Over the last 20 years, there has been rapid growth in the amount of installed wind power in the Pacific Northwest, specifically in the Columbia River Gorge. The variable and non-dispatchable nature of this resource requires that it be balanced in some form by other sources on the grid. In the Northwest specifically, the most relied upon generation sources have been hydropower units. However, it is thought that heavy reliance upon hydropower units to rapidly change their output to provide balancing increases the wear and tear on different components of these machines. This research aims to quantify damage incurred on these units in real time through a Real-time Damage Incurrence (RDI) model and minimize this damage and its associated cost through integration of Energy Storage using Advanced Life Extending Control (LEC). First, the relationship between wind power and hydroelectric power generation is investigated. The RDI model for hydropower units as well as multiple Energy Storage System (ESS) technologies is then developed, and LEC is implemented and simulated, resulting in significant reduction of damage incurrence and total cost of damage incurrence up to 10% in some cases.
