the impact assessment process: how different parties and their values and interests are recognized, and how participation and distribution of power are organized in an impact assessment process. It is confirmed in this article that SIA may act as a mediator or a forum providing a process through which competing knowledge claims, various values and interests can be discussed and linked to the proposed alternatives and interventions.« less

Solar thermal power storage applications lead laboratory overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Radosevich, L. G.

1980-01-01

The implementation of the applications elements of the thermal energy storage for Solar Thermal Applications program is described. The program includes the accelerated development of thermal storage technologies matched to solar thermal power system requirements and scheduled milestones. The program concentrates on storage development in the FY80 to 85 time period with emphasis on the more near-term solar thermal power system application.

Standard Modular Hydropower Technology Acceleration Workshop: Summary Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, Brennan T.; DeNeale, Scott T.; Witt, Adam M.

In support of the Department of Energy (DOE) funded Standard Modular Hydropower (SMH) Technology Acceleration project, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) staff convened with five small hydropower technology entrepreneurs on June 14 and 15, 2017 to discuss gaps, challenges, and opportunities for small modular hydropower development. The workshop was designed to walk through SMH concepts, discuss the SMH research vision, assess how each participant’s technology aligns with SMH concepts and research, and identify future pathways for mutually beneficial collaboration that leverages ORNL expertise and entrepreneurial industry experience. The goal coming out of the workshop is to advance standardized, scalable, modularmore » hydropower technologies and development approaches with sustained and open dialogue among diverse stakeholder groups.« less

SEE HYDROPOWER Project, targeted to improve water resource management for a growing renewable energy production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peviani, Maximo; Alterach, Julio; Danelli, Andrea

2010-05-01

The three years SEE HYDROPOWER project started on June 2009, financed by the South-East Transnational Cooperation Programme (EU), aims to a sustainable exploitation of water concerning hydropower production in SEE countries, looking up to renewable energy sources development, preserving environmental quality and preventing flood risk. Hydropower is the most important renewable resource for energy production in the SEE countries but creates ecological impacts on a local scale. If on one hand, hydroelectric production has to be maintained and likely increased following the demand trend and RES-e Directive, on the other hand, hydropower utilisation often involves severe hydrological changes, damages the connectivity of water bodies and injures river ecosystems. The project gives a strong contribution to the integration between the Water Frame and the RES-e Directives in the involved countries. The SEE HYDROPOWER project promotes the optimal use of water, as multiple natural resources, in order to face the increasing regional electrical-energy demand. Furthermore, SEE HYDROPOWER defines specific needs and test methodologies & tools, in order to help public bodies to take decisions about planning and management of water and hydropower concessions, considering all multi-purposes uses, taking into account the environmental sustainability of natural resources and flooding risks. Investigations is carried on to define common strategies & methods for preserving river with particular concerns to aquatic ecosystems, considering the required Minimum Environmental Flow, macro-habitat quality, migratory fishes and related environmental issues. Other problem addressed by the Project is the contrast between Public Administration and Environmental associations on one side and the Hydropower producers on the other side, for the exploitation of water bodies. Competition between water users (for drinking, irrigation, industrial processes, power generation, etc.) is becoming a serious

Numerical and in-situ investigations of water hammer effects in Drava river Kaplan turbine hydropower plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergant, A.; Gregorc, B.; Gale, J.

2012-11-01

This paper deals with critical flow regimes that may induce unacceptable water hammer in Kaplan turbine hydropower plants. Water hammer analysis should be performed for normal, emergency and catastrophic operating conditions. Hydropower plants with Kaplan turbines are usually comprised of relatively short inlet and outlet conduits. The rigid water hammer theory can be used for this case. For hydropower plants with long penstocks the elastic water hammer should be used. Some Kaplan turbine units are installed in systems with long open channels. In this case, water level oscillations in the channels should be carefully investigated. Computational results are compared with results of measurements in recently rehabilitated seven Drava river hydroelectric power plants in Slovenia. Water hammer in the six power plants is controlled by appropriate adjustment of the wicket gates and runner blades closing/opening manoeuvres. Due to very long inflow and outflow open channels in Zlatoličje HPP a special vaned pressure regulating device attenuates extreme pressures in Kaplan turbine flow-passage system and controls unsteady flow in both open channels. Comparisons of results include normal operating regimes. The agreement between computed and measured results is reasonable.

Scanning thermal plumes. [from power plant condensers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scarpace, F. L.; Madding, R. P.; Green, T., III

1974-01-01

In order to study the behavior and effects of thermal plumes associated with the condenser cooling of power plants, thermal line scans are periodically made from aircraft over all power plants along the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan. Simultaneous ground truth is also gathered with a radiometer. Some sequential imagery has been obtained for periods up to two hours to study short term variations in the surface temperature of the plume. The article concentrates on the techniques used to analyze thermal scanner data for a single power plant which was studied intensively. The calibration methods, temperature dependence of the thermal scanner, and calculation of the modulation transfer function for the scanner are treated. It is concluded that obtaining quantitative surface-temperature data from thermal scanning is a nontrivial task. Accuracies up to plus or minus 0.1 C are attainable.

Thermal power systems small power systems application project: Siting issues for solar thermal power plants with small community applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holbeck, H. J.; Ireland, S. J.

1979-01-01

The siting issues associated with small, dispersed solar thermal power plants for utility/small community applications of less than 10 MWe are reported. Some specific requirements are refered to the first engineering experiment for the Small Power Systems Applications (SPSA) Project. The background for the subsequent issue discussions is provided. The SPSA Project and the requirements for the first engineering experiment are described, and the objectives and scope for the report as a whole. A overview of solar thermal technologies and some technology options are discussed.

Solar Thermal Power.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDaniels, David K.

The different approaches to the generation of power from solar energy may be roughly divided into five categories: distributed collectors; central receivers; biomass; ocean thermal energy conversion; and photovoltaic devices. The first approach (distributed collectors) is the subject of this module. The material presented is designed to…

Grid-wide subdaily hydrologic alteration under massive wind power penetration in Chile.

PubMed

Haas, J; Olivares, M A; Palma-Behnke, R

2015-05-01

Hydropeaking operations can severely degrade ecosystems. As variable renewable sources (e.g. wind power) are integrated into a power grid, fluctuations in the generation-demand balance are expected to increase. In this context, compensating technologies, notably hydropower reservoir plants, could operate in a stronger peaking scheme. This issue calls for an integrated modeling of the entire power system, including not only hydropower reservoirs, but also all other plants. A novel methodology to study the link between the short-term variability of renewable energies and the subdaily hydrologic alteration, due to hydropower reservoir operations is presented. Grid operations under selected wind power portfolios are simulated using a short-term hydro-thermal coordination tool. The resulting turbined flows by relevant reservoir plants are then compared in terms of the Richard-Baker flashiness index to both the baseline and the natural flow regime. Those are then analyzed in order to: i) detect if there is a significant change in the degree of subdaily hydrologic alteration (SDHA) due to a larger wind penetration, and ii) identify which rivers are most affected. The proposed scheme is applied to Chile's Central Interconnect System (SIC) for scenarios up to 15% of wind energy penetration. Results show a major degree of SDHA under the baseline as compared to the natural regime. As wind power increases, so does the SDHA in two important rivers. This suggests a need for further ecological studies in those rivers, along with an analysis of operational constraints to limit the SDHA. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trade-offs of water use for hydropower generation and biofuel production in the Zambezi basin in Mozambique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanzel, Philipp; Kling, Harald; Nicholson, Kit

2014-05-01

Hydropower is the most important energy source in Mozambique, as in many other southern African countries. In the Zambezi basin, it is one of the major economic resources, and substantial hydropower development is envisaged for the next decades. In Mozambique, the extension of the large Cahora Bassa hydropower plant and the construction of several new facilities downstream are planned. Irrigated agriculture currently plays a minor role, but has a large potential due to available land and water resources. Irrigation development, especially for the production of biofuels, is an important government policy goal in Mozambique. This contribution assesses interrelations and trade-offs between these two development options with high dependence on water availability. Potential water demand for large-scale irrigated agriculture is estimated for a mix of possible biofuel crops in three scenarios with different irrigated area sizes. Impacts on river discharge and hydropower production in the Lower Zambezi and its tributaries under two projected future climates are simulated with a hydrological model and a reservoir operation and hydropower model. Trade-offs of increasing biofuel production with decreasing hydropower generation due to diminished discharge in the Zambezi River are investigated based on potential energy production, from hydropower and biofuels, and resulting gross revenues and net benefits. Results show that the impact of irrigation withdrawal on hydropower production is rather low due to the generally high water availability in the Zambezi River. In simulations with substantial irrigated areas, hydropower generation decreases by -2% as compared to a scenario with only small irrigated areas. The economic analyses suggest that the use of water for cultivation of biofuel crops in the Zambezi basin can generate higher economic benefits than the use of water for hydroelectric power production. If world oil prices stay at more than about 80 USD/barrel, then the

Thermal analysis of underground power cable system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rerak, Monika; Ocłoń, Paweł

2017-10-01

The paper presents the application of Finite Element Method in thermal analysis of underground power cable system. The computations were performed for power cables buried in-line in the ground at a depth of 2 meters. The developed mathematical model allows determining the two-dimensional temperature distribution in the soil, thermal backfill and power cables. The simulations studied the effect of soil and cable backfill thermal conductivity on the maximum temperature of the cable conductor. Also, the effect of cable diameter on the temperature of cable core was studied. Numerical analyses were performed based on a program written in MATLAB.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Jemalong Solar Thermal Station |

Science.gov Websites

Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Jemalong Solar Thermal Station This page provides information on Jemalong Solar Thermal Station, a concentrating solar power (CSP) project, with data organized by Project Name: Jemalong Solar Thermal Station Country: Australia Location: Jemalong (New South Wales) Owner

Apparatus and method for thermal power generation

DOEpatents

Cohen, Paul; Redding, Arnold H.

1978-01-01

An improved thermal power plant and method of power generation which minimizes thermal stress and chemical impurity buildup in the vaporizing component, particularly beneficial under loss of normal feed fluid and startup conditions. The invention is particularly applicable to a liquid metal fast breeder reactor plant.

Research on power source structure optimization for East China Power Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Lingjun; Sang, Da; Zhang, Jianping; Tang, Chunyi; Xu, Da

2017-05-01

The structure of east china power grid is not reasonable for the coal power takes a much higher proportion than hydropower, at present the coal power takes charge of most peak load regulation, and the pressure of peak load regulation cannot be ignored. The nuclear power, wind power, photovoltaic, other clean energy and hydropower, coal power and wind power from outside will be actively developed in future, which increases the pressure of peak load regulation. According to development of economic and social, Load status and load prediction, status quo and planning of power source and the characteristics of power source, the peak load regulation balance is carried out and put forward a reasonable plan of power source allocation. The ultimate aim is to optimize the power source structure and to provide reference for power source allocation in east china.

Assessment of the Effects of Climate Change on Federal Hydropower

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sale, Michael J.; Shih-Chieh, Kao; Ashfaq, Moetasim

As directed by Congress in Section 9505 of the SECURE Water Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11), the US Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with the federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) and other federal agencies, including federal dam owners, has prepared a comprehensive assessment examining the effects of climate change on water available for hydropower at federal facilities and on the marketing of power from these federal facilities. This Oak Ridge National Laboratory report, referred to as the “9505 Assessment,” describes the technical basis for the report to Congress that was called for in the SECURE Water Act.

EPRI-DOE Conference on Environmentally-Enhanced Hydropower Turbines: Technical Papers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hogan, T.

2011-12-01

The EPRI-DOE Conference on Environmentally-Enhanced Hydropower Turbines was a component of a larger project. The goal of the overall project was to conduct the final developmental engineering required to advance the commercialization of the Alden turbine. As part of this effort, the conference provided a venue to disseminate information on the status of the Alden turbine technology as well as the status of other advanced turbines and research on environmentally-friendly hydropower turbines. The conference was also a product of a federal Memorandum of Understanding among DOE, USBR, and USACE to share technical information on hydropower. The conference was held inmore » Washington, DC on May 19 and 20, 2011 and welcomed over 100 attendees. The Conference Organizing Committee included the federal agencies with a vested interest in hydropower in the U.S. The Committee collaboratively assembled this conference, including topics from each facet of the environmentally-friendly conventional hydropower research community. The conference was successful in illustrating the readiness of environmentally-enhanced hydropower technologies. Furthermore, the topics presented illustrated the need for additional deployment and field testing of these technologies in an effort to promote the growth of environmentally sustainable hydropower in the U.S. and around the world.« less

Managing Financial Risk to Hydropower in Snow Dominated Systems: A Hetch Hetchy Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, A. L.; Characklis, G. W.; Reed, P. M.

2017-12-01

Hydropower generation in snow dominated systems is vulnerable to severe shortfalls in years with low snowpack. Meanwhile, generators are also vulnerable to variability in electricity demand and wholesale electricity prices, both of which can be impacted by factors such as temperature and natural gas price. Year-to-year variability in these underlying stochastic variables leads to financial volatility and the threat of low revenue periods, which can be highly disruptive for generators with large fixed operating costs and debt service. In this research, the Hetch Hetchy Power system is used to characterize financial risk in a snow dominated hydropower system. Owned and operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hetch Hetchy generates power for its own municipal operations and sells excess power to irrigation districts, as well as on the wholesale market. This investigation considers the effects of variability in snowpack, temperature, and natural gas price on Hetch Hetchy Power's yearly revenues. This information is then used to evaluate the effectiveness of various financial risk management tools for hedging against revenue variability. These tools are designed to mitigate against all three potential forms of financial risk (i.e. low hydropower generation, low electricity demand, and low/high electricity price) and include temperature-based derivative contracts, natural gas price-based derivative contracts, and a novel form of snowpack-based index insurance contract. These are incorporated into a comprehensive risk management portfolio, along with self-insurance in which the utility buffers yearly revenue volatility using a contingency fund. By adaptively managing the portfolio strategy, a utility can efficiently spread yearly risks over a multi-year time horizon. The Borg Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm is used to generate a set of Pareto optimal portfolio strategies, which are used to compare the tradeoffs in objectives such as expected

Hydropower Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Levine, Aaron L

Hydropower Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit presentation from the WPTO FY14-FY16 Peer Review. The toolkit is aimed at regulatory agencies, consultants, project developers, the public, and any other party interested in learning more about the hydropower regulatory process.

JEDI Conventional Hydropower Model | Jobs and Economic Development Impact

Science.gov Websites

Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) Conventional Hydropower Model allows users to estimate economic development impacts from conventional hydropower projects and includes default information that can be

Hydropower and sustainability: resilience and vulnerability in China's powersheds.

PubMed

McNally, Amy; Magee, Darrin; Wolf, Aaron T

2009-07-01

Large dams represent a whole complex of social, economic and ecological processes, perhaps more than any other large infrastructure project. Today, countries with rapidly developing economies are constructing new dams to provide energy and flood control to growing populations in riparian and distant urban communities. If the system is lacking institutional capacity to absorb these physical and institutional changes there is potential for conflict, thereby threatening human security. In this paper, we propose analyzing sustainability (political, socioeconomic, and ecological) in terms of resilience versus vulnerability, framed within the spatial abstraction of a powershed. The powershed framework facilitates multi-scalar and transboundary analysis while remaining focused on the questions of resilience and vulnerability relating to hydropower dams. Focusing on examples from China, this paper describes the complex nature of dams using the sustainability and powershed frameworks. We then analyze the roles of institutions in China to understand the relationships between power, human security and the socio-ecological system. To inform the study of conflicts over dams China is a particularly useful case study because we can examine what happens at the international, national and local scales. The powershed perspective allows us to examine resilience and vulnerability across political boundaries from a dynamic, process-defined analytical scale while remaining focused on a host of questions relating to hydro-development that invoke drivers and impacts on national and sub-national scales. The ability to disaggregate the affects of hydropower dam construction from political boundaries allows for a deeper analysis of resilience and vulnerability. From our analysis we find that reforms in China's hydropower sector since 1996 have been motivated by the need to create stability at the national scale rather than resilient solutions to China's growing demand for energy and water

Short-term Hydropower Reservoir Operations in Chile's Central Interconnected System: Tradeoffs between Hydrologic Alteration and Economic Performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olivares, M. A.

2011-12-01

Hydropower accounts for about 50% of the installed capacity in Chile's Central Interconnected System (CIS) and new developments are envisioned in the near future. Large projects involving reservoirs are perceived negatively by the general public. In terms of operations, hydropower scheduling takes place at monthly, weekly, daily and hourly intervals, and operations at each level affect different environmental processes. Due to its ability to quickly and inexpensively respond to short-term changes in demand, hydropower reservoirs often are operated to provide power during periods of peak demand. This operational scheme, known as hydropeaking, changes the hydrologic regime by altering the rate and frequency of changes in flow magnitude on short time scales. To mitigate impacts on downstream ecosystems, operational constraints -typically minimum instream flows and maximum ramping rates- are imposed on hydropower plants. These operational restrictions limit reduce operational flexibility and can reduce the economic value of energy generation by imposing additional costs on the operation of interconnected power systems. Methods to predict the degree of hydrologic alteration rely on statistical analyses of instream flow time series. Typically, studies on hydrologic alteration use historical operational records for comparison between pre- and post-dam conditions. Efforts to assess hydrologic alteration based on future operational schemes of reservoirs are scarce. This study couples two existing models: a mid-term operations planning and a short-term economic dispatch to simulate short-term hydropower reservoir operations under different future scenarios. Scenarios of possible future configurations of the Chilean CIS are defined with emphasis on the introduction of non-conventional renewables (particularly wind energy) and large hydropower projects in Patagonia. Both models try to reproduce the actual decision making process in the Chilean Central Interconnected System

Analysis on energy consumption index system of thermal power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, J. B.; Zhang, N.; Li, H. F.

2017-05-01

Currently, the increasingly tense situation in the context of resources, energy conservation is a realistic choice to ease the energy constraint contradictions, reduce energy consumption thermal power plants has become an inevitable development direction. And combined with computer network technology to build thermal power “small index” to monitor and optimize the management system, the power plant is the application of information technology and to meet the power requirements of the product market competition. This paper, first described the research status of thermal power saving theory, then attempted to establish the small index system and build “small index” monitoring and optimization management system in thermal power plant. Finally elaborated key issues in the field of small thermal power plant technical and economic indicators to be further studied and resolved.

Thermal buffering of receivers for parabolic dish solar thermal power plants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manvi, R.; Fujita, T.; Gajanana, B. C.; Marcus, C. J.

1980-01-01

A parabolic dish solar thermal power plant comprises a field of parabolic dish power modules where each module is composed of a two-axis tracking parabolic dish concentrator which reflects sunlight (insolation) into the aperture of a cavity receiver at the focal point of the dish. The heat generated by the solar flux entering the receiver is removed by a heat transfer fluid. In the dish power module, this heat is used to drive a small heat engine/generator assembly which is directly connected to the cavity receiver at the focal point. A computer analysis is performed to assess the thermal buffering characteristics of receivers containing sensible and latent heat thermal energy storage. Parametric variations of the thermal inertia of the integrated receiver-buffer storage systems coupled with different fluid flow rate control strategies are carried out to delineate the effect of buffer storage, the transient response of the receiver-storage systems and corresponding fluid outlet temperature. It is concluded that addition of phase change buffer storage will substantially improve system operational characteristics during periods of rapidly fluctuating insolation due to cloud passage.

National Hydropower Plant Dataset, Version 1 (Update FY18Q2)

DOE Data Explorer

Samu, Nicole; Kao, Shih-Chieh; O'Connor, Patrick; Johnson, Megan; Uria-Martinez, Rocio; McManamay, Ryan

2016-09-30

The National Hydropower Plant Dataset, Version 1, Update FY18Q2, includes geospatial point-level locations and key characteristics of existing hydropower plants in the United States that are currently online. These data are a subset extracted from NHAAP’s Existing Hydropower Assets (EHA) dataset, which is a cornerstone of NHAAP’s EHA effort that has supported multiple U.S. hydropower R&D research initiatives related to market acceleration, environmental impact reduction, technology-to-market activities, and climate change impact assessment.

Small hydropower spot prediction using SWAT and a diversion algorithm, case study: Upper Citarum Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kardhana, Hadi; Arya, Doni Khaira; Hadihardaja, Iwan K.; Widyaningtyas, Riawan, Edi; Lubis, Atika

2017-11-01

Small-Scale Hydropower (SHP) had been important electric energy power source in Indonesia. Indonesia is vast countries, consists of more than 17.000 islands. It has large fresh water resource about 3 m of rainfall and 2 m of runoff. Much of its topography is mountainous, remote but abundant with potential energy. Millions of people do not have sufficient access to electricity, some live in the remote places. Recently, SHP development was encouraged for energy supply of the places. Development of global hydrology data provides opportunity to predict distribution of hydropower potential. In this paper, we demonstrate run-of-river type SHP spot prediction tool using SWAT and a river diversion algorithm. The use of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with input of CFSR (Climate Forecast System Re-analysis) of 10 years period had been implemented to predict spatially distributed flow cumulative distribution function (CDF). A simple algorithm to maximize potential head of a location by a river diversion expressing head race and penstock had been applied. Firm flow and power of the SHP were estimated from the CDF and the algorithm. The tool applied to Upper Citarum River Basin and three out of four existing hydropower locations had been well predicted. The result implies that this tool is able to support acceleration of SHP development at earlier phase.

Opportunities for Energy Development in Water Conduits: A Report Prepared in Response to Section 7 of the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sale, Michael J.; Bishop, Norman A.; Reiser, Sonya L.

2014-09-01

In Section 7 of the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act (HREA) of 2013 (P.L. 113-23), Congress directed the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to prepare an analysis of conduit hydropower opportunities available in the United States and to present case studies that describe the potential energy generation from these types of hydropower projects. Those analyses have been included in a new DOE report to Congress, and this ORNL/TM provides additional technical details supporting that report. Conduit hydropower offers important new ways to enhance renewable energy portfolios in the United States, as well as to increase the energy efficiency of water deliverymore » systems. Conduit hydropower projects are constructed on existing water-conveyance structures, such as irrigation canals or pressurized pipelines that deliver water to municipalities, industry, or agricultural water users. Although water conveyance infrastructures are usually designed for non-power purposes, new renewable energy can often be harvested from them without affecting their original purpose and without the need to construct new dams or diversions. Conduit hydropower differs from more conventional hydropower development in that it is generally not located on natural rivers or waterways and therefore does not involve the types of environmental impacts that are associated with hydropower. The addition of hydropower to existing water conduits can provide valuable new revenue sources from clean, renewable energy. The new energy can be used within the existing water distribution systems to offset other energy demands, or it can be sold into regional transmission systems.« less

Balancing power production and instream flow regime for small scale hydropower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perona, P.; Gorla, L.; Characklis, G. W.

2013-12-01

Flow diversion from river and torrent main stems is a common practice to feed water uses such run-of-river and mini-hydropower, irrigation, etc. Considering the worldwide increasing water demand, it becomes mandatory to take the importance of riparian ecosystems and related biodiversity into account before starting such practices. In this paper, we use a simple hydro-economic model (Perona et al., 2013, Gorla and Perona, 2013) to show that redistribution policies at diversion nodes allow for a clear bio-economic interpretation of residual flows. This model uses the Principle of Equal Marginal Utility (PEMU) as optimal water allocation rule for generating natural-like flow releases while maximizing the aggregated economic benefits of both the riparian environment and the traditional use (e.g., hydropower). We show that both static and dynamic release polices such Minimal Flow, and Proportional/Non-proportional Repartitions, respectively, can all be represented in terms of PEMU, making explicit the value of the ecosystem health underlying each policy. The related ecological and economical performances are evaluated by means of hydrological/ecological indicators. We recommend taking this method into account as a helpful tool guiding political, economical and ecological decisions when replacing the inadequate concept of Minimum Flow Requirement (MFR) with dynamic ones. References Perona, P., D. Dürrenmatt and G. Characklis (2013) Obtaining natural-like flow releases in diverted river reaches from simple riparian benefit economic models. Journal of Environmental Management, 118: 161-169, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.01.010 Gorla, L. and P. Perona (2013) On quantifying ecologically sustainable flow releases in a diverted river reach. Journal of Hydrology, 489: 98- 107, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.02.043

Influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation on global hydropower production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ng, Jia Yi; Turner, Sean W. D.; Galelli, Stefano

2017-03-01

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) strongly influences the global climate system, affecting hydrology in many of the world’s river basins. This raises the prospect of ENSO-driven variability in global and regional hydroelectric power generation. Here we study these effects by generating time series of power production for 1593 hydropower dams, which collectively represent more than half of the world’s existing installed hydropower capacity. The time series are generated by forcing a detailed dam model with monthly-resolution, 20th century inflows—the model includes plant specifications, storage dynamics and realistic operating schemes, and runs irrespectively of the dam construction year. More than one third of simulated dams exhibit statistically significant annual energy production anomalies in at least one of the two ENSO phases of El Niño and La Niña. For most dams, the variability of relative anomalies in power production tends to be less than that of the forcing inflows—a consequence of dam design specifications, namely maximum turbine release rate and reservoir storage, which allows inflows to accumulate for power generation in subsequent dry years. Production is affected most prominently in Northwest United States, South America, Central America, the Iberian Peninsula, Southeast Asia and Southeast Australia. When aggregated globally, positive and negative energy production anomalies effectively cancel each other out, resulting in a weak and statistically insignificant net global anomaly for both ENSO phases.

75 FR 8321 - Coastal Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-24

... LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions to Intervene, and Competing Applications February 18, 2010. On November 5, 2009, Coastal Hydropower LLC filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act, proposing...

Selection and development of small solar thermal power applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bluhm, S. A.; Kuehn, T. J.; Gurfield, R. M.

1979-01-01

The paper discusses the approach of the JPL Point Focusing Thermal and Electric Power Applications Project to selecting and developing applications for point-focusing distributed-receiver solar thermal electric power systems. Six application categories are defined. Results of application studies of U.S. utilities are presented. The economic value of solar thermal power systems was found to range from $900 to $2100/kWe in small community utilities of the Southwest.

Rankline-Brayton engine powered solar thermal aircraft

DOEpatents

Bennett, Charles L [Livermore, CA

2012-03-13

A solar thermal powered aircraft powered by heat energy from the sun. A Rankine-Brayton hybrid cycle heat engine is carried by the aircraft body for producing power for a propulsion mechanism, such as a propeller or other mechanism for enabling sustained free flight. The Rankine-Brayton engine has a thermal battery, preferably containing a lithium-hydride and lithium mixture, operably connected to it so that heat is supplied from the thermal battery to a working fluid. A solar concentrator, such as reflective parabolic trough, is movably connected to an optically transparent section of the aircraft body for receiving and concentrating solar energy from within the aircraft. Concentrated solar energy is collected by a heat collection and transport conduit, and heat transported to the thermal battery. A solar tracker includes a heliostat for determining optimal alignment with the sun, and a drive motor actuating the solar concentrator into optimal alignment with the sun based on a determination by the heliostat.

Rankine-Brayton engine powered solar thermal aircraft

DOEpatents

Bennett, Charles L [Livermore, CA

2009-12-29

A solar thermal powered aircraft powered by heat energy from the sun. A Rankine-Brayton hybrid cycle heat engine is carried by the aircraft body for producing power for a propulsion mechanism, such as a propeller or other mechanism for enabling sustained free flight. The Rankine-Brayton engine has a thermal battery, preferably containing a lithium-hydride and lithium mixture, operably connected to it so that heat is supplied from the thermal battery to a working fluid. A solar concentrator, such as reflective parabolic trough, is movably connected to an optically transparent section of the aircraft body for receiving and concentrating solar energy from within the aircraft. Concentrated solar energy is collected by a heat collection and transport conduit, and heat transported to the thermal battery. A solar tracker includes a heliostat for determining optimal alignment with the sun, and a drive motor actuating the solar concentrator into optimal alignment with the sun based on a determination by the heliostat.

Balancing hydropower production and river bed incision in operating a run-of-river hydropower scheme along the River Po

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denaro, Simona; Dinh, Quang; Bizzi, Simone; Bernardi, Dario; Pavan, Sara; Castelletti, Andrea; Schippa, Leonardo; Soncini-Sessa, Rodolfo

2013-04-01

Water management through dams and reservoirs is worldwide necessary to support key human-related activities ranging from hydropower production to water allocation, and flood risk mitigation. Reservoir operations are commonly planned in order to maximize these objectives. However reservoirs strongly influence river geomorphic processes causing sediment deficit downstream, altering the flow regime, leading, often, to process of river bed incision: for instance the variations of river cross sections over few years can notably affect hydropower production, flood mitigation, water supply strategies and eco-hydrological processes of the freshwater ecosystem. The river Po (a major Italian river) has experienced severe bed incision in the last decades. For this reason infrastructure stability has been negatively affected, and capacity to derive water decreased, navigation, fishing and tourism are suffering economic damages, not to mention the impact on the environment. Our case study analyzes the management of Isola Serafini hydropower plant located on the main Po river course. The plant has a major impact to the geomorphic river processes downstream, affecting sediment supply, connectivity (stopping sediment upstream the dam) and transport capacity (altering the flow regime). Current operation policy aims at maximizing hydropower production neglecting the effects in term of geomorphic processes. A new improved policy should also consider controlling downstream river bed incision. The aim of this research is to find suitable modeling framework to identify an operating policy for Isola Serafini reservoir able to provide an optimal trade-off between these two conflicting objectives: hydropower production and river bed incision downstream. A multi-objective simulation-based optimization framework is adopted. The operating policy is parameterized as a piecewise linear function and the parameters optimized using an interactive response surface approach. Global and local

Thermally matched fluid cooled power converter

DOEpatents

Radosevich, Lawrence D.; Kannenberg, Daniel G.; Kaishian, Steven C.; Beihoff, Bruce C.

2005-06-21

A thermal support may receive one or more power electronic circuits. The support may aid in removing heat from the circuits through fluid circulating through the support. Power electronic circuits are thermally matched, such as between component layers and between the circuits and the support. The support may form a shield from both external EMI/RFI and from interference generated by operation of the power electronic circuits. Features may be provided to permit and enhance connection of the circuitry to external circuitry, such as improved terminal configurations. Modular units may be assembled that may be coupled to electronic circuitry via plug-in arrangements or through interface with a backplane or similar mounting and interconnecting structures.

Climate change impacts on hydropower in the Swiss and Italian Alps.

PubMed

Gaudard, Ludovic; Romerio, Franco; Dalla Valle, Francesco; Gorret, Roberta; Maran, Stefano; Ravazzani, Giovanni; Stoffel, Markus; Volonterio, Michela

2014-09-15

This paper provides a synthesis and comparison of methodologies and results obtained in several studies devoted to the impact of climate change on hydropower. By putting into perspective various case studies, we provide a broader context and improved understanding of climate changes on energy production. We also underline the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches used as far as technical, physical and economical aspects are concerned. Although the catchments under investigation are located close to each other in geographic terms (Swiss and Italian Alps), they represent a wide variety of situations which may be affected by differing evolutions for instance in terms of annual runoff. In this study, we also differentiate between run-of-river, storage and pumping-storage power plants. By integrating and comparing various analyses carried out in the framework of the EU-FP7 ACQWA project, this paper discusses the complexity as well as current and future issues of hydropower management in the entire Alpine region. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Thermal and Electrical Analysis of Power Semiconductor Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vafai, Kambiz

1997-01-01

The state-of-art power semiconductor devices require a thorough understanding of the thermal behavior for these devices. Traditional thermal analysis have (1) failed to account for the thermo-electrical interaction which is significant for power semiconductor devices operating at high temperature, and (2) failed to account for the thermal interactions among all the levels involved in, from the entire device to the gate micro-structure. Furthermore there is a lack of quantitative studies of the thermal breakdown phenomenon which is one of the major failure mechanisms for power electronics. This research work is directed towards addressing. Using a coupled thermal and electrical simulation, in which the drift-diffusion equations for the semiconductor and the energy equation for temperature are solved simultaneously, the thermo-electrical interactions at the micron scale of various junction structures are thoroughly investigated. The optimization of gate structure designs and doping designs is then addressed. An iterative numerical procedure which incorporates the thermal analysis at the device, chip and junction levels of the power device is proposed for the first time and utilized in a BJT power semiconductor device. In this procedure, interactions of different levels are fully considered. The thermal stability issue is studied both analytically and numerically in this research work in order to understand the mechanism for thermal breakdown.

Root Cause Failure Analysis of Stator Winding Insulation failure on 6.2 MW hydropower generator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adhi Nugroho, Agus; Widihastuti, Ida; Ary, As

2017-04-01

Insulation failure on generator winding insulation occurred in the Wonogiri Hydropower plant has caused stator damage since ase was short circuited to ground. The fault has made the generator stop to operate. Wonogiri Hydropower plant is one of the hydroelectric plants run by PT. Indonesia Power UBP Mrica with capacity 2 × 6.2 MW. To prevent damage to occur again on hydropower generators, an analysis is carried out using Root Cause Failure Analysis RCFA is a systematic approach to identify the root cause of the main orbasic root cause of a problem or a condition that is not wanted. There are several aspects to concerned such as: loading pattern and operations, protection systems, generator insulation resistance, vibration, the cleanliness of the air and the ambient air. Insulation damage caused by gradual inhomogeneous cooling at the surface of winding may lead in to partial discharge. In homogeneous cooling may present due to lattice hampered by dust and oil deposits. To avoid repetitive defects and unwanted condition above, it is necessary to perform major maintenance overhaul every 5000-6000 hours of operation.

