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- Conventional Hydro
Threat Assessment and Evaluation of Burrowing Crayfish in Reclamation Canals
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Aaron Murphy
Although crayfish are an important component of many freshwater ecosystems and a significant food source for other animals, dense populations can become a nuisance. In addition, some species have been displaced far outside their native range and established sustaining invasive populations. In either scenario, excessive crayfish burrowing can pose a threat to earthen embankment integrity.Personnel in the PN Region have observed excessive crayfish populations associated with canal seepage, embankment damage, and increased risks for failure. This project will assess conditions that may have caused crayfish to become problematic, investigate crayfish burrowing impacts, potential risks across Reclamation facilities, and explore monitoring and mitigation methods. The outcome of this project will be a document assessing conditions associated with excessive crayfish burrowing, as well as potential risks throughout Reclamation facilities. Control methods will also be discussed and recommendations/best practices created.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2021
- Marine Energy
Three Modeling Tools Accelerate The Developments of Marine Energy Technolopgies
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Michael Lawson
Enough power flows through U.S. rivers and oceans to meet up to 60% of the country’s electricity needs. But before today’s early-stage marine energy technologies can harness some of that power, they need to overcome a few challenges, such as a volatile ocean and high development costs. And to do that, technology developers need reliable tools to understand and overcome the challenges they face. That’s why researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed several open-source, validated, and customizable numerical tools for technology developers. With these tools, the marine energy community can assess their devices’ potential power output, predict how their technologies might handle extreme loads (like extreme waves), and learn how changing one component might affect their device’s performance. The lab’s models generate highly accurate, reliable, robust data that can help marine energy devices leap from the computer screen to the ocean and, eventually, the power grid.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2022
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 258: Development of a State-of-the-Art Computational Framework and Platform for the Optimal Control of Multi-Reservoir Systems under Uncertainty
Lead Companies
Oregon State University (OSU)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Dennis Mai, BPA
- Dr. Arturo Leon, OSU
The research produced a robust and computationally efficient hybrid and parallelized framework for the real-time operation of multi-objective and multi-reservoir systems that accounts for uncertainty and flexibility. The resulting model could potentially replace the current tool used by BPA for short‐term operation of the FCRPS and be used as the main computational engine for future real‐time operation of this system under different streamflow and load scenarios.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Forecasting
Status
complete
Completion Date
2015
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 259: Short-Term Hydropower Production and Marketing Optimization (HyProM)
Lead Companies
Deltares USA
Lead Researcher (s)
- Chris Allen, BPA
- Dirk Schwanenberg, Deltares NL
This project advanced a state-of-the-art software infrastructure for short-term management of the FCRPS. It included multi-objective deterministic and stochastic optimization techniques with a modular, open-source, computationally efficient and multithreaded IT design. The project addressed the need for more precise knowledge of future stream flow, wind reserve, and power load, with a user-friendly tool to integrate those entities. This was vital to solving the multi-objective problem of reservoir management.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Forecasting
Status
complete
Completion Date
2015
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 274: Development & Demonstration of Applications for BPA & FCRPS Compliance with Modeling Standards & Performance Monitoring
Lead Companies
BPA/US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Steve Yang, BPA
The project developed and integrated a comprehensive set of power plant model validation and performance monitoring tools for BPA and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). It also developed capabilities at USACE to perform baseline testing and model validation needed to meet the WECC and BPA requirements.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Controls
Status
complete
Completion Date
2016
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 276: Enhanced Monitoring and Investigation of the Spread and Potential Impact of Aquatic Invasive Mussels in the Columbia River Basin, with Special Reference to Mitigation and Placement of Boat Cleaning Stations
Lead Companies
Washington State University Vancouver, USGS Columbia River Research Lab
Lead Researcher (s)
- Hannah Dondy-Kaplan, BPA
- Stephen Bollens, WSU Vancouver
This project provides BPA with tested products and tools to help delay the arrival and spread of zebra and quagga mussels to the Columbia River Basin (CRB) so that impacts to the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) are minimized; and to improve the efficacy of boat cleaning stations once they are developed by providing a basis for prioritizing their placement. For BPA Power Services, knowing which BPA facilities are most at risk allows for better planning of maintenance, repair and replacement schedules.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
complete
Completion Date
2015
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 304: Predicting the Hydrologic Response of the Columbia River System to Climate Change
Lead Companies
BPA/Univ. of Washington (UW) Oregon State University (OSU)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Erik Pytlak, BPA
This project updates and enhances the existing climate change streamflow hydrologic dataset that was developed for use by the Columbia River Basin Management Joint Operating Committee (RMJOC) in 2009-2011 to incorporate recent global and regional model output. These data sets have been delivered in a format that can be used by BPA and its partners as input to their hydroregulation models.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
complete
Completion Date
2016
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 313: Power-Frequency Control
Lead Companies
BPA/US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)/US Bureau of Reclamation (USBOR)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Dmitry Kosterev, BPA
The project researched technical approaches for the BPA to meet the NERC frequency response standards and reliability challenges. It built on the success of hydro-governor design and tuning work done under the existing TIP 50 research to develop plant control and Automatic Generation Control (AGC) strategies to meet diverse reliability objectives. By investigating relationships between frequency controls, angular stability, and voltage stability issues this project determined the benefits and feasibility of various technical strategies to address stability issues.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Controls
Status
complete
Completion Date
2017
- Conventional Hydro
TIP 345: Advanced Visualization for Improving State Awareness for the BPA Power System
Lead Companies
BPA/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Alstom Grid USDOE
Lead Researcher (s)
- Scott Winner, BPA
The project developed advanced user-centric modular visualization tools to help present critical information from a large amount of multidimensional data in an effective way for improved power system state awareness. The project demonstrated the visualization tools through examples from pressing challenges for hydro operations as they integrate 15-minute scheduling. Probabilistic flow and load forecasting was also achieved.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Optimization
Status
complete
Completion Date
2017
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org