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- Asset Management
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- Hydraulic Optimization
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- Conventional Hydro
Solid State Processing for Improved Performance of current and Next Generation Hydro Components
Lead Companies
PNNL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Kenneth Ross
Completed projects with no scope descriptions
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Water Systems
Status
complete
Completion Date
2019
- Marine Energy
SPA I and II: Supporting HQ Evaluation of Awardee Technical Progress in Controls and Structures
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jesse Roberts
One of the DOE Water Power Technologies Office’s (WPTO) focuses has been in advancing technology performance by making investments in component technology improvements that enhance the performance of MHK systems. Sandia National Laboratories has been supporting DOE and Awardees of the MHK SPA FOAs, DE-FOA-0000848 and DE-FOA-0001182 (SPA I and SPA II, respectively). Starting in FY19, Sandia began support of DOE and awardees of the DE-FOA-0001837 Topic Area 2 “Controls and Power Take Off (PTO) Design Integration and Testing” (typically referenced as SPA III). Sandia’s expertise will be utilized in assisting DOE’s tracking of the technical progress and providing technical support to the Awardees where appropriate. Sandia will support DOE’s independent assessment of the component performance metrics that will be validated as part of the system test for each of the Awardees. Sandia will also support broader performance metrics initiatives.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Hydrokinetic
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2023
- Small or Non Conventional Hydro
Standard Modular Hydropower Technology Acceleration
Lead Companies
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Scott DeNeale (denealest@ornl.gov)
Currently, small hydropower development is a complex and uncertain undertaking, with design engineering, construction, equipment selection, environmental impact mitigation strategies, and total installed costs driven by site-specific considerations. Given existing technologies, there are limited opportunities for new, affordable hydropower growth. To address these challenges, the Standard Modular Hydropower (SMH) Technology Acceleration project defines standardization, modularity, and environmental compatibility as three enabling principles of a low-cost, environmentally sustainable hydropower growth strategy. SMH poses the question: Can we develop low-cost, modular, replicable hydropower facilities that preserve or enhance river function? The project takes multiple research approaches for promoting SMH technology acceleration, as evidenced in its two core research tasks: Module Research & Development, and SMH Facility Research & Development. Together, the associated research activities aim to enable the design and development of new SMH technologies for both existing water infrastructure and new stream-reach development.
Technology Application
Small or Non Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Standards Development
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Vince Neary
This project focuses on collecting and analyzing data to inform standards and certification development efforts by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee (TC) 114 Ocean Energy. IEC TC114 is responsible for developing standards that define the international requirements for all ocean energy devices in the future. Participation, including reviewing and proposing data-based improvements to recommended standards, in these groups is essential because such interactions broaden and streamline adoption of marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) devices in the global marketplace and ensure that the interests of the U.S. industry and the DOE are established and maintained.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Tidal
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2024
- Conventional Hydro
Stator Winding Temperature model
Lead Companies
Hydropower Research Institute
Lead Researcher (s)
- HRI Technical Steering Committee
This project is in the planning stage. The focus is on adapting existing, patented algorithm that predicts stator winding temperature based on other operational parameters to predicting temperature impacts from changing operational scenarios. This is in support of a request to an HRI participant to establish a value for a market product requested by a regulated market.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2021
- Conventional Hydro
Stochastic Energy Scheduling
Lead Companies
University of Washington
Lead Researcher (s)
- Adam Greenhall
Large amounts of wind generation have been added to the power system in recent years. However, wind breaks many of the core assumptions in the process used to schedule energy and is particularly difficult to forecast accurately. Rather than scheduling based on a single forecast, stochastic Unit Commitment (UC) minimizes the expected cost over several wind scenarios for the next day. Stochastic UC is often held up as a solution to help alleviate the high costs related to uncertain renewables. Yet there is no widely accepted method for creating high quality stochastic scenarios. In this dissertation, we examine two wind power scenario creation methods – moment matching and analogs. Moment matching is a general technique where scenarios are synthesized to match a set of statistics or moments. We propose a method for estimating these desired moments based on historical wind data. The analogs method looks back in time to find similar forecasts and uses the matching observations from those analogous dates directly as scenarios. This work proposes and tests a simple analogs method based solely on aggregate wind power forecasts. The performance of these methods is tested on a realistic model of the Electric Reliability Council Of Texas (ERCOT) power system based on actual data from 2012. UC and dispatch simulations showed modest stochastic savings for the relatively flexible ERCOT model at 25% wind energy penetration. The scenario creation method and number of scenarios had a significant impact on these stochastic savings. Contrary to our hypothesis and the increase in perfect forecast savings, stochastic savings decreased as wind penetration increased to 30%. Stochastic savings are often largely due to a few high cost events during peak load periods; stochastic UC costs may be higher than deterministic UC for extended periods – generally when demand and marginal prices are low. Together these results paint a more nuanced picture of stochastic UC and provide a roadmap for future scenario creation research.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Optimization
Status
complete
Completion Date
2013
- Conventional Hydro
Streamflow Assessment Toolkit for Changing Conditions
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- #0433
The overarching objective of the project is to develop numeric analysis tools, customized to the hydropower industry, to answer a variety of specific questions based on streamflow time series.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Climate Change
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2021
- Conventional Hydro
Study of Mass Transfer across Hydrofoils for Use in Aerating Turbines
Lead Companies
University of Minnesota
Lead Researcher (s)
- Garrett Monson
Hydroelectric projects often have a low tailwater dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration. Low DO levels negatively impact the biota of the water body and are often regulated. Auto-Vented Turbines (AVTs) are one form of DO mitigation that is typically successful and cost-effective. Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) at the University of Minnesota (UMN) is partnering with the Department of Energy (DoE) and Alstom Engineering to conduct research developing a conventional hydropower turbine aeration test-bed for computational routines and a software tool for predicting the DO uptake of AVTs. The focus of this thesis is on the development of the testbed through the conduct of physical experiments focused on measuring mass transfer across bubbles in various flow conditions. This test-bed will be a valuable database for verification of numerical models of DO uptake. Numerical models can simulate the parameters of the water tunnel and experimental set-up, then verify their accuracy by simulating the air entrainment rate, bubble size and mass transfer of the test-bed. The findings presented herein can lead to further optimization of AVTs, as well as reduce cost and regulatory uncertainty prior to hydropower relicensing or development.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
complete
Completion Date
2013
- Conventional Hydro
Subseasonal Heatwave Prediction
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Ken Nowak
The question we propose to explore here is to what extent snowpack melt is a gradual process due to seasonal warming and to what extent it comes in spurts driven by springtime and early summer heat waves. Are there predictable pre-conditions that favor smooth versus episodic snowmelt? These questions have bearing on water resources and their management in that gradual snowpack melt is amenable to efficient capture and storage in engineered reservoirs, while strong episodic melting can be more challenging to manage and store and can lead to flooding.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2021
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org