Summary Report of Advanced Hydropower Innovations and Cost Reduction Workshop at Arlington, VA, November 5 & 6, 2015

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O'Connor, Patrick; Rugani, Kelsey; West, Anna

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind and Water Power Technology Office (WWPTO), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), hosted a day and half long workshop on November 5 and 6, 2015 in the Washington, D.C. metro area to discuss cost reduction opportunities in the development of hydropower projects. The workshop had a further targeted focus on the costs of small, low-head1 facilities at both non-powered dams (NPDs) and along undeveloped stream reaches (also known as New Stream-Reach Development or “NSD”). Workshop participants included a cross-section of seasoned experts, including project owners and developers, engineering and construction experts,more » conventional and next-generation equipment manufacturers, and others to identify the most promising ways to reduce costs and achieve improvements for hydropower projects.« less

Valuing the effects of hydropower development on watershed ecosystem services: Case studies in the Jiulong River Watershed, Fujian Province, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Guihua; Fang, Qinhua; Zhang, Luoping; Chen, Weiqi; Chen, Zhenming; Hong, Huasheng

2010-02-01

Hydropower development brings many negative impacts on watershed ecosystems which are not fully integrated into current decision-making largely because in practice few accept the cost and benefit beyond market. In this paper, a framework was proposed to valuate the effects on watershed ecosystem services caused by hydropower development. Watershed ecosystem services were classified into four categories of provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services; then effects on watershed ecosystem services caused by hydropower development were identified to 21 indicators. Thereafter various evaluation techniques including the market value method, opportunity cost approach, project restoration method, travel cost method, and contingent valuation method were determined and the models were developed to valuate these indicators reflecting specific watershed ecosystem services. This approach was applied to three representative hydropower projects (Daguan, Xizaikou and Tiangong) of Jiulong River Watershed in southeast China. It was concluded that for hydropower development: (1) the value ratio of negative impacts to positive benefits ranges from 64.09% to 91.18%, indicating that the negative impacts of hydropower development should be critically studied during its environmental administration process; (2) the biodiversity loss and water quality degradation (together accounting for 80-94%) are the major negative impacts on watershed ecosystem services; (3) the average environmental cost per unit of electricity is up to 0.206 Yuan/kW h, which is about three quarters of its on-grid power tariff; and (4) the current water resource fee accounts for only about 4% of its negative impacts value, therefore a new compensatory method by paying for ecosystem services is necessary for sustainable hydropower development. These findings provide a clear picture of both positive and negative effects of hydropower development for decision-makers in the monetary term, and also provide a

Managing sustainable development conflicts: the impact of stakeholders in small-scale hydropower schemes.

PubMed

Watkin, Laura Jane; Kemp, Paul S; Williams, Ian D; Harwood, Ian A

2012-06-01

The growing importance of the environment and its management has simultaneously emphasized the benefits of hydroelectric power and its environmental costs. In a changing policy climate, giving importance to renewable energy development and environmental protection, conflict potential between stakeholders is considerable. Navigation of conflict determines the scheme constructed, making sustainable hydropower a function of human choice. To meet the needs of practitioners, greater understanding of stakeholder conflict is needed. This paper presents an approach to illustrate the challenges that face small-scale hydropower development as perceived by the stakeholders involved, and how they influence decision-making. Using Gordleton Mill, Hampshire (UK), as an illustrative case, soft systems methodology, a systems modeling approach, was adopted. Through individual interviews, a range of problems were identified and conceptually modeled. Stakeholder bias towards favoring economic appraisal over intangible social and environmental aspects was identified; costs appeared more influential than profit. Conceptual evaluation of the requirements to meet a stakeholder-approved solution suggested a complex linear systems approach, considerably different from the real-life situation. The stakeholders introduced bias to problem definition by transferring self-perceived issues onto the project owner. Application of soft systems methodology caused a shift in project goals away from further investigation towards consideration of project suitability. The challenge of sustainable hydropower is global, with a need to balance environmental, economic, and social concerns. It is clear that in this type of conflict, an individual can significantly influence outcomes; highlighting the need for more structured approaches to deal with stakeholder conflicts in sustainable hydropower development.

Managing Sustainable Development Conflicts: The Impact of Stakeholders in Small-Scale Hydropower Schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watkin, Laura Jane; Kemp, Paul S.; Williams, Ian D.; Harwood, Ian A.

2012-06-01

The growing importance of the environment and its management has simultaneously emphasized the benefits of hydroelectric power and its environmental costs. In a changing policy climate, giving importance to renewable energy development and environmental protection, conflict potential between stakeholders is considerable. Navigation of conflict determines the scheme constructed, making sustainable hydropower a function of human choice. To meet the needs of practitioners, greater understanding of stakeholder conflict is needed. This paper presents an approach to illustrate the challenges that face small-scale hydropower development as perceived by the stakeholders involved, and how they influence decision-making. Using Gordleton Mill, Hampshire (UK), as an illustrative case, soft systems methodology, a systems modeling approach, was adopted. Through individual interviews, a range of problems were identified and conceptually modeled. Stakeholder bias towards favoring economic appraisal over intangible social and environmental aspects was identified; costs appeared more influential than profit. Conceptual evaluation of the requirements to meet a stakeholder-approved solution suggested a complex linear systems approach, considerably different from the real-life situation. The stakeholders introduced bias to problem definition by transferring self-perceived issues onto the project owner. Application of soft systems methodology caused a shift in project goals away from further investigation towards consideration of project suitability. The challenge of sustainable hydropower is global, with a need to balance environmental, economic, and social concerns. It is clear that in this type of conflict, an individual can significantly influence outcomes; highlighting the need for more structured approaches to deal with stakeholder conflicts in sustainable hydropower development.

Pv-Thermal Solar Power Assembly

DOEpatents

Ansley, Jeffrey H.; Botkin, Jonathan D.; Dinwoodie, Thomas L.

2001-10-02

A flexible solar power assembly includes a flexible photovoltaic device attached to a flexible thermal solar collector. The solar power assembly can be rolled up for transport and then unrolled for installation on a surface, such as the roof or side wall of a building or other structure, by use of adhesive and/or other types of fasteners.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - eCare Solar Thermal Project |

Science.gov Websites

Concentrating Solar Power | NREL eCare Solar Thermal Project This page provides information on eCare Solar Thermal Project, a concentrating solar power (CSP) project, with data organized by Project Name: eCare Solar Thermal Project Country: Morocco Location: Undefined Owner(s): CNIM (100

Power Electronics Thermal Management R&D (Presentation)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Waye, S.

2014-11-01

This project will investigate and develop thermal-management strategies for wide bandgap (WBG)-based power electronics systems. Research will be carried out to deal with thermal aspects at the module- and system-level. Module-level research will focus on die- and substrate-integrated cooling strategies and heat-transfer enhancement technologies. System-level research will focus on thermal-management strategies for the entire power electronics system to enable smart packaging solutions. One challenge with WBG device-based power electronics is that although losses in the form of heat may be lower, the footprint of the components is also likely to be reduced to reduce cost, weight, and volume. Combined withmore » higher operational temperatures, this creates higher heat fluxes which much be removed from a smaller footprint, requiring advanced cooling strategies.« less

A New Tool for Environmental and Economic Optimization of Hydropower Operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, S.; Hayse, J. W.

2012-12-01

As part of a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers from Argonne, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories collaborated on the development of an integrated toolset to enhance hydropower operational decisions related to economic value and environmental performance. As part of this effort, we developed an analytical approach (Index of River Functionality, IRF) and an associated software tool to evaluate how well discharge regimes achieve ecosystem management goals for hydropower facilities. This approach defines site-specific environmental objectives using relationships between environmental metrics and hydropower-influenced flow characteristics (e.g., discharge or temperature), with consideration given to seasonal timing, duration, and return frequency requirements for the environmental objectives. The IRF approach evaluates the degree to which an operational regime meets each objective and produces a score representing how well that regime meets the overall set of defined objectives. When integrated with other components in the toolset that are used to plan hydropower operations based upon hydrologic forecasts and various constraints on operations, the IRF approach allows an optimal release pattern to be developed based upon tradeoffs between environmental performance and economic value. We tested the toolset prototype to generate a virtual planning operation for a hydropower facility located in the Upper Colorado River basin as a demonstration exercise. We conducted planning as if looking five months into the future using data for the recently concluded 2012 water year. The environmental objectives for this demonstration were related to spawning and nursery habitat for endangered fishes using metrics associated with maintenance of instream habitat and reconnection of the main channel with floodplain wetlands in a representative reach of the river. We also applied existing mandatory operational constraints for the

Storage systems for solar thermal power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calogeras, J. E.; Gordon, L. H.

1978-01-01

The development status is reviewed of some thermal energy storage technologies specifically oriented towards providing diurnal heat storage for solar central power systems and solar total energy systems. These technologies include sensible heat storage in caverns and latent heat storage using both active and passive heat exchange processes. In addition, selected thermal storage concepts which appear promising to a variety of advanced solar thermal system applications are discussed.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - eLLO Solar Thermal Project |

Science.gov Websites

Concentrating Solar Power | NREL eLLO Solar Thermal Project This page provides information on Llo Solar Thermal Project, a concentrating solar power (CSP) project, with data organized by Name: eLLO Solar Thermal Project (Llo) Country: France Location: Llo (Pyrénées Orientales) Owner(s

IMPLEMENTING PRACTICAL PICO-HYDROPOWER

EPA Science Inventory

Deliverables for this proposal will be energy output data modeled from experimental testing of the hydropower unit and monitoring of the stormwater handling infrastructure in the GIS building; along with a design and engineering plan for implementation and building integrat...

Estimation of the cost of electro-mechanical equipment for small hydropower plants - review and comparison of methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipiński, Seweryn; Olkowski, Tomasz

2017-10-01

The estimate of the cost of electro-mechanical equipment for new small hydropower plants most often amounts to about 30-40% of the total budget. In case of modernization of existing installations, this estimation represents the main cost. This matter constitutes a research problem for at least few decades. Many models have been developed for that purpose. The aim of our work was to collect and analyse formulas that allow estimation of the cost of investment in electro-mechanical equipment for small hydropower plants. Over a dozen functions were analysed. To achieve the aim of our work, these functions were converted into the form allowing their comparison. Then the costs were simulated with respect to plants' powers and net heads; such approach is novel and allows deeper discussion of the problem, as well as drawing broader conclusions. The following conclusions can be drawn: significant differences in results obtained by using various formulas were observed; there is a need for a wide study based on national investments in small hydropower plants that would allow to develop equations based on local data; the obtained formulas would let to determinate the costs of modernization or a new construction of small hydropower plant more precisely; special attention should be payed to formulas considering turbine type.

Wynoochee Hydropower/Fish Hatchery Study: Draft Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-11-01

c . Distribute any energy and capacity which is produced from the hydropower facility. d . Furnish power free of cost to the United States for...and the State of Washington would be the local sponsor of the fish C -35 L NPSEN-PL-HP Honorable John D . Spellman hatchery. The combined project would...sharing poli cy, provi~de a cash contribution equal to 10 percent of the allocated 3 C -

Cumulative effects of cascade hydropower stations on total dissolved gas supersaturation.

PubMed

Ma, Qian; Li, Ran; Feng, Jingjie; Lu, Jingying; Zhou, Qin

2018-05-01

Elevated levels of total dissolved gas (TDG) may occur downstream of dams during the spill process. These high levels would increase the incidence of gas bubble disease in fish and cause severe environmental impacts. With increasing numbers of cascade hydropower stations being built or planned, the cumulative effects of TDG supersaturation are becoming increasingly prominent. The TDG saturation distribution in the downstream reaches of the Jinsha River was studied to investigate the cumulative effects of TDG supersaturation resulting from the cascade hydropower stations. A comparison of the effects of the joint operation and the single operation of two hydropower stations (XLD and XJB) was performed to analyze the risk degree to fish posed by TDG supersaturation. The results showed that water with supersaturated TDG generated at the upstream cascade can be transported to the downstream power station, leading to cumulative TDG supersaturation effects. Compared with the single operation of XJB, the joint operation of both stations produced a much higher TDG saturation downstream of XJB, especially during the non-flood discharge period. Moreover, the duration of high TDG saturation and the lengths of the lethal and sub-lethal areas were much higher in the joint operation scenario, posing a greater threat to fish and severely damaging the environment. This work provides a scientific basis for strategies to reduce TDG supersaturation to the permissible level and minimize the potential risk of supersaturated TDG.

Small spacecraft power and thermal subsystems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eakman, D.; Lambeck, R.; Mackowski, M.; Slifer, L., Jr.

1994-01-01

This white paper provides a general guide to the conceptual design of satellite power and thermal control subsystems with special emphasis on the unique design aspects associated with small satellites. The operating principles of these technologies are explained and performance characteristics of current and projected components are provided. A tutorial is presented on the design process for both power and thermal subsystems, with emphasis on unique issues relevant to small satellites. The ability of existing technology to meet future performance requirements is discussed. Conclusions and observations are presented that stress cost-effective, high-performance design solutions.

DOE Hydropower Program biennial report 1996-1997 (with an updated annotated bibliography)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rinehart, B.N.; Francfort, J.E.; Sommers, G.L.

1997-06-01

This report, the latest in a series of biennial Hydropower Program reports sponsored by the US Department of Energy, summarizes the research and development and technology transfer activities of fiscal years 1996 and 1997. The report discusses the activities in the six areas of the hydropower program: advanced hydropower turbine systems; environmental research; hydropower research and development; renewable Indian energy resources; resource assessment; and technology transfer. The report also includes an annotated bibliography of reports pertinent to hydropower, written by the staff of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Federal and state agencies, cities, metropolitanmore » water districts, irrigation companies, and public and independent utilities. Most reports are available from the National Technical Information Service.« less

Influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation on global hydropower production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ng, Jia Yi; Turner, Sean; Galelli, Stefano

2016-04-01

Hydropower contributes significantly to meeting the world's energy demand, accounting for at least 16% of total electrical output. Its role as a mature and cost competitive renewable energy source is expected to become increasingly important as the world transits to a low-carbon economy. A key component of hydropower production is runoff, which is highly dependent on precipitation and other climate variables. As such, it becomes critical to understand how the drivers of climate variability impact hydropower production. One globally-important driver is the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). While it is known that ENSO influences hydrological processes, the potential value of its associated teleconnection in design related tasks has yet to be explored at the global scale. Our work seeks to characterize the impact of ENSO on global hydropower production so as to quantify the potential for increased production brought about by incorporating climate information within reservoir operating models. We study over 1,500 hydropower reservoirs - representing more than half the world's hydropower capacity. A historical monthly reservoir inflow time series is assigned to each reservoir from a 0.5 degree gridded global runoff dataset. Reservoir operating rules are designed using stochastic dynamic programming, and storage dynamics are simulated to assess performance under the climate conditions of the 20th century. Results show that hydropower reservoirs in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and Eastern China are strongly influenced by ENSO episodes. Statistically significant lag correlations between ENSO indicators and hydropower production demonstrate predictive skill with lead times up to several months. Our work highlights the potential for using these indicators to increase the contribution of existing hydropower plants to global energy supplies.

Hydropower in the Southeast: Balancing Lakeview and Production Optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engstrom, J.

2017-12-01

Hydropower is the most important source of renewable electricity in Southeastern U.S. However, the region is repeatedly struck by droughts, and there are many conflicting interests in the limited water resource. This study takes a historical perspective and investigates how hydropower production patterns have changed over time, considering both natural drivers and human dimensions. Hydropower production is strongly tied to the natural variability of large-scale atmospheric drivers (teleconnections) as they affect the water availability in the whole river system and partly also the market demand. To balance the water resource between different interests is a complex task, and the conflicting interests vary by basin, sometimes over a relatively small geographic area. Here road networks adjacent to the hydropower reservoirs are used as an indicator of human development and recreational activities. Through a network analysis of the historical development of road networks surrounding the reservoir, the local and regional conflicting interests are identified and the influence on renewable electricity production quantified.

Design study on the efficiency of the thermal scheme of power unit of thermal power plants in hot climates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sedlov, A.; Dorokhov, Y.; Rybakov, B.; Nenashev, A.

2017-11-01

At the stage of pre-proposals unit of the thermal power plants for regions with a hot climate requires a design study on the efficiency of possible options for the structure of the thermal circuit and a set of key parameters. In this paper, the thermal circuit of the condensing unit powerfully 350 MW. The main feature of the external conditions of thermal power plants in hot climates is the elevated temperature of cooling water of the turbine condensers. For example, in the Persian Gulf region as the cooling water is sea water. In the hot season of the year weighted average sea water temperature of 30.9 °C and during the cold season to 22.8 °C. From the turbine part of the steam is supplied to the distillation-desalination plant. In the hot season of the year heat scheme with pressure fresh pair of 23.54 MPa, temperature 570/560 °C and feed pump with electric drive (EDP) is characterized by a efficiency net of 0.25% higher than thermal schem with feed turbine pump (TDP). However, the supplied power unit with PED is less by 11.6 MW. Calculations of thermal schemes in all seasons of the year allowed us to determine the difference in the profit margin of units of the TDP and EDP. During the year the unit with the TDP provides the ability to obtain the profit margin by 1.55 million dollars more than the unit EDP. When using on the market subsidized price of electricity (Iran) marginal profit of a unit with TDP more at 7.25 million dollars.

Thermal storage requirements for parabolic dish solar power plants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wen, L.; Steele, H.

1980-01-01

The cost effectiveness of a high temperature thermal storage system is investigated for a representative parabolic dish solar power plant. The plant supplies electrical power in accordance with a specific, seasonally varying demand profile. The solar power received by the plant is supplemented by power from fuel combustion. The cost of electricity generated by the solar power plant is calculated, using the cost of mass-producible subsystems (specifically, parabolic dishes, receivers, and power conversion units) now being designed for this type of solar plant. The trade-off between fuel and thermal storage is derived in terms of storage effectiveness, the cost of storage devices, and the cost of fuel. Thermal storage requirements, such as storage capacity, storage effectiveness, and storage cost are established based on the cost of fuel and the overall objective of minimizing the cost of the electricity produced by the system. As the cost of fuel increases at a rate faster than general inflation, thermal storage systems in the $40 to $70/kWthr range could become cost effective in the near future.

PV/thermal solar power assembly

DOEpatents

Ansley, Jeffrey H.; Botkin, Jonathan D.; Dinwoodie, Thomas L.

2004-01-13

A flexible solar power assembly (2) includes a flexible photovoltaic device (16) attached to a flexible thermal solar collector (4). The solar power assembly can be rolled up for transport and then unrolled for installation on a surface, such as the roof (20, 25) or side wall of a building or other structure, by use of adhesive and/or other types of fasteners (23).

Exploring the impact of co-varying water availability and energy price on productivity and profitability of Alpine hydropower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anghileri, Daniela; Botter, Martina; Castelletti, Andrea; Burlando, Paolo

2016-04-01

Alpine hydropower systems are experiencing dramatic changes both from the point of view of hydrological conditions, e.g., water availability and frequency of extremes events, and of energy market conditions, e.g., partial or total liberalization of the market and increasing share of renewable power sources. Scientific literature has, so far, mostly focused on the analysis of climate change impacts and associated uncertainty on hydropower operation, underlooking the consequences that socio-economic changes, e.g., energy demand and/or price changes, can have on hydropower productivity and profitability. In this work, we analyse how hydropower reservoir operation is affected by changes in both water availability and energy price. We consider stochastically downscaled climate change scenarios of precipitation and temperature to simulate reservoir inflows using a physically explicit hydrological model. We consider different scenarios of energy demand and generation mix to simulate energy prices using an electricity market model, which includes different generation sources, demand sinks, and features of the transmission lines. We then use Multi-Objective optimization techniques to design the operation of hydropower reservoirs for different purposes, e.g. maximization of revenue and/or energy production. The objective of the work is to assess how the tradeoffs between the multiple operating objectives evolve under different co-varying climate change and socio-economic scenarios and to assess the adaptive capacity of the system. The modeling framework is tested on the real-world case study of the Mattmark reservoir in Switzerland.

Developing hydropower in Washington state. Volume 2: An electricity marketing manual

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, J. W.; McCoy, G. A.

1982-03-01

An electricity marketing manual for the potential small and micro-hydroelectric project developer within the state of Washington is presented. Public utility regulatory policies (PURPA) requires electric utilities to interconnect with and pay a rate based on their full avoided costs for the purchase of electrical output from qualifying small power production facilities. The determination of avoided costs, as business organizational considerations, utility interface concerns, interconnection requirements, metering options, and liability and wheeling are discussed. The utility responses are summarized, legislation which is of importance to hydropower developers and the powers and functions of the authorities responsible for enforcing the mandate of PURPA are described.

Energy comparison between solar thermal power plant and photovoltaic power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novosel, Urška; Avsec, Jurij

2017-07-01

The combined use of renewable energy and alternative energy systems and better efficiency of energy devices is a promising approach to reduce effects due to global warming in the world. On the basis of first and second law of thermodynamics we could optimize the processes in the energy sector. The presented paper shows the comparison between solar thermal power plant and photovoltaic power plant in terms of energy, exergy and life cycle analysis. Solar thermal power plant produces electricity with basic Rankine cycle, using solar tower and solar mirrors to produce high fluid temperature. Heat from the solar system is transferred by using a heat exchanger to Rankine cycle. Both power plants produce hydrogen via electrolysis. The paper shows the global efficiency of the system, regarding production of the energy system.

Hydrograph variances over different timescales in hydropower production networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zmijewski, Nicholas; Wörman, Anders

2016-08-01

The operation of water reservoirs involves a spectrum of timescales based on the distribution of stream flow travel times between reservoirs, as well as the technical, environmental, and social constraints imposed on the operation. In this research, a hydrodynamically based description of the flow between hydropower stations was implemented to study the relative importance of wave diffusion on the spectrum of hydrograph variance in a regulated watershed. Using spectral decomposition of the effluence hydrograph of a watershed, an exact expression of the variance in the outflow response was derived, as a function of the trends of hydraulic and geomorphologic dispersion and management of production and reservoirs. We show that the power spectra of involved time-series follow nearly fractal patterns, which facilitates examination of the relative importance of wave diffusion and possible changes in production demand on the outflow spectrum. The exact spectral solution can also identify statistical bounds of future demand patterns due to limitations in storage capacity. The impact of the hydraulic description of the stream flow on the reservoir discharge was examined for a given power demand in River Dalälven, Sweden, as function of a stream flow Peclet number. The regulation of hydropower production on the River Dalälven generally increased the short-term variance in the effluence hydrograph, whereas wave diffusion decreased the short-term variance over periods of <1 week, depending on the Peclet number (Pe) of the stream reach. This implies that flow variance becomes more erratic (closer to white noise) as a result of current production objectives.

75 FR 65620 - Inglis Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Ready for Environmental Analysis and Soliciting...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-26

... Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Ready for Environmental Analysis and Soliciting Comments...: Inglis Hydropower, LLC. e. Name of Project: Inglis Hydropower Project. f. Location: The project would be... ready for environmental analysis at this time. l. The proposed 2.0-megawatt Inglis Hydropower Project...

Squeezing Every Drop of Value from Federal Hydropower under a Continually Challenging Changing Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kyriss, L.

2011-12-01

Western Area Power Administration sells and delivers hydropower from 56 plants at Federal dams as far east as the Missouri River to the San Juaquin River in California. Between these bookends lies the most litigated river in the nation-the Colorado and its tributaries. This river-now dammed and controlled-features vast recreational facilities and wildlife habitat scattered along its length. The river also sustains irrigated agricultural and provides water and power for 3.5 million people. The Upper Basin powerplants include Flaming Gorge on the Green in Wyoming, the Aspinall cascade on the Gunnison in western Colorado and Glen Canyon on the Utah-Arizona border. The three Federal dams in the lower basin are Hoover in southern Nevada and Parker and Davis on the Arizona-California border. Western's nearly 800 customers include municipalities, cooperatives, public utility and irrigation districts, state and Federal agencies and Federally recognized tribes. Western's goal in serving these communities across its 15-state territory is to maximize the value of that hydropower while providing least-cost service and facilitating widespread use of this Federal resource. As one of six Federal agencies charged with balancing the use of the Colorado's resources, Western must work with its Federal partners the seven basin states and a variety of stakeholders to protect the Federal hydropower resource while seeking to maximize its value as a clean, renewable, emission-free, reliable, low-cost source of electricity. These competing needs, uses and priorities include: 1. Providing streamflows and water quality sufficient to restore self-sustaining populations of four native endangered fish 2. Provide environments that support world class trout fisheries immediately below several of the Federal dams 3. Using river flows to retain sediment and shape sediment resources that provide camping beaches for river recreationists and habitat for riverine plant and animal communities 4

Ocean thermal gradient hydraulic power plant.

PubMed

Beck, E J

1975-07-25

Solar energy stored in the oceans may be used to generate power by exploiting ploiting thermal gradients. A proposed open-cycle system uses low-pressure steam to elevate vate water, which is then run through a hydraulic turbine to generate power. The device is analogous to an air lift pump.

78 FR 62351 - North Side Canal Company; Notice of Preliminary Determination of a Qualifying Conduit Hydropower...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-18

... The facility is Y HREA. constructed, operated, or maintained for the generation of electric power and... Conduit Hydropower Facility Satisfies Statutory provision Description (Y/N) FPA 30(a)(3)(A), as amended by The conduit the facility Y HREA. uses is a tunnel, canal, pipeline, aqueduct, flume, ditch, or similar...

An Isotope-Powered Thermal Storage unit for space applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lisano, Michael E.; Rose, M. F.

1991-01-01

An Isotope-Powered Thermal Storage Unit (ITSU), that would store and utilize heat energy in a 'pulsed' fashion in space operations, is described. Properties of various radioisotopes are considered in conjunction with characteristics of thermal energy storage materials, to evaluate possible implementation of such a device. The utility of the unit is discussed in light of various space applications, including rocket propulsion, power generation, and spacecraft thermal management.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Rayspower Yumen 50MW Thermal Oil

Science.gov Websites

Trough project | Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Rayspower Yumen 50MW Thermal Oil Trough project Status Date: January 31, 2017 Project Overview Project Name: Rayspower Yumen 50MW Thermal Oil . Plant Configuration Solar Field Heat-Transfer Fluid Type: Thermal oil Power Block Turbine Capacity

Development activities, challenges and prospects for the hydropower sector in Austria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, Beatrice; Hauer, Christoph; Habersack, Helmut

2017-04-01

This contribution intends to give an overview of hydropower development activities in Austria and deepen the knowledge on actual strategies and planning documents. Thereby, the focus is on a climate and energy policy based perspective, also analyzing economic trends at the hydropower sector due to energy market changes in the last years. This includes a comparison with other political strategies and programs dealing with hydropower exploitation based on selected countries. With respect to technology developments, a concise review on technological innovations, such as hydrokinetic energy conversion systems, and new constructive designs of conventional hydropower plants in Austria will be given. Moreover, potential impacts on environment and aquatic ecosystems are described. Finally, key challenges and prospects will be identified and discussed.

Small hydropower plants standardization, between myth and reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paraschivescu, A. V.; Ahmad-Rashid, K.; Popa, F.; Popa, B.

2017-01-01

Many providers for small hydropower plants equipment have tried to standardize the components and even the entire equipment. So called “compact turbines” were launched on the market, ensuring the pre-designed solution of the modular components, but usually with lower efficiency then turbines specially designed for a certain site. For civil works it is possible to standardize some components, such as the powerhouse, the surge tank or the headrace, but not the intake and the weir. Part of the hydropower plants can be standardized, but not the entire project, because there are a lot of variables that influence the design. Among these, the dimension, materials and design of the canal and the penstock are given by the hydrology, topography and the geology of the project’s area. This paper presents an attempt at standardization by using different heads and different installed flows. The case study is made on the Lukosi River from Tanzania, because there is a good hydrological database on power and energy calculation. For the powerhouse, pressure tower and intake dimensioning, the assumptions and materials considered cover all challenges that could appear in the geological and topographical structure of the project’s area (worst case, most expensive). The study has highlighted African climatologic and hydrological conditions and the adapting of current technology to these conditions.

Uncertainty analysis in geospatial merit matrix–based hydropower resource assessment

DOE PAGES

Pasha, M. Fayzul K.; Yeasmin, Dilruba; Saetern, Sen; ...

2016-03-30

Hydraulic head and mean annual streamflow, two main input parameters in hydropower resource assessment, are not measured at every point along the stream. Translation and interpolation are used to derive these parameters, resulting in uncertainties. This study estimates the uncertainties and their effects on model output parameters: the total potential power and the number of potential locations (stream-reach). These parameters are quantified through Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) linking with a geospatial merit matrix based hydropower resource assessment (GMM-HRA) Model. The methodology is applied to flat, mild, and steep terrains. Results show that the uncertainty associated with the hydraulic head ismore » within 20% for mild and steep terrains, and the uncertainty associated with streamflow is around 16% for all three terrains. Output uncertainty increases as input uncertainty increases. However, output uncertainty is around 10% to 20% of the input uncertainty, demonstrating the robustness of the GMM-HRA model. Hydraulic head is more sensitive to output parameters in steep terrain than in flat and mild terrains. Furthermore, mean annual streamflow is more sensitive to output parameters in flat terrain.« less

New Small Hydropower Technology to be Deployed in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hadjerioua, Boualem; Opsahl, Egil; Gordon, Jim

2012-01-01

Earth By Design Inc, (EBD), in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Knight Pi sold and Co., and CleanPower AS, has responded to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) published by the Department of Energy (DOE) in April 2011. EBD submitted a proposal to install an innovative, small hydropower technology, the Turbinator, a Norwegian technology from CleanPower. The Turbinator combines an axial flow, fixed-blade Kaplan turbine and generator in a compact and sealed machine. This makes it a very simple and easy technology to be deployed and installed. DOE has awarded funding for this two-year project that will be implementedmore » in Culver, Oregon. ORNL with the collaboration of CleanPower, will assess and evaluate the technology before and during the manufacturing phase and produce a full report to DOE. The goal of this phase-one report is to provide DOE Head Quarters (HQ), water power program management, a report with findings about the performance, readiness, capability, strengths and weakness, limitation of the technology, and potential full-scale deployment and application in the United States. Because of the importance of this information to the conventional hydropower industry and regulators, preliminary results will rapidly be distributed in the form of conference presentations, ORNL/DOE technical reports (publically available online, and publications in the peer-reviewed, scientific literature. These reports will emphasize the relevance of the activities carried out over the two-year study (i.e., performance, robustness, capabilities, reliability, and cost of the Turbinator). A final report will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication that conveys the experimental findings and discusses their implications for the Turbinator application and implementation. Phase-two of the project consists of deployment, construction, and project operations. A detailed report on assessment and the performance of the project will be presented and

Power Electronics Thermal Management Research: Annual Progress Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moreno, Gilberto

The objective for this project is to develop thermal management strategies to enable efficient and high-temperature wide-bandgap (WBG)-based power electronic systems (e.g., emerging inverter and DC-DC converter). Reliable WBG devices are capable of operating at elevated temperatures (≥ 175 °Celsius). However, packaging WBG devices within an automotive inverter and operating them at higher junction temperatures will expose other system components (e.g., capacitors and electrical boards) to temperatures that may exceed their safe operating limits. This creates challenges for thermal management and reliability. In this project, system-level thermal analyses are conducted to determine the effect of elevated device temperatures on invertermore » components. Thermal modeling work is then conducted to evaluate various thermal management strategies that will enable the use of highly efficient WBG devices with automotive power electronic systems.« less

Solar Probe Plus MAG Sensor Thermal Design for Low Heater Power and Extreme Thermal Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Michael K.

2015-01-01

The heater power available for the Solar Probe Plus FIELDS MAG sensor is less than half of the heritage value for other missions. Nominally the MAG sensors are in the spacecraft's umbra. In the worst hot case, approximately 200 spacecraft communication downlinks, up to 10 hours each, are required at 0.7 AU. These downlinks require the spacecraft to slew 45 deg. about the Y-axis, exposing the MAG sensors and boom to sunlight. This paper presents the thermal design to meet the MAG sensor thermal requirements in the extreme thermal environment and with low heater power. A thermal balance test on the MAG sensor engineering model has verified the thermal design and correlated the thermal model for flight temperature predictions.

Recycled Thermal Energy from High Power Light Emitting Diode Light Source.

PubMed

Ji, Jae-Hoon; Jo, GaeHun; Ha, Jae-Geun; Koo, Sang-Mo; Kamiko, Masao; Hong, JunHee; Koh, Jung-Hyuk

2018-09-01

In this research, the recycled electrical energy from wasted thermal energy in high power Light Emitting Diode (LED) system will be investigated. The luminous efficiency of lights has been improved in recent years by employing the high power LED system, therefore energy efficiency was improved compared with that of typical lighting sources. To increase energy efficiency of high power LED system further, wasted thermal energy should be re-considered. Therefore, wasted thermal energy was collected and re-used them as electrical energy. The increased electrical efficiency of high power LED devices was accomplished by considering the recycled heat energy, which is wasted thermal energy from the LED. In this work, increased electrical efficiency will be considered and investigated by employing the high power LED system, which has high thermal loss during the operating time. For this research, well designed thermoelement with heat radiation system was employed to enhance the collecting thermal energy from the LED system, and then convert it as recycled electrical energy.

Disappearing rivers — The limits of environmental assessment for hydropower in India

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Erlewein, Alexander, E-mail: erlewein@sai.uni-heidelberg.de

2013-11-15

The mountain rivers of the Indian Himalaya possess a vast potential for hydropower generation. After decades of comparatively modest development recent years have seen a major intensification in the construction of new hydropower dams. Although increasingly portrayed as a form of renewable energy generation, hydropower development may lead to extensive alterations of fluvial systems and conflicts with resource use patterns of local communities. To appraise and reduce adverse effects is the purpose of statutory Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and corresponding mitigation plans. However, in the light of ambitious policies for hydropower expansion conventional approaches of environmental assessment are increasingly challengedmore » to keep up with the intensity and pace of development. This paper aims to explore the systemic limitations of environmental assessment for hydropower development in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Based on a qualitative methodology involving interviews with environmental experts, document reviews and field observations the study suggests that the current practice of constraining EIAs to the project level fails to address the larger effects of extensive hydropower development. Furthermore, it is critically discussed as to what extent the concept of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) might have the potential to overcome existing shortcomings.« less

Study of Thermal Control Systems for orbiting power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, H. R.

1981-01-01

Thermal control system designs were evaluated for the 25 kW power system. Factors considered include long operating life, high reliability, and meteoroid hazards to the space radiator. Based on a cost advantage, the bumpered pumped fluid radiator is recommended for the initial 25 kW power system and intermediate versions up to 50 kW. For advanced power systems with heat rejection rates above 50 kW the lower weight of the advanced heat pipe radiator offsets the higher cost and this design is recommended. The power system payloads heat rejection allocations studies show that a centralized heat rejection system is the most weight and cost effective approach. The thermal interface between the power system and the payloads was addressed and a concept for a contact heat exchanger that eliminates fluid transfer between the power system and the payloads was developed. Finally, a preliminary design of the thermal control system, with emphasis on the radiator and radiator deployment mechanism, is presented.

Applicability of advanced automotive heat engines to solar thermal power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beremand, D. G.; Evans, D. G.; Alger, D. L.

1981-01-01

The requirements of a solar thermal power system are reviewed and compared with the predicted characteristics of automobile engines under development. A good match is found in terms of power level and efficiency when the automobile engines, designed for maximum powers of 65-100 kW (87 to 133 hp) are operated to the nominal 20-40 kW electric output requirement of the solar thermal application. At these reduced power levels it appears that the automotive gas turbine and Stirling engines have the potential to deliver the 40+ percent efficiency goal of the solar thermal program.

Applicability of advanced automotive heat engines to solar thermal power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beremand, D. G.; Evans, D. G.; Alger, D. L.

The requirements of a solar thermal power system are reviewed and compared with the predicted characteristics of automobile engines under development. A good match is found in terms of power level and efficiency when the automobile engines, designed for maximum powers of 65-100 kW (87 to 133 hp) are operated to the nominal 20-40 kW electric output requirement of the solar thermal application. At these reduced power levels it appears that the automotive gas turbine and Stirling engines have the potential to deliver the 40+ percent efficiency goal of the solar thermal program.

Dependence of hydropower energy generation on forests in the Amazon Basin at local and regional scales.

PubMed

Stickler, Claudia M; Coe, Michael T; Costa, Marcos H; Nepstad, Daniel C; McGrath, David G; Dias, Livia C P; Rodrigues, Hermann O; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S

2013-06-04

Tropical rainforest regions have large hydropower generation potential that figures prominently in many nations' energy growth strategies. Feasibility studies of hydropower plants typically ignore the effect of future deforestation or assume that deforestation will have a positive effect on river discharge and energy generation resulting from declines in evapotranspiration (ET) associated with forest conversion. Forest loss can also reduce river discharge, however, by inhibiting rainfall. We used land use, hydrological, and climate models to examine the local "direct" effects (through changes in ET within the watershed) and the potential regional "indirect" effects (through changes in rainfall) of deforestation on river discharge and energy generation potential for the Belo Monte energy complex, one of the world's largest hydropower plants that is currently under construction on the Xingu River in the eastern Amazon. In the absence of indirect effects of deforestation, simulated deforestation of 20% and 40% within the Xingu River basin increased discharge by 4-8% and 10-12%, with similar increases in energy generation. When indirect effects were considered, deforestation of the Amazon region inhibited rainfall within the Xingu Basin, counterbalancing declines in ET and decreasing discharge by 6-36%. Under business-as-usual projections of forest loss for 2050 (40%), simulated power generation declined to only 25% of maximum plant output and 60% of the industry's own projections. Like other energy sources, hydropower plants present large social and environmental costs. Their reliability as energy sources, however, must take into account their dependence on forests.

Thermal management methods for compact high power LED arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christensen, Adam; Ha, Minseok; Graham, Samuel

2007-09-01

The package and system level temperature distributions of a high power (>1W) light emitting diode (LED) array has been investigated using numerical heat flow models. For this analysis, a thermal resistor network model was combined with a 3D finite element submodel of an LED structure to predict system and die level temperatures. The impact of LED array density, LED power density, and active versus passive cooling methods on device operation were calculated. In order to help understand the role of various thermal resistances in cooling such compact arrays, the thermal resistance network was analyzed in order to estimate the contributions from materials as well as active and passive cooling schemes. An analysis of thermal stresses and residual stresses in the die are also calculated based on power dissipation and convection heat transfer coefficients. Results show that the thermal stress in the GaN layer are compressive which can impact the band gap and performance of the LEDs.

High-resolution assessment of global technical and economic hydropower potential

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gernaat, David E. H. J.; Bogaart, Patrick W.; Vuuren, Detlef P. van; Biemans, Hester; Niessink, Robin

2017-10-01

Hydropower is the most important renewable energy source to date, providing over 72% of all renewable electricity globally. Yet, only limited information is available on the global potential supply of hydropower and the associated costs. Here we provide a high-resolution assessment of the technical and economic potential of hydropower at a near-global scale. Using 15"×15" discharge and 3"×3" digital elevation maps, we built virtual hydropower installations at >3.8 million sites across the globe and calculated their potential using cost optimization methods. This way we identified over 60,000 suitable sites, which together represent a remaining global potential of 9.49 PWh yr-1 below US0.50 kWh-1. The largest remaining potential is found in Asia Pacific (39%), South America (25%) and Africa (24%), of which a large part can be produced at low cost (

Sustainable hydropower in Lower Mekong Countries: Technical assessment and training travel report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hadjerioua, Boualem; Witt, Adam M.

. The mission of the ORNL Water Power Program is to develop technologies, decision-support tools, and methods of analysis that enable holistic management of water-dependent energy infrastructure and natural resources in support of the DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office (DOE-EERE), Federal hydropower agencies, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), energy producers, and other entities. In support of SIM, ORNL completed technical assessments of two hydropower plants owned and operated by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT): Vajiralongkorn (VRK), with an installed capacity of 300 MW, and Rajjaprabha (RPB), with an installed capacity of 240MW. Technical assessment is defined as the assessment of hydropower operation and performance, and the identification of potential opportunities for performance improvement through plant optimization. At each plant, the assessment included an initial analysis of hydropower operating and performance metrics, provided by dam owners. After this analysis, ORNL engaged with the plant management team in a skills exchange, where best practices, operational methods, and technical challenges were discussed. The technical assessment process was outlined to plant management followed by a presentation of preliminary results and analysis based on 50 days of operational data. EGAT has agreed to provide a full year of operational data so a complete and detailed assessment that captures seasonal variability can be completed. The results of these assessments and discussions will be used to develop a set of best practices, training, and procedure recommendations to improve the efficiency of the two assessed plants« less

solar thermal power systems advanced solar thermal technology project, advanced subsystems development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

The preliminary design for a prototype small (20 kWe) solar thermal electric generating unit was completed, consisting of several subsystems. The concentrator and the receiver collect solar energy and a thermal buffer storage with a transport system is used to provide a partially smoothed heat input to the Stirling engine. A fossil-fuel combustor is included in the receiver designs to permit operation with partial or no solar insolation (hybrid). The engine converts the heat input into mechanical action that powers a generator. To obtain electric power on a large scale, multiple solar modules will be required to operate in parallel. The small solar electric power plant used as a baseline design will provide electricity at remote sites and small communities.

Impacts of climate change, policy and Water-Energy-Food nexus on hydropower development

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Xiao; Li, Hong-Yi; Deng, Zhiqun Daniel; ...

2017-10-10

We report that hydropower plays an important role as the global energy system moves towards a less carbon-intensive and sustainable future as promoted under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article provides a systematic review of the impacts from policy, climate change and Water-Energy-Food (W-E-F) nexus on hydropower development at global scale. Asia, Africa and Latin America are hotspots promoting hydropower development with capacity expansion, while Europe and North America focus on performance improvement and environment impacts mitigation. Climate change is projected to improve gross hydropower potential (GHP) at high latitude of North Hemisphere and tropical Africa and decrease thatmore » in the US, South Africa and south and central Europe. Analysis from W-E-F nexus highlights the importance of integrated approaches as well as cross-sectoral coordination so as to improve resources use efficiency and achieve sustainable hydropower development. In conclusion, these three factors together shape the future of hydropower and need to be considered for planning and operation purpose.« less

Impacts of climate change, policy and Water-Energy-Food nexus on hydropower development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Xiao; Li, Hong-Yi; Deng, Zhiqun Daniel

We report that hydropower plays an important role as the global energy system moves towards a less carbon-intensive and sustainable future as promoted under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article provides a systematic review of the impacts from policy, climate change and Water-Energy-Food (W-E-F) nexus on hydropower development at global scale. Asia, Africa and Latin America are hotspots promoting hydropower development with capacity expansion, while Europe and North America focus on performance improvement and environment impacts mitigation. Climate change is projected to improve gross hydropower potential (GHP) at high latitude of North Hemisphere and tropical Africa and decrease thatmore » in the US, South Africa and south and central Europe. Analysis from W-E-F nexus highlights the importance of integrated approaches as well as cross-sectoral coordination so as to improve resources use efficiency and achieve sustainable hydropower development. In conclusion, these three factors together shape the future of hydropower and need to be considered for planning and operation purpose.« less

Use of the Legal-Institutional Analysis Model to assess hydropower licensing negotiations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burkardt, N.; Lamb, B.L.; Lamb, B.L.; Garcia de Jalon, D.; Sabaton, C.; Souchon, Y.; Tamai, N.; Robinette, H.R.; Waddle, T.J.; Brinson, A.

2003-01-01

In the United States, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is responsible for issuing or renewing licenses for hydropower projects owned and operated by power companies. During the licensing process, these companies are required to consult with agencies and other parties that are affected by project operating regimes. Typical participants include state and federal fish and wildlife agencies, environmental interest groups, and the FERC. One of the most difficult tasks facing participants is to reach agreement about what kinds of environmental conditions should be placed on license. Researchers at the United States Geological Survey developed a model to analyze the institutional context of natural resource disputes. The Legal-Institutional Analysis Model (LIAM) is a computerized model that allows an analyst to determine the likely behavior of each organization in a conflict. The model also analyzes the types and levels of negotiating power held by each organization. Researchers at the USGS have used the model in several cases involving hydropower license applications. To use the model, they facilitate workshops for stakeholder groups in order to develop a shared understanding of the likely obstacles and opportunities for successful resolution of the issues. This allows a systematic workshop analyses to develop strategies for successful negotiations, because they are able to better understand the negotiation problem and work more effectively with both their allies and their competitors.

Regional assessment of the hydropower potential of rivers in West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kling, Harald; Stanzel, Philipp; Fuchs, Martin

2016-04-01

The 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) face a constant shortage of energy supply, which limits sustained economic growth. Currently there are about 50 operational hydropower plants and about 40 more are under construction or refurbishment. The potential for future hydropower development - especially for small-scale plants in rural areas - is assumed to be large, but exact data are missing. This study supports the energy initiatives of the "ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency" (ECREEE) by assessing the hydropower potential of all rivers in West Africa. For more than 500,000 river reaches the hydropower potential was computed from channel slope and mean annual discharge. In large areas there is a lack of discharge observations. Therefore, an annual water balance model was used to simulate discharge. The model domain covers 5 Mio km², including e.g. the Niger, Volta, and Senegal River basins. The model was calibrated with observed data of 410 gauges, using precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data as inputs. Historic variations of observed annual discharge between 1950 and 2010 are simulated well by the model. As hydropower plants are investments with a lifetime of several decades we also assessed possible changes in future discharge due to climate change. To this end the water balance model was driven with bias-corrected climate projections of 15 Regional Climate Models for two emission scenarios of the CORDEX-Africa ensemble. The simulation results for the river network were up-scaled to sub-areas and national summaries. This information gives a regional quantification of the hydropower potential, expected climate change impacts, as well as a regional classification for general suitability (or non-suitability) of hydropower plant size - from small-scale to large projects.

A review on lithium-ion power battery thermal management technologies and thermal safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Zhoujian; Jia, Li; Ding, Yong; Dang, Chao; Li, Xuejiao

2017-10-01

Lithium-ion power battery has become one of the main power sources for electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles because of superior performance compared with other power sources. In order to ensure the safety and improve the performance, the maximum operating temperature and local temperature difference of batteries must be maintained in an appropriate range. The effect of temperature on the capacity fade and aging are simply investigated. The electrode structure, including electrode thickness, particle size and porosity, are analyzed. It is found that all of them have significant influences on the heat generation of battery. Details of various thermal management technologies, namely air based, phase change material based, heat pipe based and liquid based, are discussed and compared from the perspective of improving the external heat dissipation. The selection of different battery thermal management (BTM) technologies should be based on the cooling demand and applications, and liquid cooling is suggested being the most suitable method for large-scale battery pack charged/discharged at higher C-rate and in high-temperature environment. The thermal safety in the respect of propagation and suppression of thermal runaway is analyzed.

PNNL Fish Telemetry: Improving the Sustainability of Hydropower One Tag at a Time

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

Evaluating the environmental impact of hydropower is critical to the growth, development, and maintenance of this vital energy source. Operators, developers, and regulators often turn to animal telemetry to measure the effect of dams on fish populations. PNNL’s tagging portfolio consists of a range of tags suitable for a variety of applications from active tags slightly larger than a grain of rice to larger tags that power themselves via a fish’s natural movement.

Organizing Environmental Flow Frameworks to Meet Hydropower Mitigation Needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McManamay, Ryan A.; Brewer, Shannon K.; Jager, Henriette I.; Troia, Matthew J.

2016-09-01

The global recognition of the importance of natural flow regimes to sustain the ecological integrity of river systems has led to increased societal pressure on the hydropower industry to change plant operations to improve downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, a complete reinstatement of natural flow regimes is often unrealistic when balancing water needs for ecosystems, energy production, and other human uses. Thus, stakeholders must identify a prioritized subset of flow prescriptions that meet ecological objectives in light of realistic constraints. Yet, isolating aspects of flow regimes to restore downstream of hydropower facilities is among the greatest challenges of environmental flow science due, in part, to the sheer volume of available environmental flow tools in conjunction with complex negotiation-based regulatory procedures. Herein, we propose an organizational framework that structures information and existing flow paradigms into a staged process that assists stakeholders in implementing environmental flows for hydropower facilities. The framework identifies areas where regulations fall short of the needed scientific process, and provide suggestions for stakeholders to ameliorate those situations through advanced preparation. We highlight the strengths of existing flow paradigms in their application to hydropower settings and suggest when and where tools are most applicable. Our suggested framework increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the e-flow implementation process by rapidly establishing a knowledge base and decreasing uncertainty so more time can be devoted to filling knowledge gaps. Lastly, the framework provides the structure for a coordinated research agenda to further the science of environmental flows related to hydropower environments.

Organizing environmental flow frameworks to meet hydropower mitigation needs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McManamay, Ryan A.; Brewer, Shannon K.; Jager, Henriette I.

The global recognition of the importance of natural flow regimes to sustain the ecological integrity of river systems has led to increased societal pressure on the hydropower industry to change plant operations to improve downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, a complete reinstatement of natural flow regimes is often unrealistic when balancing water needs for ecosystems, energy production, and other human uses. Thus, stakeholders must identify a prioritized subset of flow prescriptions that meet ecological objectives in light of realistic constraints. Yet, isolating aspects of flow regimes to restore downstream of hydropower facilities is among the greatest challenges of environmental flow sciencemore » due, in part, to the sheer volume of available environmental flow tools in conjunction with complex negotiation-based regulatory procedures. Here, we propose an organizational framework that structures information and existing flow paradigms into a staged process that assists stakeholders in implementing environmental flows for hydropower facilities. The framework identifies areas where regulations fall short of the needed scientific process, and provide suggestions for stakeholders to ameliorate those situations through advanced preparation. We highlight the strengths of existing flow paradigms in their application to hydropower settings and suggest when and where tools are most applicable. In conclusion, our suggested framework increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the e-flow implementation process by rapidly establishing a knowledge base and decreasing uncertainty so more time can be devoted to filling knowledge gaps. As a result, the framework provides the structure for a coordinated research agenda to further the science of environmental flows related to hydropower environments.« less

Organizing environmental flow frameworks to meet hydropower mitigation needs

USGS Publications Warehouse

McManamay, Ryan A.; Brewer, Shannon K.; Jager, Henriette; Troia, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

The global recognition of the importance of natural flow regimes to sustain the ecological integrity of river systems has led to increased societal pressure on the hydropower industry to change plant operations to improve downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, a complete reinstatement of natural flow regimes is often unrealistic when balancing water needs for ecosystems, energy production, and other human uses. Thus, stakeholders must identify a prioritized subset of flow prescriptions that meet ecological objectives in light of realistic constraints. Yet, isolating aspects of flow regimes to restore downstream of hydropower facilities is among the greatest challenges of environmental flow science due, in part, to the sheer volume of available environmental flow tools in conjunction with complex negotiation-based regulatory procedures. Herein, we propose an organizational framework that structures information and existing flow paradigms into a staged process that assists stakeholders in implementing environmental flows for hydropower facilities. The framework identifies areas where regulations fall short of the needed scientific process, and provide suggestions for stakeholders to ameliorate those situations through advanced preparation. We highlight the strengths of existing flow paradigms in their application to hydropower settings and suggest when and where tools are most applicable. Our suggested framework increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the e-flow implementation process by rapidly establishing a knowledge base and decreasing uncertainty so more time can be devoted to filling knowledge gaps. Lastly, the framework provides the structure for a coordinated research agenda to further the science of environmental flows related to hydropower environments.

Organizing environmental flow frameworks to meet hydropower mitigation needs

DOE PAGES

McManamay, Ryan A.; Brewer, Shannon K.; Jager, Henriette I.; ...

2016-06-25

The global recognition of the importance of natural flow regimes to sustain the ecological integrity of river systems has led to increased societal pressure on the hydropower industry to change plant operations to improve downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, a complete reinstatement of natural flow regimes is often unrealistic when balancing water needs for ecosystems, energy production, and other human uses. Thus, stakeholders must identify a prioritized subset of flow prescriptions that meet ecological objectives in light of realistic constraints. Yet, isolating aspects of flow regimes to restore downstream of hydropower facilities is among the greatest challenges of environmental flow sciencemore » due, in part, to the sheer volume of available environmental flow tools in conjunction with complex negotiation-based regulatory procedures. Here, we propose an organizational framework that structures information and existing flow paradigms into a staged process that assists stakeholders in implementing environmental flows for hydropower facilities. The framework identifies areas where regulations fall short of the needed scientific process, and provide suggestions for stakeholders to ameliorate those situations through advanced preparation. We highlight the strengths of existing flow paradigms in their application to hydropower settings and suggest when and where tools are most applicable. In conclusion, our suggested framework increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the e-flow implementation process by rapidly establishing a knowledge base and decreasing uncertainty so more time can be devoted to filling knowledge gaps. As a result, the framework provides the structure for a coordinated research agenda to further the science of environmental flows related to hydropower environments.« less

Organizing Environmental Flow Frameworks to Meet Hydropower Mitigation Needs.

PubMed

McManamay, Ryan A; Brewer, Shannon K; Jager, Henriette I; Troia, Matthew J

2016-09-01

The global recognition of the importance of natural flow regimes to sustain the ecological integrity of river systems has led to increased societal pressure on the hydropower industry to change plant operations to improve downstream aquatic ecosystems. However, a complete reinstatement of natural flow regimes is often unrealistic when balancing water needs for ecosystems, energy production, and other human uses. Thus, stakeholders must identify a prioritized subset of flow prescriptions that meet ecological objectives in light of realistic constraints. Yet, isolating aspects of flow regimes to restore downstream of hydropower facilities is among the greatest challenges of environmental flow science due, in part, to the sheer volume of available environmental flow tools in conjunction with complex negotiation-based regulatory procedures. Herein, we propose an organizational framework that structures information and existing flow paradigms into a staged process that assists stakeholders in implementing environmental flows for hydropower facilities. The framework identifies areas where regulations fall short of the needed scientific process, and provide suggestions for stakeholders to ameliorate those situations through advanced preparation. We highlight the strengths of existing flow paradigms in their application to hydropower settings and suggest when and where tools are most applicable. Our suggested framework increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the e-flow implementation process by rapidly establishing a knowledge base and decreasing uncertainty so more time can be devoted to filling knowledge gaps. Lastly, the framework provides the structure for a coordinated research agenda to further the science of environmental flows related to hydropower environments.

Valuing trade-offs of river ecosystem services in large hydropower development in Tibet, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, B.; Xu, L.

2015-12-01

Hydropower development can be considered as a kind of trade-offs of ecosystem services generated by human activity for their economic and energy demand, because it can increase some river ecosystem services but decrease others. In this context, an ecosystem service trade-off framework in hydropower development was proposed in this paper. It aims to identify the ecological cost of river ecosystem and serve for the ecological compensation during hydropower development, for the hydropower services cannot completely replace the regulating services of river ecosystem. The valuing trade-offs framework was integrated by the influenced ecosystem services identification and ecosystem services valuation, through ecological monitoring and ecological economic methods, respectively. With a case study of Pondo hydropower project in Tibet, China, the valuing trade-offs of river ecosystem services in large hydropower development was illustrated. The typical ecological factors including water, sediment and soil were analyzed in this study to identify the altered river ecosystem services by Pondo hydropower project. Through the field monitoring and valuation, the results showed that the Lhasa River ecosystem services value could be changed annually by Pondo hydropower project with the increment of 5.7E+8CNY, and decrement of 5.1E+7CNY. The ecological compensation for river ecosystem should be focus on water and soil conservation, reservoir dredging and tributaries habitat protection.

Thermal control system for Space Station Freedom photovoltaic power module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hacha, Thomas H.; Howard, Laura

1994-01-01

The electric power for Space Station Freedom (SSF) is generated by the solar arrays of the photovoltaic power modules (PVM's) and conditioned, controlled, and distributed by a power management and distribution system. The PVM's are located outboard of the alpha gimbals of SSF. A single-phase thermal control system is being developed to provide thermal control of PVM electrical equipment and energy storage batteries. This system uses ammonia as the coolant and a direct-flow deployable radiator. The description and development status of the PVM thermal control system is presented.

Thermal control system for Space Station Freedom photovoltaic power module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hacha, Thomas H.; Howard, Laura S.

1992-01-01

The electric power for Space Station Freedom (SSF) is generated by the solar arrays of the photovoltaic power modules (PVM's) and conditioned, controlled, and distributed by a power management and distribution system. The PVM's are located outboard of the alpha gimbals of SSF. A single-phase thermal control system is being developed to provide thermal control of PVM electrical equipment and energy storage batteries. This system uses ammonia as the coolant and a direct-flow deployable radiator. This paper presents the description and development status of the PVM thermal control system.

Fishy Business: Response of Stream Fish Assemblages to Small Hydro-power Plant Induced Flow Alteration in the Western Ghats, Karnataka

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, S. T.; Krishnaswamy, J.; Bhalla, R. S.

2017-12-01

Alteration of natural flow regimes is considered as a major threat to freshwater fish assemblages as it disturbs the water quality and micro-habitat features of rivers. Small hydro-power (SHP), which is being promoted as a clean and green substitute for large hydro-power generation, alters the natural flow regime of head-water streams by flow diversion and regulation. The effects of altered flow regime on tropical stream fish assemblages, driven by seasonality induced perturbations to water quality and microhabitat parameters are largely understudied. My study examined the potential consequences of flow alteration by SHPs on fish assemblages in two tributaries of the west-flowing Yettinahole River which flows through the reserved forests of Sakleshpur in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. The flow in one of the tributaries followed natural flow regime while the other comprised three regimes: a near-natural flow regime above the dam, rapidly varying discharge below the dam and a dewatered regime caused by flow diversion. The study found that the altered flow regime differed from natural flow regime in terms of water quality, microhabitat heterogeneity and fish assemblage response, each indicative of the type of flow alteration. Fish assemblage in the natural flow regime was characterized by a higher catch per site, a strong association of endemic and trophic specialist species. The flow regime above the dam was found to mimic some components of the natural flow regime, both ecological and environmental. Non endemic, generalist and pool tolerant species were associated with the dewatered regime. There was a lack of strong species-regime association and an overall low catch per site for the flow regulated regime below the dam. This study highlights the consequences of altered flows on the composition of freshwater fish assemblages and portrays the potential of freshwater fish as indicators of the degree and extent of flow alteration. The study recommends the need for

Identifying high energy density stream-reaches through refined geospatial resolution in hydropower resource assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pasha, M. Fayzul K.; Yang, Majntxov; Yeasmin, Dilruba

Benefited from the rapid development of multiple geospatial data sets on topography, hydrology, and existing energy-water infrastructures, the reconnaissance level hydropower resource assessment can now be conducted using geospatial models in all regions of the US. Furthermore, the updated techniques can be used to estimate the total undeveloped hydropower potential across all regions, and may eventually help identify further hydropower opportunities that were previously overlooked. To enhance the characterization of higher energy density stream-reaches, this paper explored the sensitivity of geospatial resolution on the identification of hydropower stream-reaches using the geospatial merit matrix based hydropower resource assessment (GMM-HRA) model. GMM-HRAmore » model simulation was conducted with eight different spatial resolutions on six U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 8-digit hydrologic units (HUC8) located at three different terrains; Flat, Mild, and Steep. The results showed that more hydropower potential from higher energy density stream-reaches can be identified with increasing spatial resolution. Both Flat and Mild terrains exhibited lower impacts compared to the Steep terrain. Consequently, greater attention should be applied when selecting the discretization resolution for hydropower resource assessments in the future study.« less

Identifying high energy density stream-reaches through refined geospatial resolution in hydropower resource assessment

DOE PAGES

Pasha, M. Fayzul K.; Yang, Majntxov; Yeasmin, Dilruba; ...

2016-01-07

Benefited from the rapid development of multiple geospatial data sets on topography, hydrology, and existing energy-water infrastructures, the reconnaissance level hydropower resource assessment can now be conducted using geospatial models in all regions of the US. Furthermore, the updated techniques can be used to estimate the total undeveloped hydropower potential across all regions, and may eventually help identify further hydropower opportunities that were previously overlooked. To enhance the characterization of higher energy density stream-reaches, this paper explored the sensitivity of geospatial resolution on the identification of hydropower stream-reaches using the geospatial merit matrix based hydropower resource assessment (GMM-HRA) model. GMM-HRAmore » model simulation was conducted with eight different spatial resolutions on six U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 8-digit hydrologic units (HUC8) located at three different terrains; Flat, Mild, and Steep. The results showed that more hydropower potential from higher energy density stream-reaches can be identified with increasing spatial resolution. Both Flat and Mild terrains exhibited lower impacts compared to the Steep terrain. Consequently, greater attention should be applied when selecting the discretization resolution for hydropower resource assessments in the future study.« less

Biofuel Crops Expansion: Evaluating the Impact on the Agricultural Water Scarcity Costs and Hydropower Production with Hydro Economic Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marques, G.

2015-12-01

Biofuels such as ethanol from sugar cane remain an important element to help mitigate the impacts of fossil fuels on the atmosphere. However, meeting fuel demands with biofuels requires technological advancement for water productivity and scale of production. This may translate into increased water demands for biofuel crops and potential for conflicts with incumbent crops and other water uses including domestic, hydropower generation and environmental. It is therefore important to evaluate the effects of increased biofuel production on the verge of water scarcity costs and hydropower production. The present research applies a hydro-economic optimization model to compare different scenarios of irrigated biofuel and hydropower production, and estimates the potential tradeoffs. A case study from the Araguari watershed in Brazil is provided. These results should be useful to (i) identify improved water allocation among competing economic demands, (ii) support water management and operations decisions in watersheds where biofuels are expected to increase, and (iii) identify the impact of bio fuel production in the water availability and economic value. Under optimized conditions, adoption of sugar cane for biofuel production heavily relies on the opportunity costs of other crops and hydropower generation. Areas with a lower value crop groups seem more suitable to adopt sugar cane for biofuel when the price of ethanol is sufficiently high and the opportunity costs of hydropower productions are not conflicting. The approach also highlights the potential for insights in water management from studying regional versus larger scales bundled systems involving water use, food production and power generation.

A new framework for sustainable hydropower development project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johan, Kartina; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Gani, Nur Syazwani Abdul

2018-03-01

This project studies on the establishment of a new framework for sustainable hydropower development. A hydropower development is listed as one of the prescribed activities under the Environmental Quality Order 1987. Thus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines must be referred to comply with the Department of Environment (DoE) requirements. In order to execute EIA, an assessment tool that will be utilized in the final evaluation phase must be determined. The selected assessment tool that will be used is Systematic Sustainability Assessment(SSA) which is a new integrated tool to evaluate the sustainability performance. A pilot run is conducted in five different departments within the Energy Company to validate the efficiency of the SSA tool. The parameters to be evaluated are constructed aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to maintain the sustainability features. Consequently, the performance level of the sustainability with respect to People, Planet and Profit (3P’s) is able to be discovered during evaluation phase in the hydropower development for continuous improvement.

Natural gas price uncertainty and the cost-effectiveness of hedging against low hydropower revenues caused by drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kern, Jordan D.; Characklis, Gregory W.; Foster, Benjamin T.

2015-04-01

Prolonged periods of low reservoir inflows (droughts) significantly reduce a hydropower producer's ability to generate both electricity and revenues. Given the capital intensive nature of the electric power industry, this can impact hydropower producers' ability to pay down outstanding debt, leading to credit rating downgrades, higher interests rates on new debt, and ultimately, greater infrastructure costs. One potential tool for reducing the financial exposure of hydropower producers to drought is hydrologic index insurance, in particular, contracts structured to payout when streamflows drop below a specified level. An ongoing challenge in developing this type of insurance, however, is minimizing contracts' "basis risk," that is, the degree to which contract payouts deviate in timing and/or amount from actual damages experienced by policyholders. In this paper, we show that consideration of year-to-year changes in the value of hydropower (i.e., the cost of replacing it with an alternative energy source during droughts) is critical to reducing contract basis risk. In particular, we find that volatility in the price of natural gas, a key driver of peak electricity prices, can significantly degrade the performance of index insurance unless contracts are designed to explicitly consider natural gas prices when determining payouts. Results show that a combined index whose value is derived from both seasonal streamflows and the spot price of natural gas yields contracts that exhibit both lower basis risk and greater effectiveness in terms of reducing financial exposure.

Power semiconductor device with negative thermal feedback

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borky, J. M.; Thornton, R. D.

1970-01-01

Composite power semiconductor avoids second breakdown and provides stable operation. It consists of an array of parallel-connected integrated circuits fabricated in a single chip. The output power device and associated low-level amplifier are closely coupled thermally, so that they have a predetermined temperature relationship.

Thermal energy storage for CSP (Concentrating Solar Power)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Py, Xavier; Sadiki, Najim; Olives, Régis; Goetz, Vincent; Falcoz, Quentin

2017-07-01

The major advantage of concentrating solar power before photovoltaic is the possibility to store thermal energy at large scale allowing dispatchability. Then, only CSP solar power plants including thermal storage can be operated 24 h/day using exclusively the solar resource. Nevertheless, due to a too low availability in mined nitrate salts, the actual mature technology of the two tanks molten salts cannot be applied to achieve the expected international share in the power production for 2050. Then alternative storage materials are under studies such as natural rocks and recycled ceramics made from industrial wastes. The present paper is a review of those alternative approaches.

Hydropower reservoirs: cytotoxic and genotoxic assessment using the Allium cepa root model.

PubMed

Rambo, Cassiano Lazarotto; Zanotelli, Patrícia; Dalegrave, Daniela; De Nez, Dinara; Szczepanik, Jozimar; Carazek, Fábio; Franscescon, Francini; Rosemberg, Denis Broock; Siebel, Anna Maria; Magro, Jacir Dal

2017-03-01

Hydropower offers a reliable source of electricity in several countries, and Brazil supplies its energy needs almost entirely through hydropower plants. Nevertheless, hydropower plants comprise large buildings and water reservoirs and dams, resulting in huge ecological disruptions. Here, we analyzed the impact of four hydropower reservoirs construction in metals and pesticides incidence and the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of sediment elutriate of rivers from southern Brazil. Our analyses have evidenced the elevated incidence of different metals (lead, iron, cadmium, and chrome) and pesticides (methyl parathion, atrazine, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid). We showed that Allium cepa exposed to sediment elutriates did not change the seed germination rate and mitotic index. However, roots from Allium cepa exposed to reservoirs sediment elutriates showed increased occurrence of chromosomal aberrations and nuclear abnormalities. Therefore, the results obtained in our study indicate that sediment from reservoirs present elevated concentration of metals and pesticides and a significant genotoxic potential. Taken together, our data support that hydropower reservoirs represent an environmental scenario that could impact surrounding wildlife and population.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Hydropower Reservoirs: FY2011 Annual Progress Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stewart, Arthur J; Mosher, Jennifer J; Mulholland, Patrick J

2012-05-01

The primary objective of this study is to quantify the net emissions of key greenhouse gases (GHG) - notably, CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} - from hydropower reservoirs in moist temperate areas within the U.S. The rationale for this objective is straightforward: if net emissions of GHG can be determined, it would be possible to directly compare hydropower to other power-producing methods on a carbon-emissions basis. Studies of GHG emissions from hydropower reservoirs elsewhere suggest that net emissions can be moderately high in tropical areas. In such areas, warm temperatures and relatively high supply rates of labile organic matter canmore » encourage high rates of decomposition, which (depending upon local conditions) can result in elevated releases of CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4}. CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} emissions also tend to be higher for younger reservoirs than for older reservoirs, because vegetation and labile soil organic matter that is inundated when a reservoir is created can continue to decompose for several years (Galy-Lacaux et al. 1997, Barros et al. 2011). Water bodies located in climatically cooler areas, such as in boreal forests, could be expected to have lower net emissions of CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} because their organic carbon supplies tend to be relatively recalcitrant to microbial action and because cooler water temperatures are less conducive to decomposition.« less

Seasonal-Scale Optimization of Conventional Hydropower Operations in the Upper Colorado System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bier, A.; Villa, D.; Sun, A.; Lowry, T. S.; Barco, J.

2011-12-01

Sandia National Laboratories is developing the Hydropower Seasonal Concurrent Optimization for Power and the Environment (Hydro-SCOPE) tool to examine basin-wide conventional hydropower operations at seasonal time scales. This tool is part of an integrated, multi-laboratory project designed to explore different aspects of optimizing conventional hydropower operations. The Hydro-SCOPE tool couples a one-dimensional reservoir model with a river routing model to simulate hydrology and water quality. An optimization engine wraps around this model framework to solve for long-term operational strategies that best meet the specific objectives of the hydrologic system while honoring operational and environmental constraints. The optimization routines are provided by Sandia's open source DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) software. Hydro-SCOPE allows for multi-objective optimization, which can be used to gain insight into the trade-offs that must be made between objectives. The Hydro-SCOPE tool is being applied to the Upper Colorado Basin hydrologic system. This system contains six reservoirs, each with its own set of objectives (such as maximizing revenue, optimizing environmental indicators, meeting water use needs, or other objectives) and constraints. This leads to a large optimization problem with strong connectedness between objectives. The systems-level approach used by the Hydro-SCOPE tool allows simultaneous analysis of these objectives, as well as understanding of potential trade-offs related to different objectives and operating strategies. The seasonal-scale tool will be tightly integrated with the other components of this project, which examine day-ahead and real-time planning, environmental performance, hydrologic forecasting, and plant efficiency.

Dependence of hydropower energy generation on forests in the Amazon Basin at local and regional scales

PubMed Central

Stickler, Claudia M.; Coe, Michael T.; Costa, Marcos H.; Nepstad, Daniel C.; McGrath, David G.; Dias, Livia C. P.; Rodrigues, Hermann O.; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S.

2013-01-01

Tropical rainforest regions have large hydropower generation potential that figures prominently in many nations’ energy growth strategies. Feasibility studies of hydropower plants typically ignore the effect of future deforestation or assume that deforestation will have a positive effect on river discharge and energy generation resulting from declines in evapotranspiration (ET) associated with forest conversion. Forest loss can also reduce river discharge, however, by inhibiting rainfall. We used land use, hydrological, and climate models to examine the local “direct” effects (through changes in ET within the watershed) and the potential regional “indirect” effects (through changes in rainfall) of deforestation on river discharge and energy generation potential for the Belo Monte energy complex, one of the world’s largest hydropower plants that is currently under construction on the Xingu River in the eastern Amazon. In the absence of indirect effects of deforestation, simulated deforestation of 20% and 40% within the Xingu River basin increased discharge by 4–8% and 10–12%, with similar increases in energy generation. When indirect effects were considered, deforestation of the Amazon region inhibited rainfall within the Xingu Basin, counterbalancing declines in ET and decreasing discharge by 6–36%. Under business-as-usual projections of forest loss for 2050 (40%), simulated power generation declined to only 25% of maximum plant output and 60% of the industry’s own projections. Like other energy sources, hydropower plants present large social and environmental costs. Their reliability as energy sources, however, must take into account their dependence on forests. PMID:23671098

Thermal lensing compensation optics for high power lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scaggs, Michael; Haas, Gil

2011-03-01

Athermalization of focusing objectives is a common technique for optimizing imaging systems in the infrared where thermal effects are a major concern. The athermalization is generally done within the spectrum of interest and not generally applied to a single wavelength. The predominate glass used with high power infrared lasers in the near infrared of one micron, such as Nd:YAG and fiber lasers, is fused silica which has excellent thermal properties. All glasses, however, have a temperature coefficient of index of refraction (dn/dT) where as the glass heats up its index of refraction changes. Most glasses, fused silica included, have a positive dn/dT. A positive dn/dT will cause the focal length of the lens to decrease with a temperature rise. Many of the fluoride glasses, like CaF2, BaF2, LiF2, etc. have a negative dn/dT. By applying athermalization techniques of glass selection and optical design, the thermal lensing in a laser objective of a high power laser system can be substantially mitigated. We describe a passive method for minimizing thermal lensing of high power laser optics.

Thermal and Power Challenges in High Performance Computing Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Natarajan, Venkat; Deshpande, Anand; Solanki, Sudarshan; Chandrasekhar, Arun

2009-05-01

This paper provides an overview of the thermal and power challenges in emerging high performance computing platforms. The advent of new sophisticated applications in highly diverse areas such as health, education, finance, entertainment, etc. is driving the platform and device requirements for future systems. The key ingredients of future platforms are vertically integrated (3D) die-stacked devices which provide the required performance characteristics with the associated form factor advantages. Two of the major challenges to the design of through silicon via (TSV) based 3D stacked technologies are (i) effective thermal management and (ii) efficient power delivery mechanisms. Some of the key challenges that are articulated in this paper include hot-spot superposition and intensification in a 3D stack, design/optimization of thermal through silicon vias (TTSVs), non-uniform power loading of multi-die stacks, efficient on-chip power delivery, minimization of electrical hotspots etc.

Operation ranges and dynamic capabilities of variable-speed pumped-storage hydropower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercier, Thomas; Olivier, Mathieu; Dejaeger, Emmanuel

2017-04-01

The development of renewable and intermittent power generation creates incentives for the development of both energy storage solutions and more flexible power generation assets. Pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) is the most established and mature energy storage technology, but recent developments in power electronics have created a renewed interest by providing PSH units with a variable-speed feature, thereby increasing their flexibility. This paper reviews technical considerations related to variable-speed PSH in link with the provision of primary frequency control, also referred to as frequency containment reserves (FCRs). Based on the detailed characteristics of a scale model pump-turbine, the variable-speed operation ranges in pump and turbine modes are precisely assessed and the implications for the provision of FCRs are highlighted. Modelling and control for power system studies are discussed, both for fixed- and variable-speed machines and simulation results are provided to illustrate the high dynamic capabilities of variable-speed PSH.

Small Hydropower Development in Rwanda: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geoffrey, Gasore; Zimmerle, Daniel; Ntagwirumugara, Etienne

2018-04-01

The Rift Valley region of Sub-Saharan Africa represents a promising area for the development of small (<5MW) hydropower resources. This study compiles data from government and UN agency reports to analyze different development outlooks. The study found that there has been a rapid deployment of small hydropower in the last 10 years. From the current total deployed small hydro of 47.5 MW, 16.5MW (35%) were deployed from 1957 to 1984 while the remaining 31 MW (65%) were deployed from 2007 to 2017. While all systems constructed prior to 1985 are grid-connected, one third of the 24 facilities constructed after 2007 are connected to off-grid systems. The study provides an overview of the economic incentives for developing small hydropower systems in Rwanda and the potential contribution of that development to Rwanda’s electrification goals.

Solar thermal power system

DOEpatents

Bennett, Charles L.

2010-06-15

A solar thermal power generator includes an inclined elongated boiler tube positioned in the focus of a solar concentrator for generating steam from water. The boiler tube is connected at one end to receive water from a pressure vessel as well as connected at an opposite end to return steam back to the vessel in a fluidic circuit arrangement that stores energy in the form of heated water in the pressure vessel. An expander, condenser, and reservoir are also connected in series to respectively produce work using the steam passed either directly (above a water line in the vessel) or indirectly (below a water line in the vessel) through the pressure vessel, condense the expanded steam, and collect the condensed water. The reservoir also supplies the collected water back to the pressure vessel at the end of a diurnal cycle when the vessel is sufficiently depressurized, so that the system is reset to repeat the cycle the following day. The circuital arrangement of the boiler tube and the pressure vessel operates to dampen flow instabilities in the boiler tube, damp out the effects of solar transients, and provide thermal energy storage which enables time shifting of power generation to better align with the higher demand for energy during peak energy usage periods.

Experience in connecting the power generating units of thermal power plants to automatic secondary frequency regulation within the united power system of Russia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhukov, A. V.; Komarov, A. N.; Safronov, A. N.

The principles of central control of the power generating units of thermal power plants by automatic secondary frequency and active power overcurrent regulation systems, and the algorithms for interactions between automatic power control systems for the power production units in thermal power plants and centralized systems for automatic frequency and power regulation, are discussed. The order of switching the power generating units of thermal power plants over to control by a centralized system for automatic frequency and power regulation and by the Central Coordinating System for automatic frequency and power regulation is presented. The results of full-scale system tests ofmore » the control of power generating units of the Kirishskaya, Stavropol, and Perm GRES (State Regional Electric Power Plants) by the Central Coordinating System for automatic frequency and power regulation at the United Power System of Russia on September 23-25, 2008, are reported.« less

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Yumen 50MW Thermal Oil Trough CSP

Science.gov Websites

project | Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Thermal Oil Trough CSP project Status Date : September 28, 2016 Project Overview Project Name: Yumen 50MW Thermal Oil Trough CSP project Country: China : Thermal Oil Power Block Turbine Capacity (Gross): 50.0 MW Turbine Capacity (Net): 50.0 MW Output Type

Methane Ebullition in Temperate Hydropower Reservoirs and Implications for US Policy on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Benjamin L.; Arntzen, Evan V.; Goldman, Amy E.

The United States is home to more than 87,000 dams, 2,198 of which are actively used for hydropower production. With the December 2015 consensus adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Paris Agreement, it is imperative for the U.S. to accurately quantify greenhouse gas fluxes from its hydropower reservoirs. Methane ebullition, or methane bubbles originating from river or lake sediments, can account for nearly all of a reservoir’s methane emissions to the atmosphere. However, methane ebullition in hydropower reservoirs has been studied in only three temperate locations, none of which are in the United States. This studymore » measures high ebullitive methane fluxes from two hydropower reservoirs in eastern Washington, synthesizes the known information about methane ebullition from tropical, boreal, and temperate hydropower reservoirs, and investigates the implications for U.S. hydropower management and growth.« less

Wynoochee Hydropower/Fish Hatchery: Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-09-30

Unresolved Issues. There are no unresolved issues associated with the Wynoochee hydropower/fish hatchery plan. 4. Relationship to Environmental...Requirements.l/ The relationship of the Wynoochee hydropower/fish hatchery plan to environmental requirements is summarized in the following table...Implementation of the plan would I/The relationship of the satellite fish station to the environmental requirements is not included in this discussion. Compliance

Thermal management of microwave power heterojunction bipolar transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozada, C.; Cerny, C.; De Salvo, G.; Dettmer, R.; Ebel, J.; Gillespie, J.; Havasy, C.; Jenkins, T.; Ito, C.; Nakano, K.; Pettiford, C.; Quach, T.; Sewell, J.; Via, G. D.; Anholt, R.

1997-10-01

A comprehensive study of the device layout effects on thermal resistance in thermally-shunted heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) was completed. The thermal resistance scales linearly with emitter dot diameter for single element HBTs. For multiple emitter element devices, the thermal resistance scales with area. HBTs with dot geometrics have lower thermal impedance than bar HBTs with equivalent emitter area. The thermal resistance of a 200 μm 2 emitter area device was reduced from 266°C/W to 146°C/W by increasing the shunt thickness from 3 μm to 20 μm and placing a thermal shunt landing between the fingers. Also, power-added efficiencies at 10 GHz were improved from 30% to 68% by this thermal resistance reduction.

New Stream-reach Development (NSD): A Comprehensive Assessment of Hydropower Energy Potential in the United States Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kao, Shih-Chieh

2014-04-25

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Program tasked Oak Ridge National Laboratory with evaluating the new stream-reach development (NSD) resource potential of more than 3 million U.S. streams in order to help individuals and organizations evaluate the feasibility of developing new hydropower sources in the United States.

Phase Change Material Thermal Power Generator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Jack A.

2013-01-01

An innovative modification has been made to a previously patented design for the Phase Change Material (PCM) Thermal Generator, which works in water where ocean temperature alternatively melts wax in canisters, or allows the wax to re-solidify, causing high-pressure oil to flow through a hydraulic generator, thus creating electricity to charge a battery that powers the vehicle. In this modification, a similar thermal PCM device has been created that is heated and cooled by the air and solar radiation instead of using ocean temperature differences to change the PCM from solid to liquid. This innovation allows the device to use thermal energy to generate electricity on land, instead of just in the ocean.

Regulatory Approaches for Adding Capacity to Existing Hydropower Facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Levine, Aaron L.; Curtis, Taylor L.; Kazerooni, Borna

In 2015, hydroelectric generation accounted for more than 6 percent of total net electricity generation in the United States and 46 percent of electricity generation from all renewables. The United States has considerable hydroelectric potential beyond what is already being developed. Nearly 7 GW of this potential is found by adding capacity to existing hydropower facilities. To optimize the value of hydroelectric generation, the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydropower Vision Study highlights the importance of adding capacity to existing facilities. This report provides strategic approaches and considerations for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licensed and exempt hydropower facilities seeking to increasemore » generation capacity, which may include increases from efficiency upgrades. The regulatory approaches reviewed for this report include capacity and non-capacity amendments, adding capacity during relicensing, and adding capacity when converting a license to a 10-MW exemption.« less

Hydropower in Southeast United States, -a Hydroclimatological Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engstrom, J.

2016-12-01

Hydropower is unique among renewable energy sources for the ability to store its fuel (water) in reservoirs. The relationship between discharge, macro-scale drivers, and production is complex since production depends not only on water availability, but also upon decisions made by the institution owning the facility that has to consider many competing interests including economics, drinking water supply, recreational uses, etc. This analysis shows that the hydropower plants in Southeast U.S. (AL, GA, NC, SC, and TN) exhibit considerable year to year variability in production. Although the hydroclimatology of the Southeast U.S. has been analyzed partially, no previous study has linked the region's hydroelectricity production to any reported causes of interannual hydroclimatological variability, as has been completed in other regions. Due to the current short-term hydroelectricity production forecasts, the water resource is not optimized from a hydropower perspective as electricity generating potential is not maximized. The results of this study highlight the amount of untapped hydroelectricity that could be produced if long term hydroclimate and large-scale climate drivers were considered in production forecasts.

Solar thermal power generation. A bibliography with abstracts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Bibliographies and abstracts are cited under the following topics: (1) energy overviews; (2) solar overviews; (3) conservation; (4) economics, law; (5) thermal power; (6) thermionic, thermoelectric; (7) ocean; (8) wind power; (9) biomass and photochemical; and (10) large photovoltaics.

Hydropower potential mapping in mountain basins by high-resolution hydrological and GIS analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Claps, P.; Gallo, E.; Ganora, D.; Laio, F.; Masoero, A.

2013-12-01

Even in regions with mature hydropower development, needs for stable renewable power sources suggest to revise plans of exploitation of water resources, in compliance to the framework of international and national environmental regulations. This goal requires high-resolution hydrological analysis, that allows to : i) comply with the effects of existing hydropower plants or of other types of water withdrawals; ii) to assist the planner to figure out potential of new plants with still high marginal efficiency; iii) to assist the regulator in the process of comparing projects based on different solutions and different underlying hydrologic estimation methods. Flow duration curves (FDC) are the tool usually adopted to represent water availability and variability for hydropower purposes. They are usually determined in ungauged basins by means of regional statistical analysis. For this study, a 'spatially smooth' regional estimation method (SSEM) has been developed for FDC estimation, with some evolutions from a previous version: i) the method keeps the estimates of mean annual runoff congruent in the confluences by considering only raster-summable explanatory variables; ii) the presence of existing reservoirs and hydropower plants is taken into account by restoring the ';natural' statistics of the curve. The SSEM reconstructs the the FDC in ungauged basins using its L-moments from regressions on geomorphoclimatic descriptors. Relations are obtained on more than 100 gauged basins located in Northwestern Italy. To support the assessment of residual hydropower potential on two specific mountain watersheds the model has been applied extensively (Hi-Res) by mapping the estimated mean flow for each pixel of a DEM-derived river network raster model. 25000 sections were then identified over the network extracted from a 50m-resolution DTM. Spatial algorithms and data management were developed using Free&OpenSource Software (FOSS) (GRASS GIS and PostgreSQL/PostGIS), with the

A Hydropower Biological Evaluation Toolset (HBET) for Characterizing Hydraulic Conditions and Impacts of Hydro-Structures on Fish

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hou, Hongfei; Deng, Zhiqun; Martinez, Jayson

Currently, approximately 16% of the world’s electricity and over 80% of the world’s renewable electricity is generated from hydropower resources, and there is potential for development of a significant amount of new hydropower capacity. However, in practice, realizing all the potential hydropower resource is limited by various factors, including environmental effects and related mitigation requirements. That is why hydropower regulatory requirements frequently call for targets to be met regarding fish injury and mortality rates. Hydropower Biological Evaluation Toolset (HBET), an integrated suite of software tools, is designed to characterize hydraulic conditions of hydropower structures and provide quantitative estimates of fishmore » injury and mortality rates due to various physical stressors including strike, pressure, and shear. HBET enables users to design new studies, analyze data, perform statistical analyses, and evaluate biological responses. In this paper, we discuss the features of the HBET software and describe a case study that illustrates its functionalities. HBET can be used by turbine manufacturers, hydropower operators, and regulators to design and operate hydropower systems that minimize ecological impacts in a cost-effective manner.« less

How run-of-river operation affects hydropower generation and value.

PubMed

Jager, Henriette I; Bevelhimer, Mark S

2007-12-01

Regulated rivers in the United States are required to support human water uses while preserving aquatic ecosystems. However, the effectiveness of hydropower license requirements nationwide has not been demonstrated. One requirement that has become more common is "run-of-river" (ROR) operation, which restores a natural flow regime. It is widely believed that ROR requirements (1) are mandated to protect aquatic biota, (2) decrease hydropower generation per unit flow, and (3) decrease energy revenue. We tested these three assumptions by reviewing hydropower projects with license-mandated changes from peaking to ROR operation. We found that ROR operation was often prescribed in states with strong water-quality certification requirements and migratory fish species. Although benefits to aquatic resources were frequently cited, changes were often motivated by other considerations. After controlling for climate, the overall change in annual generation efficiency across projects because of the change in operation was not significant. However, significant decreases were detected at one quarter of individual hydropower projects. As expected, we observed a decrease in flow during peak demand at 7 of 10 projects. At the remaining projects, diurnal fluctuations actually increased because of operation of upstream storage projects. The economic implications of these results, including both producer costs and ecologic benefits, are discussed. We conclude that regional-scale studies of hydropower regulation, such as this one, are long overdue. Public dissemination of flow data, license provisions, and monitoring data by way of on-line access would facilitate regional policy analysis while increasing regulatory transparency and providing feedback to decision makers.

75 FR 24937 - Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-06

... Illinois Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Motions To Intervene and... No.: 12717-002. c. Date filed: May 27, 2009. d. Applicant: Northern Illinois Hydropower, LLC. e. Name... Hydropower, LLC, 801 Oakland Avenue, Joliet, IL 60435, (312) 320-1610. i. FERC Contact: Dr. Nicholas Palso...

Solar Thermal Power Systems parabolic dish project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truscello, V. C.

1981-01-01

The status of the Solar Thermal Power Systems Project for FY 1980 is summarized. Included is: a discussion of the project's goals, program structure, and progress in parabolic dish technology. Analyses and test results of concentrators, receivers, and power converters are discussed. Progress toward the objectives of technology feasibility, technology readiness, system feasibility, and system readiness are covered.

Projected impacts of climate change on hydropower potential in China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Xingcai; Tang, Qiuhong; Voisin, Nathalie

Hydropower is an important renewable energy source in China, but it is sensitive to climate change, because the changing climate may alter hydrological conditions (e.g., river flow and reservoir storage). Future changes and associated uncertainties in China's gross hydropower potential (GHP) and developed hydropower potential (DHP) are projected using simulations from eight global hydrological models (GHMs), including a large-scale reservoir regulation model, forced by five general circulation models (GCMs) with climate data under two representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5). Results show that the estimation of the present GHP of China is comparable to other studies; overall, the annual GHP is projectedmore » to change by −1.7 to 2 % in the near future (2020–2050) and increase by 3 to 6 % in the late 21st century (2070–2099). The annual DHP is projected to change by −2.2 to −5.4 % (0.7–1.7 % of the total installed hydropower capacity (IHC)) and −1.3 to −4 % (0.4–1.3 % of total IHC) for 2020–2050 and 2070–2099, respectively. Regional variations emerge: GHP will increase in northern China but decrease in southern China – mostly in south central China and eastern China – where numerous reservoirs and large IHCs currently are located. The area with the highest GHP in southwest China will have more GHP, while DHP will reduce in the regions with high IHC (e.g., Sichuan and Hubei) in the future. The largest decrease in DHP (in %) will occur in autumn or winter, when streamflow is relatively low and water use is competitive. Large ranges in hydropower estimates across GHMs and GCMs highlight the necessity of using multimodel assessments under climate change conditions. This study prompts the consideration of climate change in planning for hydropower development and operations in China, to be further combined with a socioeconomic analysis for strategic expansion.« less

Trade-offs Between Electricity Production from Small Hydropower Plants and Ecosystem Services in Alpine River Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, Philipp; Schwemmle, Robin; Viviroli, Daniel

2015-04-01

The need for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the decision to phase out nuclear power plants in Switzerland and Germany increases pressure to develop the remaining hydropower potential in Alpine catchments. Since most of the potential for large reservoirs is already exploited, future development focusses on small run-of-the-river hydropower plants (SHP). Being considered a relatively environment-friendly electricity source, investment in SHP is promoted through subsidies. However, SHP can have a significant impact on riverine ecosystems, especially in the Alpine region where residual flow reaches tend to be long. An increase in hydropower exploitation will therefore increase pressure on ecosystems. While a number of studies assessed the potential for hydropower development in the Alps, two main factors were so far not assessed in detail: (i) ecological impacts within a whole river network, and (ii) economic conditions under which electricity is sold. We present a framework that establishes trade-offs between multiple objectives regarding environmental impacts, electricity production and economic evaluation. While it is inevitable that some ecosystems are compromised by hydropower plants, the context of these impacts within a river network should be considered when selecting suitable sites for SHP. From an ecological point of view, the diversity of habitats, and therefore the diversity of species, should be maintained within a river basin. This asks for objectives that go beyond lumped parameters of hydrological alteration, but also consider habitat diversity and the spatial configuration. Energy production in run-of-the-river power plants depends on available discharge, which can have large fluctuations. In a deregulated electricity market with strong price variations, an economic valuation should therefore be based on the expected market value of energy produced. Trade-off curves between different objectives can help decision makers to define policies

Ocean thermal gradient as a generator of electricity. OTEC power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enrique, Luna-Gomez Victor; Angel, Alatorre-Mendieta Miguel

2016-04-01

The OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) is a power plant that uses the thermal gradient of the sea water between the surface and a depth of about 700 meters. It works by supplying the heat to a steam machine, for evaporation, with sea water from the surface and cold, to condense the steam, with deep sea water. The energy generated by the power plant OTEC can be transferred to the electric power grid, another use is to desalinate seawater. During the twentieth century in some countries experimental power plants to produce electricity or obtaining drinking water they were installed. On the Mexico's coast itself this thermal gradient, as it is located in tropical seas it occurs, so it has possibilities of installing OTEC power plant type. In this paper one type OTEC power plant operation is represented in most of its components.

Hydropower Manufacturing and Supply Chain Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cotrell, Jason R

Hydropower Manufacturing and Supply Chain Analysis presentation from the WPTO FY14-FY16 Peer Review. The project objective is to provide data and insights to inform investment strategies, policy, and other decisions to promote economic growth and manufacturing.

[Impacts of large hydropower station on benthic algal communities].

PubMed

Jia, Xing-Huan; Jiang, Wan-Xiang; Li, Feng-Qing; Tang, Tao; Duan, Shu-Gui; Cai, Qing-Hua

2009-07-01

To investigate the impacts of large hydropower station in Gufu River on benthic algae, monthly samplings were conducted from September 2004 to June 2007 at the site GF04 which was impacted by the hydropower station, with the site GL03 in Gaolan River as reference. During sampling period, no significant differences were observed in the main physicochemical variables between GF04 and GL03, but the hydrodynamics differed significantly. GL03 was basically at a status of slow flow; while GF04, owing to the discharging from the reservoir, was at a riffle status during more than 60% of the sampling period. Such a difference in hydrodynamics induced significant differences in the community similarity of benthic algae and the relative abundance of unattached diatoms, erect diatoms, and stalked diatoms between GF04 and GL03, which could better reflect the impacts of irregular draw-off by large hydropower station on river eco-system.

PREDICTION OF TOTAL DISSOLVED GAS EXCHANGE AT HYDROPOWER DAMS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hadjerioua, Boualem; Pasha, MD Fayzul K; Stewart, Kevin M

2012-07-01

Total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation in waters released at hydropower dams can cause gas bubble trauma in fisheries resulting in physical injuries and eyeball protrusion that can lead to mortality. Elevated TDG pressures in hydropower releases are generally caused by the entrainment of air in spillway releases and the subsequent exchange of atmospheric gasses into solution during passage through the stilling basin. The network of dams throughout the Columbia River Basin (CRB) are managed for irrigation, hydropower production, flood control, navigation, and fish passage that frequently result in both voluntary and involuntary spillway releases. These dam operations are constrained bymore » state and federal water quality standards for TDG saturation which balance the benefits of spillway operations designed for Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed fisheries versus the degradation to water quality as defined by TDG saturation. In the 1970s, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), under the federal Clean Water Act (Section 303(d)), established a criterion not to exceed the TDG saturation level of 110% in order to protect freshwater and marine aquatic life. The states of Washington and Oregon have adopted special water quality standards for TDG saturation in the tailrace and forebays of hydropower facilities on the Columbia and Snake Rivers where spillway operations support fish passage objectives. The physical processes that affect TDG exchange at hydropower facilities have been studied throughout the CRB in site-specific studies and routine water quality monitoring programs. These data have been used to quantify the relationship between project operations, structural properties, and TDG exchange. These data have also been used to develop predictive models of TDG exchange to support real-time TDG management decisions. These empirically based predictive models have been developed for specific projects and account for both the fate of spillway

Role of pump hydro in electric power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bessa, R.; Moreira, C.; Silva, B.; Filipe, J.; Fulgêncio, N.

2017-04-01

This paper provides an overview of the expected role that variable speed hydro power plants can have in future electric power systems characterized by a massive integration of highly variable sources. Therefore, it is discussed the development of a methodology for optimising the operation of hydropower plants under increasing contribution from new renewable energy sources, addressing the participation of a hydropower plant with variable speed pumping in reserve markets. Complementarily, it is also discussed the active role variable speed generators can have in the provision of advanced frequency regulation services.

Study on the adverse effects of hydropower development on international shipping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Changhong

2017-04-01

The Lancang - Mekong river is an important international waterway to Southeast Asia and South Asia, which has important strategic significance for promoting regional economic cooperation and safeguarding national economic and security interests. On the Mekong River, the main aim is to develop hydropower resources utilization and shipping. River Hydropower Stations are in Laos and designed by foreign enterprises according to the construction of BOT. In this study, on the basis of a lot of research work and extensive collection of relevant information, and, through in-depth analysis of research, it reveals that the upper Mekong River hydropower development have many adverse effects on international shipping, put forward related suggestions for the healthy and sustainable development of international shipping.

Small Hydropower Plants in Pomerania: The Example of Evolution of Modern Industrial Brick Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macikowski, Bartosz

2017-10-01

hydropower plants should be one of the carriers of the new progressive architecture. In fact, in the case of the Pomeranian hydropower plants, their technical solutions were among the most advanced and progressive solutions of those times, sometimes even experimental, adjusted to the diversity of local geographical conditions. Regardless of that, the architecture of the Pomeranian power plants was rather reflecting the diversity and dynamism of the aesthetic discourse of the time (sometimes even representing and adopting traditional or historical forms). The cascade of the power plants Podgaje (1928), Jastrowie (1930), and Ptusza (1930), all part of the same investment on the river Gwda, can be the example of the absorption and development of new aesthetic trends within the same stream of clinker architecture. The paper describes selected examples of Pomeranian power plants as a comparative study which could illustrate the evolution of the brick architecture of the beginning of the 20th century.

Advanced inflow forecasting for a hydropower plant in an Alpine hydropower regulated catchment - coupling of operational and hydrological forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilg, Anna-Maria; Schöber, Johannes; Huttenlau, Matthias; Messner, Jakob; Achleitner, Stefan

2017-04-01

Hydropower is a renewable energy source which can help to stabilize fluctuations in the volatile energy market. Especially pumped-storage infrastructures in the European Alps play an important role within the European energy grid system. Today, the runoff of rivers in the Alps is often influenced by cascades of hydropower infrastructures where the operational procedures are triggered by energy market demands, water deliveries and flood control aspects rather than by hydro-meteorological variables. An example for such a highly hydropower regulated river is the catchment of the river Inn in the Eastern European Alps, originating in the Engadin (Switzerland). A new hydropower plant is going to be built as transboundary project at the boarder of Switzerland and Austria using the water of the Inn River. For the operation, a runoff forecast to the plant is required. The challenge in this case is that a high proportion of runoff is turbine water from an upstream situated hydropower cascade. The newly developed physically based hydrological forecasting system is mainly capable to cover natural hydrological runoff processes caused by storms and snow melt but can model only a small degree of human impact. These discontinuous parts of the runoff downstream of the pumped storage are described by means of an additional statistical model which has been developed. The main goal of the statistical model is to forecast the turbine water up to five days in advance. The lead time of the data driven model exceeds the lead time of the used energy production forecast. Additionally, the amount of turbine water is linked to the need of electricity production and the electricity price. It has been shown that especially the parameters day-ahead prognosis of the energy production and turbine inflow of the previous week are good predictors and are therefore used as input parameters for the model. As the data is restricted due to technical conditions, so-called Tobit models have been used to

Modeling Net Land Occupation of Hydropower Reservoirs in Norway for Use in Life Cycle Assessment.

PubMed

Dorber, Martin; May, Roel; Verones, Francesca

2018-02-20

Increasing hydropower electricity production constitutes a unique opportunity to mitigate climate change impacts. However, hydropower electricity production also impacts aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity through freshwater habitat alteration, water quality degradation, and land use and land use change (LULUC). Today, no operational model exists that covers any of these cause-effect pathways within life cycle assessment (LCA). This paper contributes to the assessment of LULUC impacts of hydropower electricity production in Norway in LCA. We quantified the inundated land area associated with 107 hydropower reservoirs with remote sensing data and related it to yearly electricity production. Therewith, we calculated an average net land occupation of 0.027 m 2 ·yr/kWh of Norwegian storage hydropower plants for the life cycle inventory. Further, we calculated an adjusted average land occupation of 0.007 m 2 ·yr/kWh, accounting for an underestimation of water area in the performed maximum likelihood classification. The calculated land occupation values are the basis to support the development of methods for assessing the land occupation impacts of hydropower on biodiversity in LCA at a damage level.

75 FR 51258 - Boott Hydropower, Inc.; Eldred L Field Hydroelectric Facility Trust; Notice of Application for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-19

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 2790-055] Boott Hydropower... Hydropower, Inc. and Eldred L Field Hydroelectric Facility Trust. e. Name of Project: Lowell Hydroelectric... Affairs Coordinator, Boott Hydropower, Inc., One Tech Drive, Suite 220, Andover, MA 01810. Tel: (978) 681...

Availability Performance Analysis of Thermal Power Plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhangu, Navneet Singh; Singh, Rupinder; Pahuja, G. L.

2018-03-01

This case study presents the availability evaluation method of thermal power plants for conducting performance analysis in Indian environment. A generic availability model has been proposed for a maintained system (thermal plants) using reliability block diagrams and fault tree analysis. The availability indices have been evaluated under realistic working environment using inclusion exclusion principle. Four year failure database has been used to compute availability for different combinatory of plant capacity, that is, full working state, reduced capacity or failure state. Availability is found to be very less even at full rated capacity (440 MW) which is not acceptable especially in prevailing energy scenario. One of the probable reason for this may be the difference in the age/health of existing thermal power plants which requires special attention of each unit from case to case basis. The maintenance techniques being used are conventional (50 years old) and improper in context of the modern equipment, which further aggravate the problem of low availability. This study highlights procedure for finding critical plants/units/subsystems and helps in deciding preventive maintenance program.

75 FR 7469 - Panel Member List for Hydropower Licensing Study Dispute Resolution; Notice Extending Filing Date...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-19

... List for Hydropower Licensing Study Dispute Resolution; Notice Extending Filing Date for Applications for Panel Member List for Hydropower Licensing Study Dispute Resolution February 4, 2010. On October... on a list of resource experts willing to serve as a third panel member in the Commission's hydropower...

Hydropower plans in eastern and southern Africa increase risk of concurrent climate-related electricity supply disruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conway, Declan; Dalin, Carole; Landman, Willem A.; Osborn, Timothy J.

2017-12-01

Hydropower comprises a significant and rapidly expanding proportion of electricity production in eastern and southern Africa. In both regions, hydropower is exposed to high levels of climate variability and regional climate linkages are strong, yet an understanding of spatial interdependences is lacking. Here we consider river basin configuration and define regions of coherent rainfall variability using cluster analysis to illustrate exposure to the risk of hydropower supply disruption of current (2015) and planned (2030) hydropower sites. Assuming completion of the dams planned, hydropower will become increasingly concentrated in the Nile (from 62% to 82% of total regional capacity) and Zambezi (from 73% to 85%) basins. By 2030, 70% and 59% of total hydropower capacity will be located in one cluster of rainfall variability in eastern and southern Africa, respectively, increasing the risk of concurrent climate-related electricity supply disruption in each region. Linking of nascent regional electricity sharing mechanisms could mitigate intraregional risk, although these mechanisms face considerable political and infrastructural challenges.

SSTAC/ARTS review of the draft Integrated Technology Plan (ITP). Volume 3: Space power and thermal management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

Viewgraphs of briefings from the SSTAC/ARTS review of the draft integrated technology plan on thermal power and thermal management are presented. Topics covered include: space energy conversion research and technology; space photovoltaic energy conversion; chemical energy conversion and storage; thermal energy conversion; power management; thermal management; space nuclear power; high capacity power; surface power and thermal management; space platforms power and thermal management; and project SELENE.

SSTAC/ARTS review of the draft Integrated Technology Plan (ITP). Volume 3: Space power and thermal management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Viewgraphs of briefings from the SSTAC/ARTS review of the draft integrated technology plan on thermal power and thermal management are presented. Topics covered include: space energy conversion research and technology; space photovoltaic energy conversion; chemical energy conversion and storage; thermal energy conversion; power management; thermal management; space nuclear power; high capacity power; surface power and thermal management; space platforms power and thermal management; and project SELENE.

A multi-scale spatial approach to address environmental effects of small hydropower development.

PubMed

McManamay, Ryan A; Samu, Nicole; Kao, Shih-Chieh; Bevelhimer, Mark S; Hetrick, Shelaine C

2015-01-01

Hydropower development continues to grow worldwide in developed and developing countries. While the ecological and physical responses to dam construction have been well documented, translating this information into planning for hydropower development is extremely difficult. Very few studies have conducted environmental assessments to guide site-specific or widespread hydropower development. Herein, we propose a spatial approach for estimating environmental effects of hydropower development at multiple scales, as opposed to individual site-by-site assessments (e.g., environmental impact assessment). Because the complex, process-driven effects of future hydropower development may be uncertain or, at best, limited by available information, we invested considerable effort in describing novel approaches to represent environmental concerns using spatial data and in developing the spatial footprint of hydropower infrastructure. We then use two case studies in the US, one at the scale of the conterminous US and another within two adjoining rivers basins, to examine how environmental concerns can be identified and related to areas of varying energy capacity. We use combinations of reserve-design planning and multi-metric ranking to visualize tradeoffs among environmental concerns and potential energy capacity. Spatial frameworks, like the one presented, are not meant to replace more in-depth environmental assessments, but to identify information gaps and measure the sustainability of multi-development scenarios as to inform policy decisions at the basin or national level. Most importantly, the approach should foster discussions among environmental scientists and stakeholders regarding solutions to optimize energy development and environmental sustainability.

The Future of Hydropower: Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change, Energy Prices and New Storage Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudard, Ludovic; Madani, Kaveh; Romerio, Franco

2016-04-01

The future of hydropower depends on various drivers, and in particular on climate change, electricity market evolution and innovation in new storage technologies. Their impacts on the power plants' profitability can widely differ in regards of scale, timing, and probability of occurrence. In this respect, the risk should not be expressed only in terms of expected revenue, but also of uncertainty. These two aspects must be considered to assess the future of hydropower. This presentation discusses the impacts of climate change, electricity market volatility and competing energy storage's technologies and quantifies them in terms of annual revenue. Our simulations integrate a glacio-hydrological model (GERM) with various electricity market data and models (mean reversion and jump diffusion). The medium (2020-50) and long-term (2070-2100) are considered thanks to various greenhouse gas scenarios (A1B, A2 and RCP3PD) and the stochastic approach for the electricity prices. An algorithm named "threshold acceptance" is used to optimize the reservoir operations. The impacts' scale, and the related uncertainties are presented for Mauvoisin, which is a storage-hydropower plant situated in the Swiss Alps, and two generic pure pumped-storage installations, which are assessed with the prices of 17 European electricity markets. The discussion will highlight the key differences between the impacts brought about by the drivers.

75 FR 10230 - Inglis Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Motions To...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-05

... Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Motions To Intervene and Protests... No.: P-12783-003. c. Date filed: July 22, 2009. d. Applicant: Inglis Hydropower, LLC. e. Name of Project: Inglis Hydropower Project. f. Location: The proposed project would be located at the existing...

76 FR 7835 - Great River Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-11

... Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting Scoping Comments.... c. Date filed: July 12, 2010. d. Applicant: Great River Hydropower, LLC. e. Name of Project: Upper... 796-foot-long by 46-foot-wide by 25-foot-high concrete hydropower structure consisting of 30 turbine...

Direct Estimation of Power Distribution in Reactors for Nuclear Thermal Space Propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aldemir, Tunc; Miller, Don W.; Burghelea, Andrei

2004-02-01

A recently proposed constant temperature power sensor (CTPS) has the capability to directly measure the local power deposition rate in nuclear reactor cores proposed for space thermal propulsion. Such a capability reduces the uncertainties in the estimated power peaking factors and hence increases the reliability of the nuclear engine. The CTPS operation is sensitive to the changes in the local thermal conditions. A procedure is described for the automatic on-line calibration of the sensor through estimation of changes in thermal .conditions.

Influence of geographic setting on thermal discharge from coastal power plants.

PubMed

Jia, Hou-Lei; Zheng, Shu; Xie, Jian; Ying, Xiao-Ming; Zhang, Cui-Ping

2016-10-15

Characteristics of thermal discharge from three coastal power plants were studied in China. The three plants, Zhuhai Power Plant, Chaozhou Power Plant and Huilai Power Plant, are located in estuary, bay and open sea, respectively. The water temperatures and ocean currents surrounding the outlet of the three power plants were monitored. The results show that the temperature rise became smaller as the spread of thermal discharge moved toward the open sea, which confirms the results of previous studies. The results also indicated that the influence range of thermal discharge from a coastal power plant is determined by geographic setting. The temperature rise range of the Chaozhou Plant, which is located in a bay, was the largest, followed by that of the Zhuhai Plant located in an estuary, and the temperature rise range of the Huilai Plant located in an open sea was the smallest. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimated cumulative sediment trapping in future hydropower reservoirs in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucía, Ana; Berlekamp, Jürgen; Zarfl, Christiane

2017-04-01

Despite a rapid economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa, almost 70% of the human population in this area remain disconnected from electricity access (International Energy Agency 2011). Mitigating climate change and a search for renewable, "climate neutral" electricity resources are additional reasons why Africa will be one key centre for future hydropower dam building, with only 8% of the technically feasible hydropower potential actually exploited. About 300 major hydropower dams with a total capacity of 140 GW are currently under construction (11.4%) or planned (88.6%) (Zarfl et al. 2015). Despite the benefits of hydropower dams, fragmentation of the rivers changes the natural flow, temperature and sediment regime. This has consequences for a high number of people that directly depend on the primary sector linked to rivers and floodplains. But sediment trapping in the reservoir also affects dam operation and decreases its life span. Thus, the objective of this work is to quantify the dimension of sediment trapping by future hydropower dams in African river basins. Soil erosion is described with the universal soil loss equation (Wischmeier & Smith 1978) and combined with the connectivity index (Cavalli et al. 2013) to estimate the amount of eroded soil that reaches the fluvial network and finally ends up in the existing (Lehner et al. 2011) and future reservoirs (Zarfl et al. 2015) per year. Different scenarios assuming parameter values from the literature are developed to include model uncertainty. Estimations for existing dams will be compared with literature data to evaluate the applied estimation method and scenario assumptions. Based on estimations for the reservoir volume of the future dams we calculated the potential time-laps of the future reservoirs due to soil erosion and depending on their planned location. This approach could support sustainable decision making for the location of future hydropower dams. References Cavalli, M., Trevisani, S., Comiti

Evaluation of power block arrangements for 100MW scale concentrated solar thermal power generation using top-down design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Post, Alexander; Beath, Andrew; Sauret, Emilie; Persky, Rodney

2017-06-01

Concentrated solar thermal power generation poses a unique situation for power block selection, in which a capital intensive heat source is subject to daily and seasonal fluctuations in intensity. In this study, a method is developed to easily evaluate the favourability of different power blocks for converting the heat supplied by a concentrated solar thermal plant into power at the 100MWe scale based on several key parameters. The method is then applied to a range of commercially available power cycles that operate over different temperatures and efficiencies, and with differing capital costs, each with performance and economic parameters selected to be typical of their technology type, as reported in literature. Using this method, the power cycle is identified among those examined that is most likely to result in a minimum levelised cost of energy of a solar thermal plant.

Project SHARE Sustainable Hydropower in Alpine Rivers Ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mammoliti Mochet, Andrea

2010-05-01

SHARE - Sustainable Hydropower in Alpine Rivers Ecosystems is a running project early approved and co funded by the European regional development fund in the context of the European Territorial Cooperation Alpine Space programme 2007 - 2013: the project is formally ongoing from August 2009 and it will end July 2012. Hydropower is the most important renewable resource for electricity production in alpine areas: it has advantages for the global CO2 balance but creates serious environmental impacts. RES-e Directives require renewable electricity enhance but, at the same time, the Water Framework Directive obliges member States to reach or maintain a water bodies "good" ecological status, intrinsically limiting the hydropower exploitation. Administrators daily face an increasing demand of water abstraction but lack reliable tools to rigorously evaluate their effects on mountain rivers and the social and economical outputs on longer time scale. The project intends to develop, test and promote a decision support system to merge on an unprejudiced base, river ecosystems and hydropower requirements. This approach will be led using existing scientific tools, adjustable to transnational, national and local normative and carried on by permanent panel of administrators and stakeholders. Scientific knowledge related to HP & river management will be "translated" by the communication tools and spent as a concrete added value to build a decision support system. In particular, the Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) will be applied to assess different management alternatives where a single-criterion approach (such as cost-benefit analysis) falls short, especially where environmental, technical, economic and social criteria can't be quantified by monetary values. All the existing monitoring databases will be used and harmonized with new information collected during the Pilot case studies. At the same time, all information collected will be available to end users and actors of related

Thermal management for high power space platform systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gualdoni, R. A.

1980-01-01

With future spacecraft power requirements expected to be in the order of 100 to 250 kilowatts and orbital lifetimes in the order of five to ten years, new approaches and concepts will be required that can efficiently and cost effectively provide the required heat rejection and temperature control capabilities. A plan was established to develop the commensurate technologies necessary for the thermal management of a high power space platform representative of future requirements and to achieve technology readiness by 1987. The approach taken in developing the program was to view the thermal requirements of the spacecraft as a spacecraft system rather than each as an isolated thermal problem. The program plan proposes 45 technology tasks required to achieve technology readiness. Of this total, 24 tasks were subsequently identified as being pacing technology tasks and were recommended for initiation in FY 1980 and FY 1981.

Beam-Forming Concentrating Solar Thermal Array Power Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoppe, Daniel J. (Inventor); Cwik, Thomas A. (Inventor); Dimotakis, Paul E. (Inventor)

2016-01-01

The present invention relates to concentrating solar-power systems and, more particularly, beam-forming concentrating solar thermal array power systems. A solar thermal array power system is provided, including a plurality of solar concentrators arranged in pods. Each solar concentrator includes a solar collector, one or more beam-forming elements, and one or more beam-steering elements. The solar collector is dimensioned to collect and divert incoming rays of sunlight. The beam-forming elements intercept the diverted rays of sunlight, and are shaped to concentrate the rays of sunlight into a beam. The steering elements are shaped, dimensioned, positioned, and/or oriented to deflect the beam toward a beam output path. The beams from the concentrators are converted to heat at a receiver, and the heat may be temporarily stored or directly used to generate electricity.

Regulatory approaches for addressing dissolved oxygen concerns at hydropower facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peterson, Mark J.; Cada, Glenn F.; Sale, Michael J.

Low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations are a common water quality problem downstream of hydropower facilities. At some facilities, structural improvements (e.g. installation of weir dams or aerating turbines) or operational changes (e.g., spilling water over the dam) can be made to improve DO levels. In other cases, structural and operational approaches are too costly for the project to implement or are likely to be of limited effectiveness. Despite improvements in overall water quality below dams in recent years, many hydropower projects are unable to meet state water quality standards for DO. Regulatory agencies in the U.S. are considering or implementingmore » dramatic changes in their approach to protecting the quality of the Nation’s waters. New policies and initiatives have emphasized flexibility, increased collaboration and shared responsibility among all parties, and market-based, economic incentives. The use of new regulatory approaches may now be a viable option for addressing the DO problem at some hydropower facilities. This report summarizes some of the regulatory-related options available to hydropower projects, including negotiation of site-specific water quality criteria, use of biological monitoring, watershed-based strategies for the management of water quality, and watershed-based trading. Key decision points center on the health of the local biological communities and whether there are contributing impacts (i.e., other sources of low DO effluents) in the watershed. If the biological communities downstream of the hydropower project are healthy, negotiation for site-specific water quality standards or biocriteria (discharge performance criteria based on characteristics of the aquatic biota) might be pursued. If there are other effluent dischargers in the watershed that contribute to low DO problems, watershed-scale strategies and effluent trading may be effective. This report examines the value of regulatory approaches by reviewing their use

Treatise on water hammer in hydropower standards and guidelines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergant, A.; Karney, B.; Pejović, S.; Mazij, J.

2014-03-01

This paper reviews critical water hammer parameters as they are presented in official hydropower standards and guidelines. A particular emphasize is given to a number of IEC standards and guidelines that are used worldwide. The paper critically assesses water hammer control strategies including operational scenarios (closing and opening laws), surge control devices (surge tank, pressure regulating valve, flywheel, etc.), redesign of the water conveyance system components (tunnel, penstock), or limitation of operating conditions (limited operating range) that are variably covered in standards and guidelines. Little information is given on industrial water hammer models and solutions elsewhere. These are briefly introduced and discussed in the light of capability (simple versus complex systems), availability of expertise (in house and/or commercial) and uncertainty. The paper concludes with an interesting water hammer case study referencing the rules and recommendations from existing hydropower standards and guidelines in a view of effective water hammer control. Recommendations are given for further work on development of a special guideline on water hammer (hydraulic transients) in hydropower plants.

Solar thermal electric power information user study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Belew, W.W.; Wood, B.L.; Marle, T.L.

1981-02-01

The results of a series of telephone interviews with groups of users of information on solar thermal electric power are described. These results, part of a larger study on many different solar technologies, identify types of information each group needed and the best ways to get information to each group. The report is 1 of 10 discussing study results. The overall study provides baseline data about information needs in the solar community. An earlier study identified the information user groups in the solar community and the priority (to accelerate solar energy commercialization) of getting information to each group. In themore » current study only high-priority groups were examined. Results from five solar thermal electric power groups of respondents are analyzed: DOE-Funded Researchers, Non-DOE-Funded Researchers, Representatives of Utilities, Electric Power Engineers, and Educators. The data will be used as input to the determination of information products and services the Solar Energy Research Institute, the Solar Energy Information Data Bank Network, and the entire information outreach community should be preparing and disseminating.« less

Final Technical Report. Upgrades to Alabama Power Company Hydroelectric Developments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crew, James F.; Johnson, Herbie N.

2015-03-31

From 2010 to 2014, Alabama Power Company (“Alabama Power”) performed upgrades on four units at three of the hydropower developments it operates in east-central Alabama under licenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). These three hydropower developments are located on the Coosa River in Coosa, Chilton, and Elmore counties in east-central Alabama.

Thermal modeling of wide bandgap semiconductor devices for high frequency power converters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharath Sundar Ram, S.; Vijayakumari, A.

2018-02-01

The emergence of wide bandgap semiconductors has led to development of new generation semiconductor switches that are highly efficient and scalable. To exploit the advantages of GaNFETs in power converters, in terms of reduction in the size of heat sinks and filters, a thorough understanding of the thermal behavior of the device is essential. This paper aims to establish a thermal model for wideband gap semiconductor GaNFETs commercially available, which will enable power electronic designers to obtain the thermal characteristics of the device more effectively. The model parameters is obtained from the manufacturer’s data sheet by adopting an exponential curve fitting technique and the thermal model is validated using PSPICE simulations. The model was developed based on the parametric equivalence that exists between the thermal and electrical components, such that it responds for transient thermal stresses. A suitable power profile has been generated to evaluate the GaNFET model under different power dissipation scenarios. The results were compared with a Silicon MOSFETs to further highlight the advantages of the GaN devices. The proposed modeling approach can be extended for other GaN devices and can provide a platform for the thermal study and heat sink optimization.

Methane Ebullition in Temperate Hydropower Reservoirs and Implications for US Policy on Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

PubMed

Miller, Benjamin L; Arntzen, Evan V; Goldman, Amy E; Richmond, Marshall C

2017-10-01

The United States is home to 2198 dams actively used for hydropower production. With the December 2015 consensus adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement, it is important to accurately quantify anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Methane ebullition, or methane bubbles originating from river or lake sediments, has been shown to account for nearly all methane emissions from tropical hydropower reservoirs to the atmosphere. However, distinct ebullitive methane fluxes have been studied in comparatively few temperate hydropower reservoirs globally. This study measures ebullitive and diffusive methane fluxes from two eastern Washington reservoirs, and synthesizes existing studies of methane ebullition in temperate, boreal, and tropical hydropower reservoirs. Ebullition comprises nearly all methane emissions (>97%) from this study's two eastern Washington hydropower reservoirs to the atmosphere. Summer methane ebullition from these reservoirs was higher than ebullition in six southeastern U.S. hydropower reservoirs, however it was similar to temperate reservoirs in other parts of the world. Our literature synthesis suggests that methane ebullition from temperate hydropower reservoirs can be seasonally elevated compared to tropical climates, however annual emissions are likely to be higher within tropical climates, emphasizing the possible range of methane ebullition fluxes and the need for the further study of temperate reservoirs. Possible future changes to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and UNFCCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories highlights the need for accurate assessment of reservoir emissions.

Methane Ebullition in Temperate Hydropower Reservoirs and Implications for US Policy on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Benjamin L.; Arntzen, Evan V.; Goldman, Amy E.; Richmond, Marshall C.

2017-10-01

The United States is home to 2198 dams actively used for hydropower production. With the December 2015 consensus adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement, it is important to accurately quantify anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Methane ebullition, or methane bubbles originating from river or lake sediments, has been shown to account for nearly all methane emissions from tropical hydropower reservoirs to the atmosphere. However, distinct ebullitive methane fluxes have been studied in comparatively few temperate hydropower reservoirs globally. This study measures ebullitive and diffusive methane fluxes from two eastern Washington reservoirs, and synthesizes existing studies of methane ebullition in temperate, boreal, and tropical hydropower reservoirs. Ebullition comprises nearly all methane emissions (>97%) from this study's two eastern Washington hydropower reservoirs to the atmosphere. Summer methane ebullition from these reservoirs was higher than ebullition in six southeastern U.S. hydropower reservoirs, however it was similar to temperate reservoirs in other parts of the world. Our literature synthesis suggests that methane ebullition from temperate hydropower reservoirs can be seasonally elevated compared to tropical climates, however annual emissions are likely to be higher within tropical climates, emphasizing the possible range of methane ebullition fluxes and the need for the further study of temperate reservoirs. Possible future changes to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and UNFCCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories highlights the need for accurate assessment of reservoir emissions.

Thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply in the Mississippi River watershed

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miara, Ariel; Vorosmarty, Charles J.; Macknick, Jordan E.

Thermal pollution from power plants degrades riverine ecosystems with ramifications beyond the natural environment as it affects power supply. The transport of thermal effluents along river reaches may lead to plant-to-plant interferences by elevating condenser inlet temperatures at downstream locations, which lower thermal efficiencies and trigger regulatory-forced power curtailments. We evaluate thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply across 128 plants with once-through cooling technologies in the Mississippi River watershed. By leveraging river network topologies with higher resolutions (0.05 degrees) than previous studies, we reveal the need to address the issue in a more spatially resolved manner, capable ofmore » uncovering diverse impacts across individual plants, river reaches and sub-basins. Results show that the use of coarse river network resolutions may lead to substantial overestimations in magnitude and length of impaired river reaches. Overall, there is a modest limitation on power production due to thermal pollution, given existing infrastructure, regulatory and climate conditions. However, tradeoffs between thermal pollution and electricity generation show important implications for the role of alternative cooling technologies and environmental regulation under current and future climates. Recirculating cooling technologies may nearly eliminate thermal pollution and improve power system reliability under stressed climate-water conditions. Regulatory limits also reduce thermal pollution, but at the expense of significant reductions in electricity generation capacity. However, results show several instances when power production capacity rises at individual plants when regulatory limits reduce upstream thermal pollution. Furthermore, these dynamics across energy-water systems highlight the need for high-resolution simulations and the value of coherent planning and optimization across infrastructure with mutual dependencies on natural

Thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply in the Mississippi River watershed

DOE PAGES

Miara, Ariel; Vorosmarty, Charles J.; Macknick, Jordan E.; ...

2018-03-08

Thermal pollution from power plants degrades riverine ecosystems with ramifications beyond the natural environment as it affects power supply. The transport of thermal effluents along river reaches may lead to plant-to-plant interferences by elevating condenser inlet temperatures at downstream locations, which lower thermal efficiencies and trigger regulatory-forced power curtailments. We evaluate thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply across 128 plants with once-through cooling technologies in the Mississippi River watershed. By leveraging river network topologies with higher resolutions (0.05 degrees) than previous studies, we reveal the need to address the issue in a more spatially resolved manner, capable ofmore » uncovering diverse impacts across individual plants, river reaches and sub-basins. Results show that the use of coarse river network resolutions may lead to substantial overestimations in magnitude and length of impaired river reaches. Overall, there is a modest limitation on power production due to thermal pollution, given existing infrastructure, regulatory and climate conditions. However, tradeoffs between thermal pollution and electricity generation show important implications for the role of alternative cooling technologies and environmental regulation under current and future climates. Recirculating cooling technologies may nearly eliminate thermal pollution and improve power system reliability under stressed climate-water conditions. Regulatory limits also reduce thermal pollution, but at the expense of significant reductions in electricity generation capacity. However, results show several instances when power production capacity rises at individual plants when regulatory limits reduce upstream thermal pollution. Furthermore, these dynamics across energy-water systems highlight the need for high-resolution simulations and the value of coherent planning and optimization across infrastructure with mutual dependencies on natural

Thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply in the Mississippi River watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miara, Ariel; Vörösmarty, Charles J.; Macknick, Jordan E.; Tidwell, Vincent C.; Fekete, Balazs; Corsi, Fabio; Newmark, Robin

2018-03-01

Thermal pollution from power plants degrades riverine ecosystems with ramifications beyond the natural environment as it affects power supply. The transport of thermal effluents along river reaches may lead to plant-to-plant interferences by elevating condenser inlet temperatures at downstream locations, which lower thermal efficiencies and trigger regulatory-forced power curtailments. We evaluate thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply across 128 plants with once-through cooling technologies in the Mississippi River watershed. By leveraging river network topologies with higher resolutions (0.05°) than previous studies, we reveal the need to address the issue in a more spatially resolved manner, capable of uncovering diverse impacts across individual plants, river reaches and sub-basins. Results show that the use of coarse river network resolutions may lead to substantial overestimations in magnitude and length of impaired river reaches. Overall, there is a modest limitation on power production due to thermal pollution, given existing infrastructure, regulatory and climate conditions. However, tradeoffs between thermal pollution and electricity generation show important implications for the role of alternative cooling technologies and environmental regulation under current and future climates. Recirculating cooling technologies may nearly eliminate thermal pollution and improve power system reliability under stressed climate-water conditions. Regulatory limits also reduce thermal pollution, but at the expense of significant reductions in electricity generation capacity. However, results show several instances when power production capacity rises at individual plants when regulatory limits reduce upstream thermal pollution. These dynamics across energy-water systems highlight the need for high-resolution simulations and the value of coherent planning and optimization across infrastructure with mutual dependencies on natural resources to overcome

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Delingha 50MW Thermal Oil Parabolic

Science.gov Websites

Trough project | Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Delingha 50MW Thermal Oil Parabolic Trough project Status Date: April 17, 2017 Project Overview Project Name: Delingha 50MW Thermal Oil Parabolic Contractor: IDOM : Thermal energy storage system engineering Plant Configuration Solar Field # of Loops: 190

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Gulang 100MW Thermal Oil Parabolic

Science.gov Websites

Trough project | Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Gulang 100MW Thermal Oil Parabolic Trough project Status Date: September 29, 2016 Project Overview Project Name: Gulang 100MW Thermal Oil Parabolic ): Webmaster Solar Participants Developer(s): Changzhou Royal Tech Solar Thermal Equipment Co., Ltd. Owner(s

Improving the global efficiency in small hydropower practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razurel, P.; Gorla, L.; Crouzy, B.; Perona, P.

2015-12-01

The global increase in energy production from renewable sources has seen river exploitation for small hydropower plants to also grow considerably in the last decade. River intakes used to divert water from the main course to the power plant are at the base of such practice. A key issue concern with finding innovative concepts to both design and manage such structures in order to improve classic operational rules. Among these, the Minimal Flow Release (MFR) concept has long been used in spite of its environmental inconsistency.In this work, we show that the economical and ecological efficiency of diverting water for energy production in small hydropower plants can be improved towards sustainability by engineering a novel class of flow-redistribution policies. We use the mathematical form of the Fermi-Dirac statistical distribution to define non-proportional dynamic flow-redistribution rules, which broadens the spectrum of dynamic flow releases based on proportional redistribution. The theoretical background as well as the economic interpretation is presented and applied to three case studies in order to systematically test the global performance of such policies. Out of numerical simulations, a Pareto frontier emerges in the economic vs environmental efficiency plot, which show that non-proportional distribution policies improve both efficiencies with respect to those obtained from some traditional MFR and proportional policies. This picture is shown also for long term climatic scenarios affecting water availability and the natural flow regime.In a time of intense and increasing exploitation close to resource saturation, preserving natural river reaches requires to abandon inappropriate static release policies in favor of non-proportional ones towards a sustainable use of the water resource.

Heat engine development for solar thermal power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pham, H. Q.; Jaffe, L. D.

1981-01-01

The technical status of three heat engines (Stirling, high-temperature Brayton, and Combined cycle) for use in solar thermal power systems is presented. Performance goals necessary to develop a system competitive with conventional power requirements include an external heated engine output less than 40 kW, and efficiency power conversion subsystem at least 40% at rated output, and a half-power efficiency of at least 37%. Results show that the Stirling engine can offer a 39% efficiency with 100 hours of life, and a 20% efficiency with 10,000 hours of life, but problems with seals and heater heads exist. With a demonstrated efficiency near 31% at 1500 F and a minimum lifetime of 100,000 hours, the Brayton engine does not offer sufficient engine lifetime, efficiency, and maintenance for solar thermal power systems. Examination of the Rankine bottoming cycle of the Combined cycle engine reveals a 30 year lifetime, but a low efficiency. Additional development of engines for solar use is primarily in the areas of components to provide a long lifetime, high reliability, and low maintenance (no more than $0.001/kW-hr).

77 FR 42714 - Eagle Creek Hydropower, LLC, Eagle Creek Land Resources, LLC, Eagle Creek Water Resources, LLC...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-20

... Hydropower, LLC, Eagle Creek Land Resources, LLC, Eagle Creek Water Resources, LLC; Notice of Application...: Eagle Creek Hydropower, LLC; Eagle Creek Land Resources, LLC; and Eagle Creek Water Resources, LLC. e... Contact: Robert Gates, Senior Vice President-- Operations, Eagle Creek Hydropower, LLC, Eagle Creek Water...

Solar thermal power systems point-focusing thermal and electric applications projects. Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marriott, A.

1980-01-01

The activities of the Point-Focusing Thermal and Electric Applications (PETEA) project for the fiscal year 1979 are summarized. The main thrust of the PFTEA Project, the small community solar thermal power experiment, was completed. Concept definition studies included a small central receiver approach, a point-focusing distributed receiver system with central power generation, and a point-focusing distributed receiver concept with distributed power generation. The first experiment in the Isolated Application Series was initiated. Planning for the third engineering experiment series, which addresses the industrial market sector, was also initiated. In addition to the experiment-related activities, several contracts to industry were let and studies were conducted to explore the market potential for point-focusing distributed receiver (PFDR) systems. System analysis studies were completed that looked at PFDR technology relative to other small power system technology candidates for the utility market sector.

Power Control and Monitoring Requirements for Thermal Vacuum/Thermal Balance Testing of the MAP Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Chris; Hinkle, R. Kenneth (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The specific heater control requirements for the thermal vacuum and thermal balance testing of the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) Observatory at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland are described. The testing was conducted in the 10m wide x 18.3m high Space Environment Simulator (SES) Thermal Vacuum Facility. The MAP thermal testing required accurate quantification of spacecraft and fixture power levels while minimizing heater electrical emissions. The special requirements of the MAP test necessitated construction of five (5) new heater racks.

A synthesis of environmental and recreational mitigation requirements at hydropower projects in the United States

DOE PAGES

Schramm, Michael P.; Bevelhimer, Mark S.; DeRolph, Chris R.

2016-04-11

Environmental mitigation plays an important role in the environmentally sustainable development of hydropower resources. However, comprehensive data on mitigation required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at United States (US) hydropower projects is lacking. Therefore, our objective was to create a comprehensive database of mitigation required at non-federal hydropower projects and provide a synthesis of available mitigation data. Mitigation data was collated for over 300 plants licensed or relicensed from 1998 through 2013. We observed that the majority of FERC mitigation requirements deal with either hydrologic flows or recreation and that hydropower plants in the Pacific Northwest had themore » highest number of requirements. Our data indicate opportunities exist to further explore hydropower mitigation in the areas of environmental flows, fish passage, and water quality. Lastly, connecting these data with ecological outcomes, actual flow data, and larger landscape level information will be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation and ultimately inform regulators, managers, and planners.« less

A synthesis of environmental and recreational mitigation requirements at hydropower projects in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schramm, Michael P.; Bevelhimer, Mark S.; DeRolph, Chris R.

Environmental mitigation plays an important role in the environmentally sustainable development of hydropower resources. However, comprehensive data on mitigation required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at United States (US) hydropower projects is lacking. Therefore, our objective was to create a comprehensive database of mitigation required at non-federal hydropower projects and provide a synthesis of available mitigation data. Mitigation data was collated for over 300 plants licensed or relicensed from 1998 through 2013. We observed that the majority of FERC mitigation requirements deal with either hydrologic flows or recreation and that hydropower plants in the Pacific Northwest had themore » highest number of requirements. Our data indicate opportunities exist to further explore hydropower mitigation in the areas of environmental flows, fish passage, and water quality. Lastly, connecting these data with ecological outcomes, actual flow data, and larger landscape level information will be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation and ultimately inform regulators, managers, and planners.« less

76 FR 30937 - Small Hydropower Development in the United States; Notice of Small/Low-Impact Hydropower Webinar

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-27

... Development in the United States; Notice of Small/Low-Impact Hydropower Webinar The Federal Energy Regulatory... projects. Specifically, the webinar will provide the opportunity for participants to learn the differences..., learn how to get more information and assistance from FERC staff, and ask questions. To register for...

Thermal Management and Reliability of Power Electronics and Electric Machines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Narumanchi, Sreekant

2016-09-19

Increasing the number of electric-drive vehicles (EDVs) on America's roads has been identified as a strategy with near-term potential for dramatically decreasing the nation's dependence on oil - by the U.S. Department of Energy, the federal cross-agency EV-Everywhere Challenge, and the automotive industry. Mass-market deployment will rely on meeting aggressive technical targets, including improved efficiency and reduced size, weight, and cost. Many of these advances will depend on optimization of thermal management. Effective thermal management is critical to improving the performance and ensuring the reliability of EDVs. Efficient heat removal makes higher power densities and lower operating temperatures possible, andmore » in turn enables cost and size reductions. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with DOE and industry partners is working to develop cost-effective thermal management solutions to increase device and component power densities. In this presentation, the activities in recent years related to thermal management and reliability of automotive power electronics and electric machines are presented.« less

Simulation and Modeling Capability for Standard Modular Hydropower Technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stewart, Kevin M.; Smith, Brennan T.; Witt, Adam M.

Grounded in the stakeholder-validated framework established in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s SMH Exemplary Design Envelope Specification, this report on Simulation and Modeling Capability for Standard Modular Hydropower (SMH) Technology provides insight into the concepts, use cases, needs, gaps, and challenges associated with modeling and simulating SMH technologies. The SMH concept envisions a network of generation, passage, and foundation modules that achieve environmentally compatible, cost-optimized hydropower using standardization and modularity. The development of standardized modeling approaches and simulation techniques for SMH (as described in this report) will pave the way for reliable, cost-effective methods for technology evaluation, optimization, and verification.

General volume sizing strategy for thermal storage system using phase change material for concentrated solar thermal power plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Ben; Li, Peiwen; Chan, Cholik

With an auxiliary large capacity thermal storage using phase change material (PCM), Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is a promising technology for high efficiency solar energy utilization. In a thermal storage system, a dual-media thermal storage tank is typically adopted in industry for the purpose of reducing the use of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) which is usually expensive. While the sensible heat storage system (SHSS) has been well studied, a dual-media latent heat storage system (LHSS) still needs more attention and study. The volume sizing of the thermal storage tank, considering daily cyclic operations, is of particular significance. In thismore » paper, a general volume sizing strategy for LHSS is proposed, based on an enthalpy-based 1D transient model. One example was presented to demonstrate how to apply this strategy to obtain an actual storage tank volume. With this volume, a LHSS can supply heat to a thermal power plant with the HTF at temperatures above a cutoff point during a desired 6 hours of operation. This general volume sizing strategy is believed to be of particular interest for the solar thermal power industry.« less

General volume sizing strategy for thermal storage system using phase change material for concentrated solar thermal power plant

DOE PAGES

Xu, Ben; Li, Peiwen; Chan, Cholik; ...

2014-12-18

With an auxiliary large capacity thermal storage using phase change material (PCM), Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is a promising technology for high efficiency solar energy utilization. In a thermal storage system, a dual-media thermal storage tank is typically adopted in industry for the purpose of reducing the use of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) which is usually expensive. While the sensible heat storage system (SHSS) has been well studied, a dual-media latent heat storage system (LHSS) still needs more attention and study. The volume sizing of the thermal storage tank, considering daily cyclic operations, is of particular significance. In thismore » paper, a general volume sizing strategy for LHSS is proposed, based on an enthalpy-based 1D transient model. One example was presented to demonstrate how to apply this strategy to obtain an actual storage tank volume. With this volume, a LHSS can supply heat to a thermal power plant with the HTF at temperatures above a cutoff point during a desired 6 hours of operation. This general volume sizing strategy is believed to be of particular interest for the solar thermal power industry.« less

Future efficiency of run of the river hydropower schemes based on climate change scenarios: case study in UK catchments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasten Zapata, Ernesto; Moggridge, Helen; Jones, Julie; Widmann, Martin

2017-04-01

Run-of-the-River (ROR) hydropower schemes are expected to be importantly affected by climate change as they rely in the availability of river flow to generate energy. As temperature and precipitation are expected to vary in the future, the hydrological cycle will also undergo changes. Therefore, climate models based on complex physical atmospheric interactions have been developed to simulate future climate scenarios considering the atmosphere's greenhouse gas concentrations. These scenarios are classified according to the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) that are generated according to the concentration of greenhouse gases. This study evaluates possible scenarios for selected ROR hydropower schemes within the UK, considering three different RCPs: 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 W/m2 for 2100 relative to pre-industrial values. The study sites cover different climate, land cover, topographic and hydropower scheme characteristics representative of the UK's heterogeneity. Precipitation and temperature outputs from state-of-the-art Regional Climate Models (RCMs) from the Euro-CORDEX project are used as input for a HEC-HMS hydrological model to simulate the future river flow available. Both uncorrected and bias-corrected RCM simulations are analyzed. The results of this project provide an insight of the possible effects of climate change towards the generation of power from the ROR hydropower schemes according to the different RCP scenarios and contrasts the results obtained from uncorrected and bias-corrected RCMs. This analysis can aid on the adaptation to climate change as well as the planning of future ROR schemes in the region.

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Thermal Power Model in Thermal Desktop SINDA/FLUINT Analyzer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Xiao-Yen; Fabanich, William A.; Schmitz, Paul C.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a three-dimensional Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) thermal power model that was built using the Thermal Desktop SINDA/FLUINT thermal analyzer. The model was correlated with ASRG engineering unit (EU) test data and ASRG flight unit predictions from Lockheed Martin's Ideas TMG thermal model. ASRG performance under (1) ASC hot-end temperatures, (2) ambient temperatures, and (3) years of mission for the general purpose heat source fuel decay was predicted using this model for the flight unit. The results were compared with those reported by Lockheed Martin and showed good agreement. In addition, the model was used to study the performance of the ASRG flight unit for operations on the ground and on the surface of Titan, and the concept of using gold film to reduce thermal loss through insulation was investigated.

China experiments with solar-thermal power production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, Margaret

2009-04-01

Construction is due to start later this month on an experimental solar-thermal power plant in the shadow of China's Great Wall that will bring clean energy to 30 000 households by 2010. Built on the outskirts of Beijing at a cost of £10m, the 1.5MW Dahan plant will cover an area the size of 10 football pitches, and will serve as a platform for experiments on different solar-power technologies.

Feedback control of thermal lensing in a high optical power cavity.

PubMed

Fan, Y; Zhao, C; Degallaix, J; Ju, L; Blair, D G; Slagmolen, B J J; Hosken, D J; Brooks, A F; Veitch, P J; Munch, J

2008-10-01

This paper reports automatic compensation of strong thermal lensing in a suspended 80 m optical cavity with sapphire test mass mirrors. Variation of the transmitted beam spot size is used to obtain an error signal to control the heating power applied to the cylindrical surface of an intracavity compensation plate. The negative thermal lens created in the compensation plate compensates the positive thermal lens in the sapphire test mass, which was caused by the absorption of the high intracavity optical power. The results show that feedback control is feasible to compensate the strong thermal lensing expected to occur in advanced laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Compensation allows the cavity resonance to be maintained at the fundamental mode, but the long thermal time constant for thermal lensing control in fused silica could cause difficulties with the control of parametric instabilities.

Power processing and control requirements of dispersed solar thermal electric generation systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Das, R. L.

1980-01-01

Power Processing and Control requirements of Dispersed Receiver Solar Thermal Electric Generation Systems are presented. Kinematic Stirling Engines, Brayton Engines and Rankine Engines are considered as prime movers. Various types of generators are considered for ac and dc link generations. It is found that ac-ac Power Conversion is not suitable for implementation at this time. It is also found that ac-dc-ac Power Conversion with a large central inverter is more efficient than ac-dc-ac Power Conversion using small dispersed inverters. Ac-link solar thermal electric plants face potential stability and synchronization problems. Research and development efforts are needed in improving component performance characteristics and generation efficiency to make Solar Thermal Electric Generation economically attractive.

Buffer thermal energy storage for a solar thermal powered 1-MW sub e electrical plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polzien, R. E.

The application of a latent heat thermal energy buffer storage (TEBS) subsystem to the small community solar thermal power experiment (SCSE) is discussed. The SCSE is a 1-MW sub e solar thermal electric plant consisting of multiple paraboloidal concentrators with an organic Rankine cycle power conversion unit mounted at the focus of each concentrator. Objective of the TEBS is to minimize plant shutdowns during intermittent cloud coverage thereby improving life expectancy of major subsystems. An SCSE plant performance model is used with time varying insolation to show that 70 to 80 percent of the potential engine shutdowns may be averted with the TEBS system. Parametric variation of engine life dependency on start/stop cycles shows the potential for a 4 percent reduction in levelized bus bar energy cost using TEBS.

Thermal energy storage for power generation applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drost, M. K.; Antoniak, Zen I.; Brown, D. R.

1990-03-01

Studies strongly indicate that the United States will face widespread electrical power constraints in the 1990s. In many cases, the demand for increased power will occur during peak and intermediate demand periods. While natural gas is currently plentiful and economically attractive for meeting peak and intermediate loads, the development of a coal-fired peaking option would give utilities insurance against unexpected supply shortages or cost increases. This paper discusses a conceptual evaluation of using thermal energy storage (TES) to improve the economics of coal-fired peak and intermediate load power generation. The use of TES can substantially improve the economic attractiveness of meeting peak and intermediate loads with coal-fired power generation. In this case, conventional pulverized coal combustion equipment is continuously operated to heat molten nitrate salt, which is then stored. During peak demand periods, hot salt is withdrawn from storage and used to generate steam for a Rankine steam power cycle. This allows the coal-fired salt heater to be approximately one-third the size of a coal-fired boiler in a conventional cycling plant. The general impact is to decouple the generation of thermal energy from its conversion to electricity. The present study compares a conventional cycling pulverized coal-fired power plant to a pulverized coal-fired plant using nitrate salt TES. The study demonstrates that a coal-fired salt heater is technically feasible and should be less expensive than a similar coal-fired boiler. The results show the use of nitrate salt TES reduced the levelized cost of power by between 5 and 24 percent, depending on the operating schedule.

ERDA's central receiver solar thermal power system studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lippy, L. J.; Heaton, T. R.

1977-01-01

The utilization of solar energy for electrical power production was studied. Efforts underway on the central receiver solar thermal power system are presented. Preliminary designs are included of pilot plant utilizing large numbers of heliostats in a collector field. Safety hazards are also discussed, as well as the most beneficial location of such a plant within the United States.

75 FR 61474 - Juneau Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Intent To File License Application, Filing of Pre-Application...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-05

... Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Intent To File License Application, Filing of Pre-Application Document, and....: 13563-001. c. Dated Filed: July 28, 2010. d. Submitted By: Juneau Hydropower, Inc. e. Name of Project... Commission's regulations. h. Potential Applicant Contact: Duff W. Mitchell, Juneau Hydropower, Inc., P.O. Box...

75 FR 45106 - Great River Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-02

... Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and Soliciting Additional... License. b. Project No.: P-13637-001. c. Date filed: July 12, 2010. d. Applicant: Great River Hydropower.... 21, and would consist of the following facilities: (1) A new hydropower structure, located about 100...

75 FR 65012 - Small Hydropower Development in the United States; Notice of Small/Low-Impact Hydropower Webinar

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-21

... and walk participants through all phases of the licensing and exemption processes using the Web site. Specifically, the webinar will provide the opportunity for participants to learn about the small hydropower licensing process, find out how to get more information and assistance from FERC, and ask questions. To...

Research on Power System Scheduling Improving Wind Power Accommodation Considering Thermal Energy Storage and Flexible Load

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Chenlu; Cui, Xue; Wang, Heng; Zhou, Bin; Liu, Yang

2018-01-01

In the case of rapid development of wind power and heavy wind curtailment, the study of wind power accommodation of combined heat and power system has become the focus of attention. A two-stage scheduling model contains of wind power, thermal energy storage, CHP unit and flexible load were constructed. This model with the objective function of minimizing wind curtailment and the operation cost of units while taking into account of the total coal consumption of units, constraint of thermal energy storage and electricity-heat characteristic of CHP. This paper uses MICA to solve the problem of too many constraints and make the solution more feasible. A numerical example showed that the two stage decision scheduling model can consume more wind power, and it could provide a reference for combined heat and power system short-term operation

Energy-Water Nexus Relevant to Baseload Electricity Source Including Mini/Micro Hydropower Generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, M.; Tanabe, S.; Yamada, M.

2014-12-01

Water, food and energy is three sacred treasures that are necessary for human beings. However, recent factors such as population growth and rapid increase in energy consumption have generated conflicting cases between water and energy. For example, there exist conflicts caused by enhanced energy use, such as between hydropower generation and riverine ecosystems and service water, between shale gas and ground water, between geothermal and hot spring water. This study aims to provide quantitative guidelines necessary for capacity building among various stakeholders to minimize water-energy conflicts in enhancing energy use. Among various kinds of renewable energy sources, we target baseload sources, especially focusing on renewable energy of which installation is required socially not only to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions but to stimulate local economy. Such renewable energy sources include micro/mini hydropower and geothermal. Three municipalities in Japan, Beppu City, Obama City and Otsuchi Town are selected as primary sites of this study. Based on the calculated potential supply and demand of micro/mini hydropower generation in Beppu City, for example, we estimate the electricity of tens through hundreds of households is covered by installing new micro/mini hydropower generation plants along each river. However, the result is based on the existing infrastructures such as roads and electric lines. This means that more potentials are expected if the local society chooses options that enhance the infrastructures to increase micro/mini hydropower generation plants. In addition, further capacity building in the local society is necessary. In Japan, for example, regulations by the river law and irrigation right restrict new entry by actors to the river. Possible influences to riverine ecosystems in installing new micro/mini hydropower generation plants should also be well taken into account. Deregulation of the existing laws relevant to rivers and

Energy saving and consumption reducing evaluation of thermal power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Xiu; Han, Miaomiao

2018-03-01

At present, energy saving and consumption reduction require energy saving and consumption reduction measures for thermal power plant, establishing an evaluation system for energy conservation and consumption reduction is instructive for the whole energy saving work of thermal power plant. By analysing the existing evaluation system of energy conservation and consumption reduction, this paper points out that in addition to the technical indicators of power plant, market activities should also be introduced in the evaluation of energy saving and consumption reduction in power plant. Ttherefore, a new evaluation index of energy saving and consumption reduction is set up and the example power plant is calculated in this paper. Rresults show that after introducing the new evaluation index of energy saving and consumption reduction, the energy saving effect of the power plant can be judged more comprehensively, so as to better guide the work of energy saving and consumption reduction in power plant.

Do emissions from thermal power plants affect crop productivity? A study from the vicinity of Bellary Thermal Power Station, Karnataka, India.

PubMed

Kiran, K R; Ravi, M V; Dhanya, B; Janagoudar, B S; Umesh, M R; Narayanarao, K

2016-09-01

In the present study, ambient air quality was monitored during July to November 2013 in the vicinity of Bellary Thermal Power Station (BTPS), Karnataka to assess the impact of pollutants emitted from power plant on the productivity of maize (Zea mays L.). Atmospheric pollutant load were measured in five different villages at varying distances and directions from thermal power plant, with the village farthest away from BTPS (Yelubenchi) as control. Maize yield was also estimated in these locations and correlated to the pollutant concentrations. It was found that, both particulate matter and SO2 which are indicators of emissions from coal-fueled power plants were highest in Thimmalapur village located in the predominant down wind direction. A significant reduction in maize yield was noticed (8197 to 6509 kg ha-1 for seed and 14041 to 9933 kg ha-1 for stover) across the gradient in distance and direction from BTPS which might be influenced by the pollutants emitted. The implications of these observations are further discussed in the paper.

JPL - Small Power Systems Applications Project. [for solar thermal power plant development and commercialization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferber, R. R.; Marriott, A. T.; Truscello, V.

1978-01-01

The Small Power Systems Applications (SPSA) Project has been established to develop and commercialize small solar thermal power plants. The technologies of interest include all distributed and central receiver technologies which are potentially economically viable in power plant sizes of one to 10 MWe. The paper presents an overview of the SPSA Project and briefly discusses electric utility involvement in the Project.

Diagnostics of the power oil-filled transformer equipment of thermal power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eltyshev, D. K.; Khoroshev, N. I.

2016-08-01

Problems concerning improvement of the diagnostics efficiency of the electrical facilities and functioning of the generation and distribution systems through the examples of the power oil-filled transformers, as the responsible elements referring to the electrical part of thermal power plants (TPP), were considered. Research activity is based on the fuzzy logic system allowing working both with statistical and expert information presented in the form of knowledge accumulated during operation of the power oil-filled transformer facilities. The diagnostic algorithm for various types of transformers, with the use of the intellectual estimation model of its thermal state on the basis of the key diagnostic parameters and fuzzy inference hierarchy, was developed. Criteria for taking measures allowing preventing emergencies in the electric power systems were developed. The fuzzy hierarchical model for the state assessment of the power oil-filled transformers of 110 kV, possessing high degree of credibility and setting quite strict requirements to the limits of variables of the equipment diagnostic parameters, was developed. The most frequent defects of the transformer standard elements, related with the disturbance of the isolation properties and instrumentation operation, were revealed after model testing on the real object. Presented results may be used both for the express diagnostics of the transformers state without disconnection from the power line and for more detailed analysis of the defects causes on the basis of the advanced list of the diagnostic parameters; information on those parameters may be received only after complete or partial disconnection.

The Water - Energy Nexus Of Hydropower. Are The Trade-Offs Between Electricity Generation And Water Supply Negligible?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scherer, L.; Pfister, S.

2015-12-01

Hydropower ranks first among renewable sources of power production and provides globally about 16% of electricity. While it is praised for its low greenhouse gas emissions, it is accused of its large water consumption which surpasses that of all conventional and most renewable energy sources (except for bioenergy) by far. Previous studies mostly applied a gross evaporation approach where all the current evaporation from the plant's reservoir is allocated to hydropower. In contrast, we only considered net evaporation as the difference between current evaporation and actual evapotranspiration before the construction of the reservoir. In addition, we take into account local water stress, its monthly fluctuations and storage effects of the reservoir in order to assess the impacts on water availability for other users. We apply the method to a large dataset of almost 1500 globally distributed hydropower plants (HPPs), covering ~43% of global annual electricity generation, by combining reservoir information from the Global Reservoir and Dam (GRanD) database with information on electricity generation from the CARMA database. While we can confirm that the gross water consumption of hydropower is generally large (production-weighted average of 97 m3/GJ), other users are not necessarily deprived of water. In contrast, they also benefit in many cases from the reservoir because water is rather stored in the wet season and released in the dry season, thereby alleviating water stress. The production-weighted water scarcity footprint of the analyzed HPPs amounts to -41 m3 H2Oe/GJ. It has to be noted that the impacts among individual plants vary a lot. Larger HPPs generally consume less water per unit of electricity generated, but also the benefits related to alleviating water scarcity are lower. Overall, reservoirs promote both, energy and water security. Other environmental impacts such as flow alterations and social impacts should, however, also be considered, as they can be

Thermal management system options for high power space platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sadunas, J. A.; Lehtinen, A.; Parish, R.

1985-01-01

Thermal Management System (TMS) design options for a high power (75kWe), low earth orbit, multimodule space platform were investigated. The approach taken was to establish a baseline TMS representative of current technology, and to make incremental improvements through successive subsystem trades that lead to a candidate TMS. The TMS trades included centralized and decentralized transport, single-phase and two-phase transport, alternate working fluids, liquid loop and heat pipe radiators, deployed fixed, body mounted and steerable radiators, and thermal storage. The subsystem options were evaluated against criteria such as weight, TMS power requirement, reliability, system isothermality penalty, and growth potential.

Strategies for emission reduction from thermal power plants.

PubMed

Prisyazhniuk, Vitaly A

2006-07-01

Major polluters of man's environment are thermal power stations (TPS) and power plants, which discharge into the atmosphere the basic product of carbon fuel combustion, CO2, which results in a build-up of the greenhouse effect and global warm-up of our planet's climate. This paper is intended to show that the way to attain environmental safety of the TPS and to abide by the decisions of the Kyoto Protocol lies in raising the efficiency of the heat power stations and reducing their fuel consumption by using nonconventional thermal cycles. Certain equations have been derived to define the quantitative interrelationship between the growth of efficiency of the TPS, decrease in fuel consumption and reduction of discharge of dust, fuel combustion gases, and heat into the environment. New ideas and new technological approaches that result in raising the efficiency of the TPS are briefly covered: magneto-hydrodynamic resonance, the Kalina cycle, and utilizing the ambient heat by using, as the working medium, low-boiling substances.

Study on key technologies of optimization of big data for thermal power plant performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, Mingyang; Xiao, Hong

2018-06-01

Thermal power generation accounts for 70% of China's power generation, the pollutants accounted for 40% of the same kind of emissions, thermal power efficiency optimization needs to monitor and understand the whole process of coal combustion and pollutant migration, power system performance data show explosive growth trend, The purpose is to study the integration of numerical simulation of big data technology, the development of thermal power plant efficiency data optimization platform and nitrogen oxide emission reduction system for the thermal power plant to improve efficiency, energy saving and emission reduction to provide reliable technical support. The method is big data technology represented by "multi-source heterogeneous data integration", "large data distributed storage" and "high-performance real-time and off-line computing", can greatly enhance the energy consumption capacity of thermal power plants and the level of intelligent decision-making, and then use the data mining algorithm to establish the boiler combustion mathematical model, mining power plant boiler efficiency data, combined with numerical simulation technology to find the boiler combustion and pollutant generation rules and combustion parameters of boiler combustion and pollutant generation Influence. The result is to optimize the boiler combustion parameters, which can achieve energy saving.

Thermal Management and Reliability of Automotive Power Electronics and Electric Machines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Narumanchi, Sreekant V; Bennion, Kevin S; Cousineau, Justine E

Low-cost, high-performance thermal management technologies are helping meet aggressive power density, specific power, cost, and reliability targets for power electronics and electric machines. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is working closely with numerous industry and research partners to help influence development of components that meet aggressive performance and cost targets through development and characterization of cooling technologies, and thermal characterization and improvements of passive stack materials and interfaces. Thermomechanical reliability and lifetime estimation models are important enablers for industry in cost-and time-effective design.

Joint optimization of regional water-power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira-Cardenal, Silvio J.; Mo, Birger; Gjelsvik, Anders; Riegels, Niels D.; Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter

2016-06-01

Energy and water resources systems are tightly coupled; energy is needed to deliver water and water is needed to extract or produce energy. Growing pressure on these resources has raised concerns about their long-term management and highlights the need to develop integrated solutions. A method for joint optimization of water and electric power systems was developed in order to identify methodologies to assess the broader interactions between water and energy systems. The proposed method is to include water users and power producers into an economic optimization problem that minimizes the cost of power production and maximizes the benefits of water allocation, subject to constraints from the power and hydrological systems. The method was tested on the Iberian Peninsula using simplified models of the seven major river basins and the power market. The optimization problem was successfully solved using stochastic dual dynamic programming. The results showed that current water allocation to hydropower producers in basins with high irrigation productivity, and to irrigation users in basins with high hydropower productivity was sub-optimal. Optimal allocation was achieved by managing reservoirs in very distinct ways, according to the local inflow, storage capacity, hydropower productivity, and irrigation demand and productivity. This highlights the importance of appropriately representing the water users' spatial distribution and marginal benefits and costs when allocating water resources optimally. The method can handle further spatial disaggregation and can be extended to include other aspects of the water-energy nexus.

Water Power Technologies FY 2017 Budget At-A-Glance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2016-03-01

The Water Power Program is committed to developing and deploying a portfolio of innovative technologies and market solutions for clean, domestic power generation from water resources across the U.S. (hydropower, marine and hydrokinetics).

The Himalayan hydro machine and space transmission power systems - An Asian dream of 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Admoddie, M.

The advantages and disadvantages for the development of hydroelectric power are assessed for the Himalayan Rectangle, an area rising 1500 km north of a baseline between Karachi and Mandalay. This area has the potential for possessing one of the world's greatest power production capabilities. Among the disadvantages cited are the political instability and religious fundamentalism of the area, the bankrupt governments, environmental degradation, and inefficient power and irrigation systems. The advantages include the millions of talented and enterprising people in the region awaiting higher opportunities who are eager to improve their families' living standards and the large untapped hydropower resources. The concepts for hydropower development are discussed and go beyond the technologies of power and water. They include catchment ecodevelopment strategies with massive afforestation plans, setting up plans to strengthen village-level institutions to manage local natural biomass and water assets, the conversion of this regional hydropower potential into a subcontinental power system, and the exporting of power and the development of an interregional and international power grid by 2030, when both oil and local ecosystems would be dangerously depleted.

Hydropower, an energy source whose time has come again

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1980-01-01

Recent price increases in imported oil demonstrate the urgency for the U.S. to rapidly develop its renewable resources. One such renewable resource for which technology is available now is hydropower. Studies indicate that hydropower potential, particularly at existing dam sites, can save the county hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day. But problems and constraints-economic, environmental, institutional, and operational-limit is full potential. Federal programs have had little impact on helping to bring hydro projects on line. Specifically, the Department of Energy's Small Hydro Program could do more to overcome hydro constraints and problems through an effective outreach program and more emphasis on demonstration projects.

An Innovative Very Low Thermal Power Waste Heat Recovery System for Thermal Control of Deep Space Missions: A Thermal Flask in Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhandari, Pradeep

2015-01-01

Future missions to deep space, such as those to the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, etc.), which would rely on solar photovoltaic power, would need extremely large solar arrays to produce sufficient power for their operations because solar intensity is so low at those locations. Hence any additional power that would be needed for thermal control is extremely limited. Previous deep space missions like Juno (to Jupiter) required almost 200 W of electrical power for thermal control. This is prohibitively large for many future mission concepts, and leads to them needing very large solar arrays. For Saturn, where the solar flux is 1/4th the flux at Jupiter, this would entail an extremely large increase in the solar array size to accommodate the need for thermal survival power, which would be prohibitively large in size and mass, and very expensive. Hence there is a need to come up with a thermal architecture and design options that would not need such prohibitively large thermal power levels. One solution relies on harvesting the pre-existing waste heat from all the heat dissipation that would be present from operation of electronics, instruments, etc. for their own functionality. For example, for a generic Saturn mission, the various electronics would already dissipate about 200 Watts of heat that is simply "thrown away" to space from the spacecraft surfaces. The amount of thermal power that would be required for the safe thermal control of components within the spacecraft in deep space would be roughly of this magnitude for this class of spacecraft. So it makes good sense to try to harvest the waste heat and employ it to maintain the temperatures of all the components within their allowable limits. In particular, propulsion systems typically need to be kept above their freezing limits, around room temperature (15 C). Electronics needs to be kept typically above -40 C and batteries above -20 C. The next question becomes how to harvest this waste heat and direct it to

Thermally regenerative hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell power cycles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morehouse, J. H.

1986-01-01

Two innovative thermodynamic power cycles are analytically examined for future engineering feasibility. The power cycles use a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell for electrical energy production and use the thermal dissociation of water for regeneration of the hydrogen and oxygen. The TDS (thermal dissociation system) uses a thermal energy input at over 2000 K to thermally dissociate the water. The other cycle, the HTE (high temperature electrolyzer) system, dissociates the water using an electrolyzer operating at high temperature (1300 K) which receives its electrical energy from the fuel cell. The primary advantages of these cycles is that they are basically a no moving parts system, thus having the potential for long life and high reliability, and they have the potential for high thermal efficiency. Both cycles are shown to be classical heat engines with ideal efficiency close to Carnot cycle efficiency. The feasibility of constructing actual cycles is investigated by examining process irreversibilities and device efficiencies for the two types of cycles. The results show that while the processes and devices of the 2000 K TDS exceed current technology limits, the high temperature electrolyzer system appears to be a state-of-the-art technology development. The requirements for very high electrolyzer and fuel cell efficiencies are seen as determining the feasbility of the HTE system, and these high efficiency devices are currently being developed. It is concluded that a proof-of-concept HTE system experiment can and should be conducted.

Hydropower impacts on reservoir fish populations are modified by environmental variation.

PubMed

Eloranta, Antti P; Finstad, Anders G; Helland, Ingeborg P; Ugedal, Ola; Power, Michael

2018-03-15

Global transition towards renewable energy production has increased the demand for new and more flexible hydropower operations. Before management and stakeholders can make informed choices on potential mitigations, it is essential to understand how the hydropower reservoir ecosystems respond to water level regulation (WLR) impacts that are likely modified by the reservoirs' abiotic and biotic characteristics. Yet, most reservoir studies have been case-specific, which hampers large-scale planning, evaluation and mitigation actions across various reservoir ecosystems. Here, we investigated how the effect of the magnitude, frequency and duration of WLR on fish populations varies along environmental gradients. We used biomass, density, size, condition and maturation of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in Norwegian hydropower reservoirs as a measure of ecosystem response, and tested for interacting effects of WLR and lake morphometry, climatic conditions and fish community structure. Our results showed that environmental drivers modified the responses of brown trout populations to different WLR patterns. Specifically, brown trout biomass and density increased with WLR magnitude particularly in large and complex-shaped reservoirs, but the positive relationships were only evident in reservoirs with no other fish species. Moreover, increasing WLR frequency was associated with increased brown trout density but decreased condition of individuals within the populations. WLR duration had no significant impacts on brown trout, and the mean weight and maturation length of brown trout showed no significant response to any WLR metrics. Our study demonstrates that local environmental characteristics and the biotic community strongly modify the hydropower-induced WLR impacts on reservoir fishes and ecosystems, and that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to mitigate environmental impacts. This knowledge is vital for sustainable planning, management and mitigation of hydropower

Framing hydropower as green energy: assessing drivers, risks and tensions in the Eastern Himalayas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahlers, R.; Budds, J.; Joshi, D.; Merme, V.; Zwarteveen, M.

2015-04-01

The culturally and ecologically diverse region of the Eastern Himalayas is the target of ambitious hydropower development plans. Policy discourses at national and international levels position this development as synergistically positive: it combines the production of clean energy to fuel economic growth at regional and national levels with initiatives to lift poor mountain communities out of poverty. Different from hydropower development in the 20th century in which development agencies and banks were important players, contemporary initiatives importantly rely on the involvement of private actors, with a prominent role of the private finance sector. This implies that hydropower development is not only financially viable but also understood as highly profitable. This paper examines the new development of hydropower in the Eastern Himalayas of Nepal and India. It questions its framing as green energy, interrogates its links with climate change, and examines its potential for investment and capital accumulation. To do this, we also review the evidence on the extent to which its construction and operation may modify existing hydrogeological processes and ecosystems, as well as its impacts on the livelihoods of diverse groups of people that depend on these. The paper concludes that hydropower development in the region is characterized by inherent contentions and uncertainties, refuting the idea that dams constitute development projects whose impacts can be simply predicted, controlled and mitigated. Indeed, in a highly complex geological, ecological, cultural and political context that is widely regarded to be especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, hydropower as a development strategy makes for a toxic cocktail.

Framing hydropower as green energy: assessing drivers, risks and tensions in the Eastern Himalayas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahlers, R.; Budds, J.; Joshi, D.; Merme, V.; Zwarteveen, M.

2014-11-01

The culturally and ecologically diverse region of the Eastern Himalayas is the target of ambitious hydropower development plans. Policy discourses at national and international levels position this development as synergistically positive: it combines the production of clean energy to fuel economic growth at regional and national levels with initiatives to lift poor mountain communities out of poverty. Different from hydropower development in the 20th century in which development agencies and banks were important players, contemporary initiatives importantly rely on the involvement of private actors, with a prominent role of the private finance sector. This implies that hydropower development is not only financially viable but also understood as highly profitable. This paper examines the new development of hydropower in the Eastern Himalaya of Nepal and India. It questions its framing as green energy, interrogates its links with climate change, and examines its potential for investment and capital accumulation. To do this, we also review the evidence on the extent to which its construction and operation may modify existing hydrogeological processes and ecosystems, as well as its impacts on the livelihoods of diverse groups of people that depend on these. The paper concludes that hydropower development in the region is characterised by inherent contentions and uncertainties, refuting the idea that dams constitute development projects whose impacts can be simply predicted, controlled and mitigated. Indeed, in a highly complex geological, ecological, cultural and political context that is widely regarded to be especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, hydropower as a development strategy makes for a toxic cocktail.

Siting Issues for Solar Thermal Power Plants with Small Community Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holbeck, J. J.; Ireland, S. J.

1978-01-01

Technologies for solar thermal plants are being developed to provide energy alternatives for the future. Implementation of these plants requires consideration of siting issues as well as power system technology. While many conventional siting considerations are applicable, there is also a set of unique siting issues for solar thermal plants. Early experimental plants will have special siting considerations. The siting issues associated with small, dispersed solar thermal power plants in the 1 to 10 MWe power range for utility/small community applications are considered. Some specific requirements refer to the first 1 MWe engineering experiment for the Small Power Systems Applications (SPSA) Project. The siting issues themselves are discussed in three categories: (1) system resource requirements, (2) environmental effects on the system, and (3) potential impact of the plant on the environment. Within these categories, specific issues are discussed in a qualitative manner. Examples of limiting factors for some issues are taken from studies of other solar systems.

Comparison of advanced engines for parabolic dish solar thermal power plants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fujita, T.; Bowyer, J. M.; Gajanana, B. C.

1980-01-01

A paraboloidal dish solar thermal power plant produces electrical energy by a two-step conversion process. The collector subsystem is composed of a two-axis tracking paraboloidal concentrator and a cavity receiver. The concentrator focuses intercepted sunlight (direct, normal insolation) into a cavity receiver whose aperture encircles the focal point of the concentrator. At the internal wall of the receiver the electromagnetic radiation is converted to thermal energy. A heat engine/generator assembly then converts the thermal energy captured by the receiver to electricity. Developmental activity has been concentrated on small power modules which employ 11- to 12-meter diameter dishes to generate nominal power levels of approximately 20 kWe. A comparison of advanced heat engines for the dish power module is presented in terms of the performance potential of each engine with its requirements for advanced technology development. Three advanced engine possibilities are the Brayton (gas turbine), Brayton/Rankine combined cycle, and Stirling engines.

High-Resolution Free-GIS operations to assist hydropower potential assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganora, Daniele; Gallo, Enrico; Masoero, Alessandro; Laio, Francesco; Claps, Pierluigi

2013-04-01

Even in regions with mature hydropower development, needs for renewable energy suggest to revise plans of exploitation of water resources, according to EU and national environmental regulations. High resolution hydrological analysis is then needed to comply with the effects of existing hydropower plants and of other water withdrawals. Flow duration curves (FDC) are the tool usually adopted to represent water availability and variability for hydropower purposes. For this study, developed within the RENERFOR-ALCOTRA Project, a regional "spatially smooth" model has been developed for FDC estimation: the procedure adopted relates the L-moments of the FDC to several geomorphoclimatic parameters (more than 100), with the purpose to directly reconstruct a "naturalized" FDC. The proposed procedure is systematically extended to all the gauged basins located in Northwestern Italy, which is an area characterized by the presence of a large number of dams. For each basin, the annual average FDC is computed, its L-moments are calculated and corrected using a simplified model that takes into account the effect of upstream reservoirs and power plants. Then, each corrected L-moment is regionalized using multiple regressions techniques, allowing one to reconstruct the L-moments at any ungauged basin. Finally, the "naturalized" FDC is reconstructed at the ungauged site on the basis of the predicted L-moments. Due to necessity of obtaining high-resolution estimates, the method has been designed to keep the estimates of mean annual runoff congruent in the confluences. This feature is obtained considering only raster-summable explanatory variables, which are only a subset of the available descriptors. The residual hydropower potential is evaluated by mapping the mean naturalized flow estimated for each pixel of a DEM-derived river network raster model in two mountain basins used as case studies. Applying extensively the proposed methodology, the mean annual flow is reconstructed not

Analysis of synchronous and induction generators used at hydroelectric power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diniş, C. M.; Popa, G. N.; lagăr, A.

2017-01-01

In this paper is presented an analysis of the operating electric generators (synchronous and induction) within a small capacity hydroelectric power plant. Such is treated the problem of monitoring and control hydropower plant using SCADA systems. Have been carried an experimental measurements in small hydropower plant for different levels of water in the lake and various settings of the operating parameters.

Concentrating Solar Power Projects - Urat Middle Banner 100MW Thermal Oil

Science.gov Websites

Parabolic Trough project | Concentrating Solar Power | NREL Middle Banner 100MW Thermal Oil Thermal Oil Parabolic Trough project Country: China Location: Urat Middle Banner (Inner Mongolia) Owner(s , 2017 Start Production: 2018 Participants Developer(s): Changzhou Royal Tech Solar Thermal Equipment Co

Multi-objective Operation Chart Optimization for Aquatic Species Habitat Conservation of Cascaded Hydropower System on Yuan River, Southwestern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, X.; Lei, X.; Fang, G.; Huang, X.

2017-12-01

Extensive cascading hydropower exploitation in southwestern China has been the subject of debate and conflict in recent years. Introducing limited ecological curves, a novel approach for derivation of hydropower-ecological joint operation chart of cascaded hydropower system was proposed, aiming to optimize the general hydropower and ecological benefits, and to alleviate the ecological deterioration in specific flood/dry conditions. The physical habitat simulation model is proposed initially to simulate the relationship between streamflow and physical habitat of target fish species and to determine the optimal ecological flow range of representative reach. The ecological—hydropower joint optimization model is established to produce the multi-objective operation chart of cascaded hydropower system. Finally, the limited ecological guiding curves were generated and added into the operation chart. The JS-MDS cascaded hydropower system on the Yuan River in southwestern China is employed as the research area. As the result, the proposed guiding curves could increase the hydropower production amount by 1.72% and 5.99% and optimize ecological conservation degree by 0.27% and 1.13% for JS and MDS Reservoir, respectively. Meanwhile, the ecological deterioration rate also sees a decrease from 6.11% to 1.11% for JS Reservoir and 26.67% to 3.89% for MDS Reservoir.

Improving hydropower choices via an online and open access tool

PubMed Central

Vilela, Thais; Reid, John

2017-01-01

This paper describes and validates the HydroCalculator Tool developed by Conservation Strategy Fund. The HydroCalculator Tool allows researchers, policy-makers and citizens to easily assess hydropower feasibility, by calculating traditional financial indicators, such as the levelized cost of energy, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and the economic net present value including emissions costs. Currently, people other than project developers have limited or no access to such information, which stifles informed public debate on electric energy options. Within this context, the use of the HydroCalculator Tool may contribute to the debate, by facilitating access to information. To validate the tool’s greenhouse gas calculations, we replicate two peer-reviewed articles that estimate greenhouse gas emissions from different hydropower plants in the Amazon basin. The estimates calculated by the HydroCalculator Tool are similar to the ones found in both peer-reviewed articles. The results show that hydropower plants can lead to greenhouse gas emissions and that, in some cases, these emissions can be larger than those of alternative energy sources producing the same amount of electricity. PMID:28650968

Improving hydropower choices via an online and open access tool.

PubMed

Vilela, Thais; Reid, John

2017-01-01

This paper describes and validates the HydroCalculator Tool developed by Conservation Strategy Fund. The HydroCalculator Tool allows researchers, policy-makers and citizens to easily assess hydropower feasibility, by calculating traditional financial indicators, such as the levelized cost of energy, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and the economic net present value including emissions costs. Currently, people other than project developers have limited or no access to such information, which stifles informed public debate on electric energy options. Within this context, the use of the HydroCalculator Tool may contribute to the debate, by facilitating access to information. To validate the tool's greenhouse gas calculations, we replicate two peer-reviewed articles that estimate greenhouse gas emissions from different hydropower plants in the Amazon basin. The estimates calculated by the HydroCalculator Tool are similar to the ones found in both peer-reviewed articles. The results show that hydropower plants can lead to greenhouse gas emissions and that, in some cases, these emissions can be larger than those of alternative energy sources producing the same amount of electricity.

Thermal Analysis of a Power Conditioning Unit for a Howitzer

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-08-01

contact resistance Interface ( mA2 -K / W) AL-PCB 0.000389 AL-AL (thermal grease) 0.000083 AL-power chips 0.003891 AL-power chips (thermal grease...1120 W/ mA2 . Figure 3 shows the view of the box that the source of the solar radiation sees. The inside of the box is cluttered with cables, wiring, and...temperature (130°F) and a conservative convective heat transfer coefficient (5 W/ mA2 ) to all of the outer surfaces. These outer surfaces would

The role of glaciers for Swiss hydropower production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaefli, Bettina; Manso, Pedro; Fischer, Mauro; Huss, Matthias

2016-04-01

In Switzerland, hydropower represents over 50% of the total annual electricity production. Given the Alpine setting of the country, this hydropower production (HPP) strongly relies on the natural storage of discharge in form of ice and snow over months to decades. The sensitivity of glacier-fed HPP systems with respect to climate change depends on how the today's production and the infrastructure design relies on the seasonal streamflow delay expected from the natural storage effect of snow and ice. For low-head run-of-river HPP plants built on large lowland rivers, the ongoing glacier retreat (resulting in strong summer melt) currently sustains higher flows during summer months, an effect that will certainly be reduced once the glaciers will have reached a critical size. This effect will also modify the inflow to the large storage HPP plants that have been designed to shift large amounts of meltwater inflows from summer to winter. The management of these reservoirs will certainly have to be adapted to future inflow patterns. An interesting case are high-head run-of-river plants (with heads from 100 to 1100 m) that short-circuit a given river reach. Future regime shifts with less sustained summer flow and more concentrated spring melt flows might critically reduce the annual production due to intake overflow during spring and reduced flow during summer. In this work, we discuss the role of glaciers for these different HPP types in detail, including an overview of how glacier retreat might influence their production. This comprehensive study synthesizes up-to-date estimations of glacier mass change since the 1980s and its influence on high Alpine discharge regimes and state-of-the art simulations of potential future glacier discharge regimes. We also attempt an extrapolation to the country level based on a hydropower GIS database that has been developed for economic purposes. Ongoing Swiss research on sediment production and management might complete this picture

Hydropower versus irrigation—an analysis of global patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Ruijie; Cai, Ximing; Ringler, Claudia; Zhu, Tingju

2017-03-01

Numerous reservoirs around the world provide multiple flow regulation functions; key among these are hydroelectricity production and water releases for irrigation. These functions contribute to energy and food security at national, regional and global levels. While reservoir operations for hydroelectricity production might support irrigation, there are also well-known cases where hydroelectricity production reduces water availability for irrigated food production. This study assesses these relationships at the global level using machine-learning techniques and multi-source datasets. We find that 54% of global installed hydropower capacity (around 507 thousand Megawatt) competes with irrigation. Regions where such competition exists include the Central United States, northern Europe, India, Central Asia and Oceania. On the other hand, 8% of global installed hydropower capacity (around 79 thousand Megawatt) complements irrigation, particularly in the Yellow and Yangtze River Basins of China, the East and West Coasts of the United States and most river basins of Southeast Asia, Canada and Russia. No significant relationship is found for the rest of the world. We further analyze the impact of climate variables on the relationships between hydropower and irrigation. Reservoir flood control functions that operate under increased precipitation levels appear to constrain hydroelectricity production in various river basins of the United States, South China and most basins in Europe and Oceania. On the other hand, increased reservoir evaporative losses and higher irrigation requirements due to higher potential evaporation levels may lead to increased tradeoffs between irrigation and hydropower due to reduced water availability in regions with warmer climates, such as India, South China, and the Southern United States. With most reservoirs today being built for multiple purposes, it is important for policymakers to understand and plan for growing tradeoffs between key

Improved evaluation of the blue water footprint from hydropower in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, G.; Gao, H.

2017-12-01

As the world's largest source of renewable energy, hydropower contributes 16.6% of the electricity production in the world. Even though it produces no waste, hydropower exhausts a considerable amount of water mostly through evaporation from the extended surface areas of the manmade lakes. The water footprint of hydropower becomes even larger with rising temperatures. To assist with the precise management of both water resources and energy production in the Contiguous United States (CONUS), 82 major dams—all with a primary purpose of producing hydroelectric power—were evaluated in terms of their blue water footprints. These dams account for 21% of the entire hydropower generation in the CONUS. Reservoir evaporation is calculated using state-of-the-art reservoir surface area and evaporation rate information. Instead of using fixed surface areas for the reservoirs—a practice which is adopted by virtually all other studies (and generally leads to over-or-under estimations)—time-variant surface areas were generated from Landsat imageries archived on Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Additionally, evaporation rates were calculated using an equilibrium method that incorporates the heat storage effects of the reservoirs. Results show that water consumption from hydropower is large and non-negligible. Furthermore, the differences of the blue water footprints among the dams studied are also significant. The results of this study can benefit the evaluation of existing dams (e.g. recommendation for dam removal) and the planning of future hydroelectric dams.

Improving the flow representation in a stochastic programming model for hydropower operations in Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morales, Y.; Olivares, M. A.; Vargas, X.

2015-12-01

This research aims to improve the representation of stochastic water inflows to hydropower plants used in a grid-wide, power production scheduling model in central Chile. The model prescribes the operation of every plant in the system, including hydropower plants located in several basins, and uses stochastic dual dynamic programming (SDDP) with possible inflow scenarios defined from historical records. Each year of record is treated as a sample of weekly inflows to power plants, assuming this intrinsically incorporates spatial and temporal correlations, without any further autocorrelation analysis of the hydrological time series. However, standard good practice suggests the use of synthetic flows instead of raw historical records.The proposed approach generates synthetic inflow scenarios based on hydrological modeling of a few basins in the system and transposition of flows with other basins within so-called homogeneous zones. Hydrologic models use precipitation and temperature as inputs, and therefore this approach requires producing samples of those variables. Development and calibration of these models imply a greater demand of time compared to the purely statistical approach to synthetic flows. This approach requires consideration of the main uses in the basins: agriculture and hydroelectricity. Moreover a geostatistical analysis of the area is analyzed to generate a map that identifies the relationship between the points where the hydrological information is generated and other points of interest within the power system. Consideration of homogeneous zones involves a decrease in the effort required for generation of information compared with hydrological modeling of every point of interest. It is important to emphasize that future scenarios are derived through a probabilistic approach that incorporates the features of the hydrological year type (dry, normal or wet), covering the different possibilities in terms of availability of water resources. We present

A Multi-Year Plan for Research, Development, and Prototype Testing of Standard Modular Hydropower Technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, Brennan T.; Welch, Tim; Witt, Adam M.

The Multi-Year Plan for Research, Development, and Prototype Testing of Standard Modular Hydropower Technology (MYRP) presents a strategy for specifying, designing, testing, and demonstrating the efficacy of standard modular hydropower (SMH) as an environmentally compatible and cost-optimized renewable electricity generation technology. The MYRP provides the context, background, and vision for testing the SMH hypothesis: if standardization, modularity, and preservation of stream functionality become essential and fully realized features of hydropower technology, project design, and regulatory processes, they will enable previously unrealized levels of new project development with increased acceptance, reduced costs, increased predictability of outcomes, and increased value to stakeholders.more » To achieve success in this effort, the MYRP outlines a framework of stakeholder-validated criteria, models, design tools, testing facilities, and assessment protocols that will facilitate the development of next-generation hydropower technologies.« less

Technical Feasible Study for Future Solar Thermal Steam Power Station in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohari, Z. H.; Atira, N. N.; Jali, M. H.; Sulaima, M. F.; Izzuddin, T. A.; Baharom, M. F.

2017-10-01

This paper proposed renewable energy which is potential to be used in Malaysia in generating electricity to innovate and improve current operating systems. Thermal and water act as the resources to replace limited fossil fuels such as coal which is still widely used in energy production nowadays. Thermal is also known as the heat energy while the water absorbs energy from the thermal to produce steam energy. By combining both of the sources, it is known as thermal steam renewable energy. The targeted area to build this power station has constant high temperature and low humidity which can maximize the efficiency of generating power.

Classification of US hydropower dams by their modes of operation

DOE PAGES

McManamay, Ryan A.; Oigbokie, II, Clement O.; Kao, Shih -Chieh; ...

2016-02-19

A key challenge to understanding ecohydrologic responses to dam regulation is the absence of a universally transferable classification framework for how dams operate. In the present paper, we develop a classification system to organize the modes of operation (MOPs) for U.S. hydropower dams and powerplants. To determine the full diversity of MOPs, we mined federal documents, open-access data repositories, and internet sources. W then used CART classification trees to predict MOPs based on physical characteristics, regulation, and project generation. Finally, we evaluated how much variation MOPs explained in sub-daily discharge patterns for stream gages downstream of hydropower dams. After reviewingmore » information for 721 dams and 597 power plants, we developed a 2-tier hierarchical classification based on 1) the storage and control of flows to powerplants, and 2) the presence of a diversion around the natural stream bed. This resulted in nine tier-1 MOPs representing a continuum of operations from strictly peaking, to reregulating, to run-of-river, and two tier-2 MOPs, representing diversion and integral dam-powerhouse configurations. Although MOPs differed in physical characteristics and energy production, classification trees had low accuracies (<62%), which suggested accurate evaluations of MOPs may require individual attention. MOPs and dam storage explained 20% of the variation in downstream subdaily flow characteristics and showed consistent alterations in subdaily flow patterns from reference streams. Lastly, this standardized classification scheme is important for future research including estimating reservoir operations for large-scale hydrologic models and evaluating project economics, environmental impacts, and mitigation.« less

Classification of US hydropower dams by their modes of operation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McManamay, Ryan A.; Oigbokie, II, Clement O.; Kao, Shih -Chieh

A key challenge to understanding ecohydrologic responses to dam regulation is the absence of a universally transferable classification framework for how dams operate. In the present paper, we develop a classification system to organize the modes of operation (MOPs) for U.S. hydropower dams and powerplants. To determine the full diversity of MOPs, we mined federal documents, open-access data repositories, and internet sources. W then used CART classification trees to predict MOPs based on physical characteristics, regulation, and project generation. Finally, we evaluated how much variation MOPs explained in sub-daily discharge patterns for stream gages downstream of hydropower dams. After reviewingmore » information for 721 dams and 597 power plants, we developed a 2-tier hierarchical classification based on 1) the storage and control of flows to powerplants, and 2) the presence of a diversion around the natural stream bed. This resulted in nine tier-1 MOPs representing a continuum of operations from strictly peaking, to reregulating, to run-of-river, and two tier-2 MOPs, representing diversion and integral dam-powerhouse configurations. Although MOPs differed in physical characteristics and energy production, classification trees had low accuracies (<62%), which suggested accurate evaluations of MOPs may require individual attention. MOPs and dam storage explained 20% of the variation in downstream subdaily flow characteristics and showed consistent alterations in subdaily flow patterns from reference streams. Lastly, this standardized classification scheme is important for future research including estimating reservoir operations for large-scale hydrologic models and evaluating project economics, environmental impacts, and mitigation.« less

Transfer of control system interface solutions from other domains to the thermal power industry.

PubMed

Bligård, L-O; Andersson, J; Osvalder, A-L

2012-01-01

In a thermal power plant the operators' roles are to control and monitor the process to achieve efficient and safe production. To achieve this, the human-machine interfaces have a central part. The interfaces need to be updated and upgraded together with the technical functionality to maintain optimal operation. One way of achieving relevant updates is to study other domains and see how they have solved similar issues in their design solutions. The purpose of this paper is to present how interface design solution ideas can be transferred from domains with operator control to thermal power plants. In the study 15 domains were compared using a model for categorisation of human-machine systems. The result from the domain comparison showed that nuclear power, refinery and ship engine control were most similar to thermal power control. From the findings a basic interface structure and three specific display solutions were proposed for thermal power control: process parameter overview, plant overview, and feed water view. The systematic comparison of the properties of a human-machine system allowed interface designers to find suitable objects, structures and navigation logics in a range of domains that could be transferred to the thermal power domain.

75 FR 51451 - Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P.; Notice of Intent To File License Application, Filing of Pre...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-20

... Hydropower, L.P.; Notice of Intent To File License Application, Filing of Pre-Application Document, and.... Project No.: 7320-040. c. Dated Filed: June 29, 2010. d. Submitted By: Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P. e...: John Mudre at (202) 502-8902; or e-mail at [email protected] . j. Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P...

77 FR 52016 - Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-28

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. ER12-2447-001] Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate Filing Includes... proceeding, of Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LLC's application for market- based rate authority, with...

75 FR 8320 - Coastal Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-24

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 13618-000] Coastal Hydropower LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Competing Applications February 18, 2010. On November 5, 2009, Coastal Hydropower...

Control of thermal therapies with moving power deposition field.

PubMed

Arora, Dhiraj; Minor, Mark A; Skliar, Mikhail; Roemer, Robert B

2006-03-07

A thermal therapy feedback control approach to control thermal dose using a moving power deposition field is developed and evaluated using simulations. A normal tissue safety objective is incorporated in the controller design by imposing constraints on temperature elevations at selected normal tissue locations. The proposed control technique consists of two stages. The first stage uses a model-based sliding mode controller that dynamically generates an 'ideal' power deposition profile which is generally unrealizable with available heating modalities. Subsequently, in order to approximately realize this spatially distributed idealized power deposition, a constrained quadratic optimizer is implemented to compute intensities and dwell times for a set of pre-selected power deposition fields created by a scanned focused transducer. The dwell times for various power deposition profiles are dynamically generated online as opposed to the commonly employed a priori-decided heating strategies. Dynamic intensity and trajectory generation safeguards the treatment outcome against modelling uncertainties and unknown disturbances. The controller is designed to enforce simultaneous activation of multiple normal tissue temperature constraints by rapidly switching between various power deposition profiles. The hypothesis behind the controller design is that the simultaneous activation of multiple constraints substantially reduces treatment time without compromising normal tissue safety. The controller performance and robustness with respect to parameter uncertainties is evaluated using simulations. The results demonstrate that the proposed controller can successfully deliver the desired thermal dose to the target while maintaining the temperatures at the user-specified normal tissue locations at or below the maximum allowable values. Although demonstrated for the case of a scanned focused ultrasound transducer, the developed approach can be extended to other heating modalities with

SO2 flux and the thermal power of volcanic eruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henley, Richard W.; Hughes, Graham O.

2016-09-01

A description of the dynamics, chemistry and energetics governing a volcanic system can be greatly simplified if the expansion of magmatic gas can be assumed to be adiabatic as it rises towards the surface. The conditions under which this assumption is valid are clarified by analysis of the transfer of thermal energy into the low conductivity wallrocks traversed by fractures and vents from a gas phase expanding over a range of mass flux rates. Adiabatic behavior is predicted to be approached typically within a month after perturbations in the release of source gas have stabilized, this timescale being dependent upon only the characteristic length scale on which the host rock is fractured and the thermal diffusivity of the rock. This analysis then enables the thermal energy transport due to gas release from volcanoes to be evaluated using observations of SO2 flux with reference values for the H2O:SO2 ratio of volcanic gas mixtures discharging through high temperature fumaroles in arc and mantle-related volcanic systems. Thermal power estimates for gas discharge are 101.8 to 104.1 MWH during quiescent, continuous degassing of arc volcanoes and 103.7 to 107.3 MWH for their eruptive stages, the higher value being the Plinean Pinatubo eruption in 1991. Fewer data are available for quiescent stage mantle-related volcanoes (Kilauea 102.1 MWH) but for eruptive events power estimates range from 102.8 MWH to 105.5 MWH. These estimates of thermal power and mass of gas discharges are commensurate with power estimates based on the total mass of gas ejected during eruptions. The sustained discharge of volcanic gas during quiescent and short-lived eruptive stages can be related to the hydrodynamic structure of volcanic systems with large scale gaseous mass transfer from deep in the crust coupled with episodes of high level intrusive activity and gas release.

Low-Cost Radiator for Fission Power Thermal Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maxwell, Taylor; Tarau, Calin; Anderson, William; Hartenstine, John; Stern, Theodore; Walmsley, Nicholas; Briggs, Maxwell

2014-01-01

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is developing fission power system technology for future Lunar surface power applications. The systems are envisioned in the 10 to 100kW(sub e) range and have an anticipated design life of 8 to 15 years with no maintenance. NASA GRC is currently setting up a 55 kW(sub e) non-nuclear system ground test in thermal-vacuum to validate technologies required to transfer reactor heat, convert the heat into electricity, reject waste heat, process the electrical output, and demonstrate overall system performance. Reducing the radiator mass, size, and cost is essential to the success of the program. To meet these goals, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) and Vanguard Space Technologies, Inc. (VST) are developing a single facesheet radiator with heat pipes directly bonded to the facesheet. The facesheet material is a graphite fiber reinforced composite (GFRC) and the heat pipes are titanium/water. By directly bonding a single facesheet to the heat pipes, several heavy and expensive components can be eliminated from the traditional radiator design such as, POC(TradeMark) foam saddles, aluminum honeycomb, and a second facesheet. A two-heat pipe radiator prototype, based on the single facesheet direct-bond concept, was fabricated and tested to verify the ability of the direct-bond joint to withstand coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) induced stresses during thermal cycling. The thermal gradients along the bonds were measured before and after thermal cycle tests to determine if the performance degraded. Overall, the results indicated that the initial uniformity of the adhesive was poor along one of the heat pipes. However, both direct bond joints showed no measureable amount of degradation after being thermally cycled at both moderate and aggressive conditions.

Thermal effects in high average power optical parametric amplifiers.

PubMed

Rothhardt, Jan; Demmler, Stefan; Hädrich, Steffen; Peschel, Thomas; Limpert, Jens; Tünnermann, Andreas

2013-03-01

Optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) have the reputation of being average power scalable due to the instantaneous nature of the parametric process (zero quantum defect). This Letter reveals serious challenges originating from thermal load in the nonlinear crystal caused by absorption. We investigate these thermal effects in high average power OPAs based on beta barium borate. Absorption of both pump and idler waves is identified to contribute significantly to heating of the nonlinear crystal. A temperature increase of up to 148 K with respect to the environment is observed and mechanical tensile stress up to 40 MPa is found, indicating a high risk of crystal fracture under such conditions. By restricting the idler to a wavelength range far from absorption bands and removing the crystal coating we reduce the peak temperature and the resulting temperature gradient significantly. Guidelines for further power scaling of OPAs and other nonlinear devices are given.

Energy, Power and Thermal Research Overview

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

Research Overview Rick Fingers, Ph.D. Chief Energy/Power/Thermal Division Propulsion Directorate Air Force Research ... Air Vehicles Sensors AFOSR 5 AFRL People & Facilities • 10 Major R&D Sites across US • 40 Sites World-Wide • $40B Real Property & Capital throughout... AFRL • 5,764 Government Employees – 4570 Air Force Civilian – 1194 Military • 3,844 Onsite Contractors 6 Propulsion Directorate’s Strategic

Thermal modelling of high-power laser diodes mounted using various types of submounts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bezotosnyi, V V; Krokhin, O N; Oleshchenko, V A

2014-10-31

Using three-dimensional thermal modelling of a highpower 980-nm laser diode with a stripe contact width of 100 μm as an example, we analyse the thermal parameters of high-power laser diodes mounted using submounts. We consider a range of thermal conductivities of submounts that includes parameters of widely used thermal compensators based on AlN, BeO and SiC, as well as on CuW and CuMo composites and polycrystalline and single-crystal synthetic diamond with high thermal conductivity. Taking into account experimental overall efficiency vs. pump current data, we calculate the temperature of the active layer as a function of the width, thickness andmore » thermal conductivity of the submount at thermal loads corresponding to cw output powers of 10, 15 and 20 W. (lasers)« less

Value of ecosystem hydropower service and its impact on the payment for ecosystem services.

PubMed

Fu, B; Wang, Y K; Xu, P; Yan, K; Li, M

2014-02-15

Hydropower is an important service provided by ecosystems. We surveyed all the hydropower plants in the Zagunao River Basin, Southwest China. Then, we assessed the hydropower service by using the InVEST (The Integrated Value and Tradeoff of Ecosystem Service Tools) model. Finally, we discussed the impact on ecological compensation. The results showed that: 1) hydropower service value of ecosystems in the Zagunao River Basin is 216.29 Euro/hm(2) on the average, of which the high-value area with more than 475.65 Euro/hm(2) is about 750.37 km(2), accounting for 16.12% of the whole watershed, but it provides 53.47% of the whole watershed service value; 2) ecosystem is an ecological reservoir with a great regulation capacity. Dams cannot completely replace the reservoir water conservation function of ecosystems, and has high economic and environmental costs that must be paid as well. Compensation for water conservation services should become an important basis for ecological compensation of hydropower development. 3) In the current PES cases, the standard of compensation is generally low. Cascade development makes the value of upstream ecosystem services become more prominent, reflecting the differential rent value, and the value of ecosystem services should be based on the distribution of differentiated ecological compensation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding the Amazon Hydrology for Sustainable Hydropower Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pokhrel, Y. N.; Chaudhari, S. N.

2017-12-01

Construction of 147 new hydropower dams, many of which are large, has been proposed in the Amazon river basin, despite the continuous stacking of negative impacts from the existing ones. These dams are continued to be built in a way that disrupts river ecology, causes large-scale deforestation, and negatively affects both the food systems nearby and downstream communities. In this study, we explore the impacts of the existing and proposed hydropower dams on the hydrological fluxes across the Amazonian Basin by incorporating human impact modules in an extensively validated regional hydrological model called LEAF-Hydro-Flood (LHF). We conduct two simulations, one in offline mode, forced by observed meteorological data for the historical period of 2000-2016 and the other in a coupled mode using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional climate model. We mainly analyze terrestrial water storage and streamflow changes during the period of dam operations with and without human impacts. It is certain that the Amazon will undergo some major hydrological changes such as decrease in streamflow downstream in the coming decades caused due to these proposed dams. This study helps us understand and represent processes in a predictable manner, and provides the ability to evaluate future scenarios with dams and other major human influences while considering climate change in the basin. It also provides important insights on how to redesign the hydropower systems to make them truly renewable in terms of energy production, hydrology and ecology.

Regolith thermal energy storage for lunar nighttime power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tillotson, Brian

1992-01-01

A scheme for providing nighttime electric power to a lunar base is described. This scheme stores thermal energy in a pile of regolith. Any such scheme must somehow improve on the poor thermal conductivity of lunar regolith in vacuum. Two previous schemes accomplish this by casting or melting the regolith. The scheme described here wraps the regolith in a gas-tight bag and introduces a light gas to enhance thermal conductivity. This allows the system to be assembled with less energy and equipment than schemes which require melting of regolith. A point design based on the new scheme is presented. Its mass from Earth compares favorably with the mass of a regenerative fuel cell of equal capacity.

Benefits of full scope simulators during solar thermal power plants design and construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallego, José F.; Gil, Elena; Rey, Pablo

2017-06-01

In order to efficiently develop high-precision dynamic simulators for solar thermal power plants, Tecnatom adapted its simulation technology to consider solar thermal models. This effort and the excellent response of the simulation market have allowed Tecnatom to develop simulators with both parabolic trough and solar power tower technologies, including molten salt energy storage. These simulators may pursue different objectives, giving rise to training or engineering simulators. Solar thermal power market combines the need for the training of the operators with the potential benefits associated to the improvement of the design of the plants. This fact along with the simulation capabilities enabled by the current technology and the broad experience of Tecnatom present the development of an engineering+training simulator as a very advantageous option. This paper describes the challenge of the development and integration of a full scope simulator during the design and construction stages of a solar thermal power plant, showing the added value to the different engineering areas.

Low thermal resistance power module assembly

DOEpatents

Hassani, Vahab; Vlahinos, Andreas; Bharathan, Desikan

2007-03-13

A power module assembly with low thermal resistance and enhanced heat dissipation to a cooling medium. The assembly includes a heat sink or spreader plate with passageways or openings for coolant that extend through the plate from a lower surface to an upper surface. A circuit substrate is provided and positioned on the spreader plate to cover the coolant passageways. The circuit substrate includes a bonding layer configured to extend about the periphery of each of the coolant passageways and is made up of a substantially nonporous material. The bonding layer may be solder material which bonds to the upper surface of the plate to provide a continuous seal around the upper edge of each opening in the plate. The assembly includes power modules mounted on the circuit substrate on a surface opposite the bonding layer. The power modules are positioned over or proximal to the coolant passageways.

Modelling white-water rafting suitability in a hydropower regulated Alpine River.

PubMed

Carolli, Mauro; Zolezzi, Guido; Geneletti, Davide; Siviglia, Annunziato; Carolli, Fabiano; Cainelli, Oscar

2017-02-01

Cultural and recreational river ecosystem services and their relations with the flow regime are still poorly investigated. We develop a modelling-based approach to assess recreational flow requirements and the spatially distributed river suitability for white-water rafting, a typical service offered by mountain streams, with potential conflicts of interest with hydropower regulation. The approach is based on the principles of habitat suitability modelling using water depth as the main attribute, with preference curves defined through interviews with local rafting guides. The methodology allows to compute streamflow thresholds for conditions of suitability and optimality of a river reach in relation to rafting. Rafting suitability response to past, present and future flow management scenarios can be predicted on the basis of a hydrological model, which is incorporated in the methodology and is able to account for anthropic effects. Rafting suitability is expressed through a novel metric, the "Rafting hydro-suitability index" (RHSI) which quantifies the cumulative duration of suitable and optimal conditions for rafting. The approach is applied on the Noce River (NE Italy), an Alpine River regulated by hydropower production and affected by hydropeaking, which influences suitability at a sub-daily scale. A dedicated algorithm is developed within the hydrological model to resemble hydropeaking conditions with daily flow data. In the Noce River, peak flows associated with hydropeaking support rafting activities in late summer, highlighting the dual nature of hydropeaking in regulated rivers. Rafting suitability is slightly reduced under present, hydropower-regulated flow conditions compared to an idealized flow regime characterised by no water abstractions. Localized water abstractions for small, run-of-the-river hydropower plants are predicted to negatively affect rafting suitability. The proposed methodology can be extended to support decision making for flow

Dynamic evolution characteristics of a fractional order hydropower station system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Xiang; Chen, Diyi; Yan, Donglin; Xu, Beibei; Wang, Xiangyu

2018-01-01

This paper investigates the dynamic evolution characteristics of the hydropower station by introducing the fractional order damping forces. A careful analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the generator shaft system is carried out under different values of fractional order. It turns out the vibration state of the axis coordinates has a certain evolution law with the increase of the fractional order. Significantly, the obtained law exists in the horizontal evolution and vertical evolution of the dynamical behaviors. Meanwhile, some interesting dynamical phenomena were found in this process. The outcomes of this study enrich the nonlinear dynamic theory from the engineering practice of hydropower stations.

Economic contribution of 'artificial upwelling' mariculture to sea-thermal power generation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roels, O.A.

1976-07-01

Deep-sea water has two valuable properties: it is uniformly cold and, compared to surface water, it is rich in nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate which are necessary for plant growth. In tropical and subtropical areas, the temperature difference between the warm surface water and the cold deep water can be used for sea-thermal power generation or other cooling applications such as air-conditioning, ice-making, desalination, and cooling of refineries, power plants, etc. Once the deep water is brought to the surface, utilization of both the cold temperature and the nutrient content is likely to be more advantageous than the usemore » of only one of them. Claude demonstrated the technical feasibility of sea-thermal power generation in Cuba in 1930. The technical feasibility of artificial upwelling mariculture in the St. Croix installation has been demonstrated. Results to date demonstrate that the gross sales value of the potential mariculture yield from a given volume of deep-sea water is many times that of the sales value of the power which can be generated by the Claude process from the same volume of deep water. Utilizing both the nutrient content and the cold temperature of the deep water may therefore make sea-thermal power generation economically feasible.« less

Method and apparatus for thermal power generation

DOEpatents

Mangus, James D.

1979-01-01

A method and apparatus for power generation from a recirculating superheat-reheat circuit with multiple expansion stages which alleviates complex control systems and minimizes thermal cycling of system components, particularly the reheater. The invention includes preheating cold reheat fluid from the first expansion stage prior to its entering the reheater with fluid from the evaporator or drum component.

Energy Recovery Hydropower: Prospects for Off-Setting Electricity Costs for Agricultural, Municipal, and Industrial Water Providers and Users; July 2017 - September 2017

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Levine, Aaron L.; Curtis, Taylor L.; Johnson, Kurt

Energy recovery hydropower is one of the most cost-effective types of new hydropower development because it is constructed utilizing existing infrastructure, and it is typically able to complete Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) review in 60 days. Recent changes in federal and state policy have supported energy recovery hydropower. In addition, some states have developed programs and policies to support energy recovery hydropower, including resource assessments, regulatory streamlining initiatives, and grant and loan programs to reduce project development costs. This report examines current federal and state policy drivers for energy recovery hydropower, reviews market trends, and looks ahead at futuremore » federal resource assessments and hydropower reform legislation.« less

Low thermal resistance power module assembly

DOEpatents

Hassani, Vahab; Vlahinos, Andreas; Bharathan, Desikan

2010-12-28

A power module assembly (400) with low thermal resistance and enhanced heat dissipation to a cooling medium. The assembly includes a heat sink or spreader plate (410) with passageways or openings (414) for coolant that extend through the plate from a lower surface (411) to an upper surface (412). A circuit substrate (420) is provided and positioned on the spreader plate (410) to cover the coolant passageways. The circuit substrate (420) includes a bonding layer (422) configured to extend about the periphery of each of the coolant passageways and is made up of a substantially nonporous material. The bonding layer (422) may be solder material which bonds to the upper surface (412) of the plate to provide a continuous seal around the upper edge of each opening (414) in the plate. The assembly includes power modules (430) mounted on the circuit substrate (420) on a surface opposite the bonding layer (422). The power modules (430) are positioned over or proximal to the coolant passageways.

Research and application of thermal power unit’s load dynamic adjustment based on extraction steam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jun; Li, Huicong; Li, Weiwei

2018-02-01

The rapid development of heat and power generation in large power plant has caused tremendous constraints on the load adjustment of power grids and power plants. By introducing the thermodynamic system of thermal power unit, the relationship between thermal power extraction steam and unit’s load has analyzed and calculated. The practical application results show that power capability of the unit affected by extraction and it is not conducive to adjust the grid frequency. By monitoring the load adjustment capacity of thermal power units, especially the combined heat and power generating units, the upper and lower limits of the unit load can be dynamically adjusted by the operator on the grid side. The grid regulation and control departments can effectively control the load adjustable intervals of the operating units and provide reliable for the cooperative action of the power grid and power plants, to ensure the safety and stability of the power grid.

Present and future hydropower scheduling in Statkraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruland, O.

2012-12-01

Statkraft produces close to 40 TWH in an average year and is one of the largest hydropower producers in Europe. For hydropower producers the scheduling of electricity generation is the key to success and this depend on optimal use of the water resources. The hydrologist and his forecasts both on short and on long terms are crucial to this success. The hydrological forecasts in Statkraft and most hydropower companies in Scandinavia are based on lumped models and the HBV concept. But before the hydrological model there is a complex system for collecting, controlling and correcting data applied in the models and the production scheduling and, equally important, routines for surveillance of the processes and manual intervention. Prior to the forecasting the states in the hydrological models are updated based on observations. When snow is present in the catchments snow surveys are an important source for model updating. The meteorological forecast is another premise provider to the hydrological forecast and to get as precise meteorological forecast as possible Statkraft hires resources from the governmental forecasting center. Their task is to interpret the meteorological situation, describe the uncertainties and if necessary use their knowledge and experience to manually correct the forecast in the hydropower production regions. This is one of several forecast applied further in the scheduling process. Both to be able to compare and evaluate different forecast providers and to ensure that we get the best available forecast, forecasts from different sources are applied. Some of these forecasts have undergone statistical corrections to reduce biases. The uncertainties related to the meteorological forecast have for a long time been approached and described by ensemble forecasts. But also the observations used for updating the model have a related uncertainty. Both to the observations itself and to how well they represent the catchment. Though well known, these

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion power system development. Phase I. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1978-12-04

This report covers the conceptual and preliminary design of closed-cycle, ammonia, ocean thermal energy conversion power plants by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Preliminary designs for evaporator and condenser test articles (0.13 MWe size) and a 10 MWe modular experiment power system are described. Conceptual designs for 50 MWe power systems, and 100 MWe power plants are also descirbed. Design and cost algorithms were developed, and an optimized power system design at the 50 MWe size was completed. This design was modeled very closely in the test articles and in the 10 MWe Modular Application. Major component and auxiliary system design, materials,more » biofouling, control response, availability, safety and cost aspects are developed with the greatest emphasis on the 10 MWe Modular Application Power System. It is concluded that all power plant subsystems are state-of-practice and require design verification only, rather than continued research. A complete test program, which verifies the mechanical reliability as well as thermal performance, is recommended and described.« less

An improved method for evaluating ecological suitability of hydropower development by considering water footprint and transportation connectivity in Tibet, China.

PubMed

Cui, Guannan; Wang, Xuan; Xu, Linyu; Zhang, Jin; Yu, Bing

2014-01-01

Ecological suitability evaluation for hydropower development is effective in locating the most suitable area for construction and emphasizes a clear direction for water resources governance. In this paper, water footprints and transportation connectivity were introduced to improve the existing ecological suitability evaluation application for hydropower development by revising the defects of the traditional indicator system. The following conclusions were reached. (1) Tibet was in a state of water use surplus; the prospect of further hydropower development is positive. (2) Chamdo, Lhasa and Nyingchi excelled in water use efficiency, and Ali was placed last. Nakchu was slightly superior to Ali, but it lagged behind the southern regions. Lhasa, Chamdo, Nyingchi, Xigaze and Shannan were suitable for hydropower development, which could further meet local needs and benefit other regions of China. (3) The evaluation results were in accordance with the actual eco-environmental conditions of the built hydropower projects, indicating that current hydropower development planning was basically reasonable.

The Development of Brazilian Municipalities Flooded by Hydropower Plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Araujo, N.; Moretto, E. M.; Roquetti, D. R.; Beduschi, L. C.; Praia, A.; Pulice, S.; Albiach, E.; Athayde, S.

2016-12-01

Hydropower plants cause negative environmental impacts during the phases of construction and operation. On the other hand, there is a general assumption that these projects also induce local development of the affected places, since there is a great influx of social and financial capital brought locally, especially during the construction phase the relationship between hydropower plant implementation s and local development has been controversial in the Environmental Impact Assessment field, and there is no empirical evidence showing how hydroelectric dam construction affects local development. Considering municipal development as a kind of local development and operationalizing the concept of human development by adopting income, longevity and education dimensions defined by Amartya Sen, this study aimed to verify empirical evidences regarding the role of hydropower plants in human development of their flooded municipalities in Brazil. For this, we considered 134 hydroelectric plants and correspondent 641 flooded municipalities, for which 155 human development indicators were obtained for the period of 2000 to 2010. Results obtained from statistical correlation analysis and their assumption tests showed that increases in the municipal flooded area and increases in the period of flooding - to which a given municipality is submitted - were associated with lower performances of human development indicators. Specifically, increases in social inequality, poverty and lower performances of longevity and education were detected for the flooded municipalities. We also found that the financial compensation was associated with better performance of municipal income and lower performances of education and longevity. Finally, approaching the growth poles theory of François Perroux and the productive linkages theory of Albert Hirschman, we suggest that the size of the flooded areas, the flooding period and the financial compensation may lead to an enclave situation in

A geospatial assessment of mini/small hydropower potential in Sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korkovelos, Alexandros; Mentis, Dimitrios; Hussain Siyal, Shahid; Arderne, Christopher; Beck, Hylke; de Roo, Ad; Howells, Mark

2017-04-01

Sub-Saharan Africa has been the epicenter of ongoing global dialogues around energy poverty and justifiably so. More than half of the world's unserved population lives there. At the same time, a big part of the continent is privileged with plentiful renewable energy resources. Hydropower is one of them and to a large extent it remains untapped. This study focuses on the technical assessment of small-scale hydropower (0.01-10 MW) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The underlying methodology was based on open source geospatial datasets, whose combination allowed a consistent evaluation of 712,615 km of river network spanning over 44 countries. Environmental, topological and social constraints were included in the form of geospatial restrictions to help preserve the natural wealth and promote sustainable development. The results revealed that small-scale hydropower could cover 8.5-12.5% of the estimated electricity demand in 2030, thus making it a viable option to support electrification efforts in the region.

Thermal design, analysis and comparison on three concepts of space solar power satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Chen; Hou, Xinbin; Wang, Li

2017-08-01

Space solar power satellites (SSPS) have been widely studied as systems for collecting solar energy in space and transmitting it wirelessly to earth. A previously designed planar SSPS concept collects solar power in two huge arrays and then transmits it through one side of the power-conduction joint to the antenna. However, the system's one group of power-conduction joints may induce a single point of failure. As an SSPS concept, the module symmetrical concentrator (MSC) architecture has many advantages. This architecture can help avoid the need for a large, potentially failure-prone conductive rotating joint and limit wiring mass. However, the thermal control system has severely restricted the rapid development of MSC, especially in the sandwich module. Because of the synchronous existence of five suns concentration and solar external heat flux, the sandwich module will have a very high temperature, which will surpass the permissible temperature of the solar cells. Recently, an alternate multi-rotary joints (MR) SSPS concept was designed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). This system has multiple joints to avoid the problem of a single point of failure. Meanwhile, this concept has another advantage for reducing the high power and heat removal in joints. It is well known to us that, because of the huge external flux in SSPS, the thermal management sub-system is an important component that cannot be neglected. Based on the three SSPS concepts, this study investigated the thermal design and analysis of a 1-km, gigawatt-level transmitting antenna in SSPS. This study compares the thermal management sub-systems of power-conduction joints in planar and MR SSPS. Moreover, the study considers three classic thermal control architectures of the MSC's sandwich module: tile, step, and separation. The study also presents an elaborate parameter design, analysis and discussion of step architecture. Finally, the results show the thermal characteristics of each SSPS

Heat engine development for solar thermal power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, H. Q.; Jaffe, L. D.

The parabolic dish solar collector systems for converting sunlight to electrical power through a heat engine will, require a small heat engine of high performance long lifetime to be competitive with conventional power systems. The most promising engine candidates are Stirling, high temperature Brayton, and combined cycle. Engines available in the current market today do not meet these requirements. The development of Stirling and high temperature Brayton for automotive applications was studied which utilizes much of the technology developed in this automotive program for solar power engines. The technical status of the engine candidates is reviewed and the components that may additional development to meet solar thermal system requirements are identified.

Comparative performance of solar thermal power generation concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wen, L.; Wu, Y. C.

1976-01-01

A performance comparison is made between the central receiver system (power tower) and a distributed system using either dishes or troughs and lines to transport fluids to the power station. These systems were analyzed at a rated capacity of 30 MW of thermal energy delivered in the form of superheated steam at 538 C (1000 F) and 68 atm (1000 psia), using consistent weather data, collector surface waviness, pointing error, and electric conversion efficiency. The comparisons include technical considerations for component requirements, land utilization, and annual thermal energy collection rates. The relative merits of different representative systems are dependent upon the overall conversion as expressed in the form of performance factors in this paper. These factors are essentially indices of the relative performance effectiveness for different concepts based upon unit collector area. These performance factors enable further economic tradeoff studies of systems to be made by comparing them with projected production costs for these systems.

Gaseous and particulate emissions from thermal power plants operating on different technologies.

PubMed

Athar, Makshoof; Ali, Mahboob; Khan, Misbahul Ain

2010-07-01

This paper presents the assessment of gaseous and particulate emissions from thermal power plants operating on different combustion technologies. Four thermal power plants operating on heavy furnace oil were selected for the study, among which three were based on diesel engine technology, while the fourth plant was based on oil-fired steam turbine technology. The stack emissions were monitored for critical air pollutants carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, lead, and mercury. The pollutant emissions were measured at optimum load conditions for a period of 6 months with an interval of 1 month. The results of stack emissions were compared with National Environmental Quality Standards of Pakistan and World Bank guidelines for thermal power plants, and few parameters were found higher than the permissible limits of emissions. It was observed that the emissions carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and particulate matters from diesel engine-based power plants were comparatively higher than the turbine-based power plants. The emissions of sulfur dioxide were high in all the plants, even the plants with different technologies, which was mainly due to high sulfur contents in fuel.

Local Economic Development and Hydropower Along the Brahmaputra River Basin in Northeast India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mock, A.

2014-12-01

Large dams have long been controversial. They offer benefits, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, energy security, and local development, yet produce negative social and ecological impact, such as wildlife habitat destruction, human displacement, and the disruption of downstream fishing or agricultural industries. In the past decade, the Indian government has signed Memoranda of Understanding with hydroelectric power companies for the building of over 130 large dams on the Brahmaputra River in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. These dams can generate 43% of India's assessed hydropower potential to sustain India's growing economy. In addition, the Indian government claims that these dams will bring local development with needed jobs. However, local Arunachali people have protested and temporarily halted hydropower projects because of the impact of dams on their existing livelihoods. Using the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation's (NEEPCO) Ranganadi Hydroelectric Project as a case study, our project examined whether dams in Northeast India provide jobs for local people, and whether distance from the dam or work colony to a worker's hometown affects the type of job the worker received. Survey data from residents at NEEPCO's work colony in Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh, was analyzed using SPSS (n = 18). Our research found that 100% of workers at the dam originally resided in Northeast India, with 33% from Arunachal Pradesh, and 67% from the nearby states of Assam, and Tripura. Further, our analysis revealed no statistically significant relationship between the distance to a worker's hometown and job type (p = .609). Where workers come from did not affect the type of job they received. More research using a larger sample size and additional hydroelectric project case studies is needed to further explore the relationship between worker home location and their job types.

Fuzzy multiobjective models for optimal operation of a hydropower system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teegavarapu, Ramesh S. V.; Ferreira, André R.; Simonovic, Slobodan P.

2013-06-01

Optimal operation models for a hydropower system using new fuzzy multiobjective mathematical programming models are developed and evaluated in this study. The models use (i) mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) with binary variables and (ii) integrate a new turbine unit commitment formulation along with water quality constraints used for evaluation of reservoir downstream impairment. Reardon method used in solution of genetic algorithm optimization problems forms the basis for development of a new fuzzy multiobjective hydropower system optimization model with creation of Reardon type fuzzy membership functions. The models are applied to a real-life hydropower reservoir system in Brazil. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are used to (i) solve the optimization formulations to avoid computational intractability and combinatorial problems associated with binary variables in unit commitment, (ii) efficiently address Reardon method formulations, and (iii) deal with local optimal solutions obtained from the use of traditional gradient-based solvers. Decision maker's preferences are incorporated within fuzzy mathematical programming formulations to obtain compromise operating rules for a multiobjective reservoir operation problem dominated by conflicting goals of energy production, water quality and conservation releases. Results provide insight into compromise operation rules obtained using the new Reardon fuzzy multiobjective optimization framework and confirm its applicability to a variety of multiobjective water resources problems.

Numerical analysis of phase change materials for thermal control of power battery of high power dissipations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, X.; Zhang, H. Y.; Deng, Y. C.

2016-08-01

Solid-fluid phase change materials have been of increasing interest in various applications due to their high latent heat with minimum volume change. In this work, numerical analysis of phase change materials is carried out for the purpose of thermal control of the cylindrical power battery cells for applications in electric vehicles. Uniform heat density is applied at the battery cell, which is surrounded by phase change material (PCM) of paraffin wax type and contained in a metal housing. A two-dimensional geometry model is considered due to the model symmetry. The effects of power densities, heat transfer coefficients and onset melting temperatures are examined for the battery temperature evolution. Temperature plateaus can be observed from the present numerical analysis for the pure PCM cases, with the temperature level depending on the power densities, heat transfer coefficients, and melting temperatures. In addition, the copper foam of high thermal conductivity is inserted into the copper foam to enhance the heat transfer. In the modeling, the local thermal non-equilibrium between the metal foam and the PCM is taken into account and the temperatures for the metal foam and PCM are obtained respectively.

Power Generation from a Radiative Thermal Source Using a Large-Area Infrared Rectenna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shank, Joshua; Kadlec, Emil A.; Jarecki, Robert L.; Starbuck, Andrew; Howell, Stephen; Peters, David W.; Davids, Paul S.

2018-05-01

Electrical power generation from a moderate-temperature thermal source by means of direct conversion of infrared radiation is important and highly desirable for energy harvesting from waste heat and micropower applications. Here, we demonstrate direct rectified power generation from an unbiased large-area nanoantenna-coupled tunnel diode rectifier called a rectenna. Using a vacuum radiometric measurement technique with irradiation from a temperature-stabilized thermal source, a generated power density of 8 nW /cm2 is observed at a source temperature of 450 °C for the unbiased rectenna across an optimized load resistance. The optimized load resistance for the peak power generation for each temperature coincides with the tunnel diode resistance at zero bias and corresponds to the impedance matching condition for a rectifying antenna. Current-voltage measurements of a thermally illuminated large-area rectenna show current zero crossing shifts into the second quadrant indicating rectification. Photon-assisted tunneling in the unbiased rectenna is modeled as the mechanism for the large short-circuit photocurrents observed where the photon energy serves as an effective bias across the tunnel junction. The measured current and voltage across the load resistor as a function of the thermal source temperature represents direct current electrical power generation.

76 FR 66710 - Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P.; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing, Soliciting Comments...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-27

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 5984-063] Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P.; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing, Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and....: 5984-063. c. Date Filed: May 10, 2011. d. Applicant: Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P. (dba Brookfield...

Limits to solar power conversion efficiency with applications to quantum and thermal systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byvik, C. E.; Buoncristiani, A. M.; Smith, B. T.

1983-01-01

An analytical framework is presented that permits examination of the limit to the efficiency of various solar power conversion devices. Thermodynamic limits to solar power efficiency are determined for both quantum and thermal systems, and the results are applied to a variety of devices currently considered for use in space systems. The power conversion efficiency for single-threshold energy quantum systems receiving unconcentrated air mass zero solar radiation is limited to 31 percent. This limit applies to photovoltaic cells directly converting solar radiation, or indirectly, as in the case of a thermophotovoltaic system. Photoelectrochemical cells rely on an additional chemical reaction at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface, which introduces additional second-law demands and a reduction of the solar conversion efficiency. Photochemical systems exhibit even lower possible efficiencies because of their relatively narrow absorption bands. Solar-powered thermal engines in contact with an ambient reservoir at 300 K and operating at maximum power have a peak conversion efficiency of 64 percent, and this occurs for a thermal reservoir at a temperature of 2900 K. The power conversion efficiency of a solar-powered liquid metal magnetohydrodydnamic generator, a solar-powered steam turbine electric generator, and an alkali metal thermoelectric converter is discussed.

Thermal control of power supplies with electronic packaging techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The analysis, design, and development work to reduce the weight and size of a standard modular power supply with a 350 watt output was summarized. By integrating low cost commercial heat pipes in the redesign of this power supply, weight was reduced by 30% from that of the previous design. The temperature was also appreciably reduced, increasing the environmental capability of the unit. A demonstration unit with a 100 watt output and a 15 volt regulator module, plus simulated output modules, was built and tested to evaluate the thermal performance of the redesigned power supply.

Thermal Insulation Performance of Flexible Piping for Use in HTS Power Cables

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fesmire, James E.; Augustynowicz, S. D.; Demko, J. A.; Thompson, Karen (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables that typically operate at temperatures below 80 K are being developed for power transmission. The practical application of HTS power cables will require the use of flexible piping to contain the cable and the liquid nitrogen coolant. A study of thermal performance of multilayer insulation (MLI) was conducted in geometries representing both rigid and flexible piping. This experimental study performed at the Cryogenics Test Laboratory of NASA Kennedy Space Center provides a framework for the development of cost-effective, efficient thermal insulation systems that will support these long-distance flexible lines containing HTS power cables. The overall thermal performance of the insulation system for a rigid configuration and for a flexible configuration, simulating a flexible HTS power cable, was determined by the steady-state liquid nitrogen boiloff method under the full range of vacuum levels. Two different cylindrically rolled material systems were tested: a standard MLI and a layered composite insulation (LCI). Comparisons of ideal MLI, MLI on rigid piping, and MLI between flexible piping are presented.

A modeling tool to support decision making in future hydropower development in Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vicuna, S.; Hermansen, C.; Cerda, J. P.; Olivares, M. A.; Gomez, T. I.; Toha, E.; Poblete, D.; Mao, L.; Falvey, M. J.; Pliscoff, P.; Melo, O.; Lacy, S.; Peredo, M.; Marquet, P. A.; Maturana, J.; Gironas, J. A.

2017-12-01

Modeling tools support planning by providing transparent means to assess the outcome of natural resources management alternatives within technical frameworks in the presence of conflicting objectives. Such tools, when employed to model different scenarios, complement discussion in a policy-making context. Examples of practical use of this type of tool exist, such as the Canadian public forest management, but are not common, especially in the context of developing countries. We present a tool to support the selection from a portfolio of potential future hydropower projects in Chile. This tool, developed by a large team of researchers under the guidance of the Chilean Energy Ministry, is especially relevant in the context of evident regionalism, skepticism and change in societal values in a country that has achieved a sustained growth alongside increased demands from society. The tool operates at a scale of a river reach, between 1-5 km long, on a domain that can be defined according to the scale needs of the related discussion, and its application can vary from river basins to regions or other spatial configurations that may be of interest. The tool addresses both available hydropower potential and the existence (inferred or observed) of other ecological, social, cultural and productive characteristics of the territory which are valuable to society, and provides a means to evaluate their interaction. The occurrence of each of these other valuable characteristics in the territory is measured by generating a presence-density score for each. Considering the level of constraint each characteristic imposes on hydropower development, they are weighted against each other and an aggregate score is computed. With this information, optimal trade-offs are computed between additional hydropower capacity and valuable local characteristics over the entire domain, using the classical knapsack 0-1 optimization algorithm. Various scenarios of different weightings and hydropower

Thermal design and test of a high power spacecraft transponder platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stipandic, E. A.; Gray, A. M.; Gedeon, L.

1975-01-01

The high power transponder subsystem on board the Communications Technology Satellite (CTS) requires some unique thermal control techniques to maintain the required temperature limits throughout all mission phases. The transponder subsystem includes redundant 20-W output travelling wave tubes and a single 200-W output TWT with highly concentrated thermal dissipations of 70 W and 143 W, respectively. A thermal control system which maintains all components within the required temperature ranges has been designed and verified in thermal balance testing. Included in the design are second surface quartz mirrors on an aluminum honeycomb platform, high thermal conductivity aluminum doubler plates, commandable thermal control heaters and a Variable Conductance Heat Pipe System (VCHPS).

Small solar thermal electric power plants with early commercial potential

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, H. E.; Bisantz, D. J.; Clayton, R. N.; Heiges, H. H.; Ku, A. C.

1979-01-01

Cost-effective small solar thermal electric power plants (1- to 10-MW nominal size) offer an attractive way of helping the world meet its future energy needs. The paper describes the characteristics of a conceptual near-term plant (about 1 MW) and a potential 1990 commercial version. The basic system concept is one in which steam is generated using two-axis tracking, parabolic dish, and point-focusing collectors. The steam is transported through low-loss piping to a central steam turbine generator unit where it is converted to electricity. The plants have no energy storage and their output power level varies with the solar insolation level. This system concept, which is firmly based on state-of-the-art technology, is projected to offer one of the fastest paths for U.S. commercialization of solar thermal electric power plants through moderate technology advances and mass production.

Detailed partial load investigation of a thermal energy storage concept for solar thermal power plants with direct steam generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seitz, M.; Hübner, S.; Johnson, M.

2016-05-01

Direct steam generation enables the implementation of a higher steam temperature for parabolic trough concentrated solar power plants. This leads to much better cycle efficiencies and lower electricity generating costs. For a flexible and more economic operation of such a power plant, it is necessary to develop thermal energy storage systems for the extension of the production time of the power plant. In the case of steam as the heat transfer fluid, it is important to use a storage material that uses latent heat for the storage process. This leads to a minimum of exergy losses during the storage process. In the case of a concentrating solar power plant, superheated steam is needed during the discharging process. This steam cannot be superheated by the latent heat storage system. Therefore, a sensible molten salt storage system is used for this task. In contrast to the state-of-the-art thermal energy storages within the concentrating solar power area of application, a storage system for a direct steam generation plant consists of a latent and a sensible storage part. Thus far, no partial load behaviors of sensible and latent heat storage systems have been analyzed in detail. In this work, an optimized fin structure was developed in order to minimize the costs of the latent heat storage. A complete system simulation of the power plant process, including the solar field, power block and sensible and latent heat energy storage calculates the interaction between the solar field, the power block and the thermal energy storage system.

Miniaturized planar Si-nanowire micro-thermoelectric generator using exuded thermal field for power generation.

PubMed

Zhan, Tianzhuo; Yamato, Ryo; Hashimoto, Shuichiro; Tomita, Motohiro; Oba, Shunsuke; Himeda, Yuya; Mesaki, Kohei; Takezawa, Hiroki; Yokogawa, Ryo; Xu, Yibin; Matsukawa, Takashi; Ogura, Atsushi; Kamakura, Yoshinari; Watanabe, Takanobu

2018-01-01

For harvesting energy from waste heat, the power generation densities and fabrication costs of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are considered more important than their conversion efficiency because waste heat energy is essentially obtained free of charge. In this study, we propose a miniaturized planar Si-nanowire micro-thermoelectric generator (SiNW-μTEG) architecture, which could be simply fabricated using the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible process. Compared with the conventional nanowire μTEGs, this SiNW-μTEG features the use of an exuded thermal field for power generation. Thus, there is no need to etch away the substrate to form suspended SiNWs, which leads to a low fabrication cost and well-protected SiNWs. We experimentally demonstrate that the power generation density of the SiNW-μTEGs was enhanced by four orders of magnitude when the SiNWs were shortened from 280 to 8 μm. Furthermore, we reduced the parasitic thermal resistance, which becomes significant in the shortened SiNW-μTEGs, by optimizing the fabrication process of AlN films as a thermally conductive layer. As a result, the power generation density of the SiNW-μTEGs was enhanced by an order of magnitude for reactive sputtering as compared to non-reactive sputtering process. A power density of 27.9 nW/cm 2 has been achieved. By measuring the thermal conductivities of the two AlN films, we found that the reduction in the parasitic thermal resistance was caused by an increase in the thermal conductivity of the AlN film and a decrease in the thermal boundary resistance.

Miniaturized planar Si-nanowire micro-thermoelectric generator using exuded thermal field for power generation

PubMed Central

Zhan, Tianzhuo; Yamato, Ryo; Hashimoto, Shuichiro; Tomita, Motohiro; Oba, Shunsuke; Himeda, Yuya; Mesaki, Kohei; Takezawa, Hiroki; Yokogawa, Ryo; Xu, Yibin; Matsukawa, Takashi; Ogura, Atsushi; Kamakura, Yoshinari; Watanabe, Takanobu

2018-01-01

Abstract For harvesting energy from waste heat, the power generation densities and fabrication costs of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are considered more important than their conversion efficiency because waste heat energy is essentially obtained free of charge. In this study, we propose a miniaturized planar Si-nanowire micro-thermoelectric generator (SiNW-μTEG) architecture, which could be simply fabricated using the complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor–compatible process. Compared with the conventional nanowire μTEGs, this SiNW-μTEG features the use of an exuded thermal field for power generation. Thus, there is no need to etch away the substrate to form suspended SiNWs, which leads to a low fabrication cost and well-protected SiNWs. We experimentally demonstrate that the power generation density of the SiNW-μTEGs was enhanced by four orders of magnitude when the SiNWs were shortened from 280 to 8 μm. Furthermore, we reduced the parasitic thermal resistance, which becomes significant in the shortened SiNW-μTEGs, by optimizing the fabrication process of AlN films as a thermally conductive layer. As a result, the power generation density of the SiNW-μTEGs was enhanced by an order of magnitude for reactive sputtering as compared to non-reactive sputtering process. A power density of 27.9 nW/cm2 has been achieved. By measuring the thermal conductivities of the two AlN films, we found that the reduction in the parasitic thermal resistance was caused by an increase in the thermal conductivity of the AlN film and a decrease in the thermal boundary resistance. PMID:29868148

Evaluation of the Hydropower Generation Potential of a Dam Using Optimization Techniques: Application to Doma Dam, Nassarawa, in North Central Nigeria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salami, Adebayo Wahab; Sule, Bolaji Fatai; Adunkpe, Tope Lacroix; Ayanshola, Ayanniyi Mufutau; Bilewu, Solomon Olakunle

2017-03-01

Optimization models have been developed to maximize annual energy generation from the Doma dam, subject to the constraint of releases for irrigation, ecological purposes, the water supply, the maximum yield from the reservoir and reservoir storage. The model was solved with LINGO software for various mean annual inflow exceedence probabilities. Two scenarios of hydropower retrofitting were considered. Scenario 1, with the reservoir inflows at 50%, 75%, and 90% probabilities of exceedence, gives the total annual hydropower as 0.531 MW, 0.450 MW and 0.291 MW, respectively. The corresponding values for scenario 2 were 0.615 MW, 0.507 MW, and 0.346 MW respectively. The study also considered increasing the reservoir's live storage to 32.63Mm3 by taking part of the flood storage so that the maximum draft increases to 7 Mm3. With this upper limit of storage and draft with reservoir inflows of 50%, 75% and 90% probabilities of exceedence, the hydropower generated increased to 0.609 MW, 0.540 MW, and 0.347 MW respectively for the scenario 1 arrangement, while those of scenario 2 increased to 0.699 MW, 0.579MW and 0.406 MW respectively. The results indicate that the Doma Dam is suitable for the production of hydroelectric power and that its generation potential is between 0.61 MW and 0.70 MW.

Two dimensional thermal and charge mapping of power thyristors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hu, S. P.; Rabinovici, B. M.

1975-01-01

The two dimensional static and dynamic current density distributions within the junction of semiconductor power switching devices and in particular the thyristors were obtained. A method for mapping the thermal profile of the device junctions with fine resolution using an infrared beam and measuring the attenuation through the device as a function of temperature were developed. The results obtained are useful in the design and quality control of high power semiconductor switching devices.

System for thermal energy storage, space heating and cooling and power conversion

DOEpatents

Gruen, Dieter M.; Fields, Paul R.

1981-04-21

An integrated system for storing thermal energy, for space heating and cong and for power conversion is described which utilizes the reversible thermal decomposition characteristics of two hydrides having different decomposition pressures at the same temperature for energy storage and space conditioning and the expansion of high-pressure hydrogen for power conversion. The system consists of a plurality of reaction vessels, at least one containing each of the different hydrides, three loops of circulating heat transfer fluid which can be selectively coupled to the vessels for supplying the heat of decomposition from any appropriate source of thermal energy from the outside ambient environment or from the spaces to be cooled and for removing the heat of reaction to the outside ambient environment or to the spaces to be heated, and a hydrogen loop for directing the flow of hydrogen gas between the vessels. When used for power conversion, at least two vessels contain the same hydride and the hydrogen loop contains an expansion engine. The system is particularly suitable for the utilization of thermal energy supplied by solar collectors and concentrators, but may be used with any source of heat, including a source of low-grade heat.

Hydropower Generation Performance Testing at Plants in Thailand and Laos

DOE PAGES

Kern, Jamie; Hadjerioua, Boualem; Christian, Mark H.; ...

2017-04-01

An operational assessment of four hydropower plants in Southeast Asia revealed that gains in both energy production and water conservation could be achieved with little monetary investment through operational optimization efforts.

Hydropower Generation Performance Testing at Plants in Thailand and Laos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kern, Jamie; Hadjerioua, Boualem; Christian, Mark H.

An operational assessment of four hydropower plants in Southeast Asia revealed that gains in both energy production and water conservation could be achieved with little monetary investment through operational optimization efforts.

The Geography of Green Power

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

OShaughnessy, Eric J; Heeter, Jenny S; Volpi, Christina M

Green power refers to the voluntary purchase of renewable electricity by retail electricity customers. Green power is unlike compliance-based renewable energy procurement imposed by law or regulation. In 2016, over six million customers procured about 95 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of green power in the United States, which represents about 28% of all U.S. renewable energy sales, excluding large hydropower. In this fact sheet, we use available data to illustrate the geography of green power demand (in terms of number of customers) and supply (in terms of MWh of generation) by state.

Study of thermal control systems for orbiting power systems. Materials experiment carrier thermal control system study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleming, M. L.

1980-01-01

Four possible arrangements of the materials experiment carrier (MEC) and power system (PS) thermal control loops were defined which would provide one kW of heat rejection for each kW of power to the MEC payload. These arrangements were compared to the baseline reference concept which provides only 16 kW heat rejection to show the cost of obtaining symmetry in terms of dollars, weight, complexity, growth potential, ease of integration, technology and total launch weight. The results of these comparisons was that the concept which splits the PS thermal control loop into two systems, one to reject PS waste heat and one payload waste heat, appeared favorable. The fluid selection study resulted in recommendation of FC72 as the MEC heat transport fluid based on the thermal and physical characteristics. The coatings reviewed indicated anodized and alodine treated aluminum surfaces or silver teflon are the best choices for the MEC vehicle where durability is an important factor. For high temperature radiators silver teflon or zinc orthotitanate are recommended choices.

Solar thermal power plants in small utilities - An economic impact analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bluhm, S. A.; Ferber, R. R.; Mayo, L. G.

1979-01-01

A study was performed to assess the potential economic impact of small solar thermal electric power systems in statistically representative synthetic small utilities of the Southwestern United States. Power supply expansion plans were compared on the basis of present worth of future revenue requirements for 1980-2000 with and without solar thermal plants. Coal-fired and oil-fired municipal utility expansion plans with 5 percent solar penetration were 0.5 percent and 2.25 percent less expensive, respectively, than the corresponding conventional plan. At $969/kWe, which assumes the same low cost solar equipment but no improvement in site development costs, solar penetration of 5 percent in the oil-fired municipal reduced revenue requirements 0.88 percent. The paper concludes that some solar thermal plants are potentially economic in small community utilities of the Southwest.

New Stream-reach Development: A Comprehensive Assessment of Hydropower Energy Potential in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kao, Shih-Chieh; McManamay, Ryan A; Stewart, Kevin M

2014-04-01

The rapid development of multiple national geospatial datasets related to topography, hydrology, and environmental characteristics in the past decade have provided new opportunities for the refinement of hydropower resource potential from undeveloped stream-reaches. Through 2011 to 2013, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was tasked by the Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Program to evaluate the new stream-reach development (NSD) resource potential for more than 3 million US streams. A methodology was designed that contains three main components: (1) identification of stream-reaches with high energy density, (2) topographical analysis of stream-reaches to estimate inundated surface area and reservoir storage,more » and (3) environmental attribution to spatially join information related to the natural ecological systems, social and cultural settings, policies, management, and legal constraints to stream-reaches of energy potential. An initial report on methodology (Hadjerioua et al., 2013) was later reviewed and revised based on the comments gathered from two peer review workshops. After implementing the assessment across the entire United States, major findings were summarized in this final report. The estimated NSD capacity and generation, including both higher-energy-density (>1 MW per reach) and lower-energy-density (<1 MW per reach) stream-reaches is 84.7 GW, around the same size as the existing US conventional hydropower nameplate capacity (79.5 GW; NHAAP, 2013). In terms of energy, the total undeveloped NSD generation is estimated to be 460 TWh/year, around 169% of average 2002 2011 net annual generation from existing conventional hydropower plants (272 TWh/year; EIA, 2013). Given the run-of-river assumption, NSD stream-reaches have higher capacity factors (53 71%), especially compared with conventional larger-storage peaking-operation projects that usually have capacity factors of around 30%. The highest potential is identified in the Pacific

Spectral decomposition of regulatory thresholds for climate-driven fluctuations in hydro- and wind power availability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wörman, A.; Bottacin-Busolin, A.; Zmijewski, N.; Riml, J.

2017-08-01

Climate-driven fluctuations in the runoff and potential energy of surface water are generally large in comparison to the capacity of hydropower regulation, particularly when hydropower is used to balance the electricity production from covarying renewable energy sources such as wind power. To define the bounds of reservoir storage capacity, we introduce a dedicated reservoir volume that aggregates the storage capacity of several reservoirs to handle runoff from specific watersheds. We show how the storage bounds can be related to a spectrum of the climate-driven modes of variability in water availability and to the covariation between water and wind availability. A regional case study of the entire hydropower system in Sweden indicates that the longest regulation period possible to consider spans from a few days of individual subwatersheds up to several years, with an average limit of a couple of months. Watershed damping of the runoff substantially increases the longest considered regulation period and capacity. The high covariance found between the potential energy of the surface water and wind energy significantly reduces the longest considered regulation period when hydropower is used to balance the fluctuating wind power.

Engineering aspects of a thermal control subsystem for the 25 kW power module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, P. E.

1979-01-01

The paper presents the key trade study results, analysis results, and the recommended thermal control approach for the 25 kW power module defined by NASA. Power conversion inefficiencies and component heat dissipation results in a minimum heat rejection requirement of 9 kW to maintain the power module equipment at desired temperature levels. Additionally, some cooling capacity should be provided for user payloads in the sortie and free-flying modes. The baseline thermal control subsystem includes a dual-loop-pumped Freon-21 coolant with the heat rejected from deployable existing orbiter radiators. Thermal analysis included an assessment of spacecraft orientations, radiator shapes and locations, and comparison of hybrid heat pipe and all liquid panels.

77 FR 31348 - Boott Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Consulting Parties and Agenda for Section 106 Consultation Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-25

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 2790-055] Boott Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Consulting Parties and Agenda for Section 106 Consultation Meeting On May 4, 2012, the... Hydropower, Inc. and the Eldred L. Field Hydroelectric Facility Trust (co-licensees for the Lowell...

Modeling Multi-Reservoir Hydropower Systems in the Sierra Nevada with Environmental Requirements and Climate Warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rheinheimer, David Emmanuel

Hydropower systems and other river regulation often harm instream ecosystems, partly by altering the natural flow and temperature regimes that ecosystems have historically depended on. These effects are compounded at regional scales. As hydropower and ecosystems are increasingly valued globally due to growing values for clean energy and native species as well as and new threats from climate warming, it is important to understand how climate warming might affect these systems, to identify tradeoffs between different water uses for different climate conditions, and to identify promising water management solutions. This research uses traditional simulation and optimization to explore these issues in California's upper west slope Sierra Nevada mountains. The Sierra Nevada provides most of the water for California's vast water supply system, supporting high-elevation hydropower generation, ecosystems, recreation, and some local municipal and agricultural water supply along the way. However, regional climate warming is expected to reduce snowmelt and shift runoff to earlier in the year, affecting all water uses. This dissertation begins by reviewing important literature related to the broader motivations of this study, including river regulation, freshwater conservation, and climate change. It then describes three substantial studies. First, a weekly time step water resources management model spanning the Feather River watershed in the north to the Kern River watershed in the south is developed. The model, which uses the Water Evaluation And Planning System (WEAP), includes reservoirs, run-of-river hydropower, variable head hydropower, water supply demand, and instream flow requirements. The model is applied with a runoff dataset that considers regional air temperature increases of 0, 2, 4 and 6 °C to represent historical, near-term, mid-term and far-term (end-of-century) warming. Most major hydropower turbine flows are simulated well. Reservoir storage is also

Method of operating a thermal engine powered by a chemical reaction