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- Conventional Hydro
Identifying Hydropower Operational Flexibilities in Presence of Streamflow and Net Load Uncertainty [HydroWIRES]
Lead Companies
University of California, Irvine
Lead Researcher (s)
- Soroosh Sorooshian, Soroosh@uci.edu
Hydropower plants have been traditionally designed and used for base-load bulk energy production, but technological developments and changes to grid needs are making flexible operation more prevalent. Still, hydropower’s flexibility capabilities and constraints are not well understood. The goal of this project is to develop an accurate model representation of hydropower operations that allows for a detailed specification of various constraints and captures the underlying uncertainty from both inflows and net load. Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Future Grid
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Identifying Sources of Uncertainy in Flood Frequency Analysis
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Amanda Stone
We postulate that true FFA uncertainty may be larger than currently appreciated and that different components of the modeling chain such as model choice, parameter values or initial conditions impact FFAs by different amounts. We propose to explore key components of the modeling chain: 1) expanding from one model to a multi-model ensemble, 2) varying model parameters, and 3) varying initial conditions for each model structure. Furthermore, uncertainty and sensitivity characteristics likely vary across hydroclimatic regime. To address this hypothesis, we will use continuous ensemble simulations across model structures with parameter perturbations to drive a stochastic event simulation framework to reveal true FFA uncertainty and understand sensitivities across several case-study basins spanning the hydroloclimatology of the 17 western states.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Forecasting
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Impacts of Grade Control Structure Installations on Hydrology and Sediment Transport as an Adaptive Management Strategy
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Deborah Tosline
What are the impacts of Grade Control Structures (GCSs) installed in ephemeral drainages on storm flows, local hydrology, soil moisture, and sediment transport and do GCSs reduce sediment deposition in reservoirs, enhance local water resources, reduce stream velocities, support ecosystems and optimize watershed function?
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Pumped Storage
Improved Cost Estimates To Boost Pumped Storage Hydropower Construction
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Daniel Inman
Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) facilities are like large batteries that use water and gravity. They can store up to 12 hours' worth of clean, renewable energy and send that power to the grid the moment it’s needed (for comparison, batteries provide about 4 hours of energy storage). As the United States' power grid evolves, receiving more variable clean energy sources, like solar power and wind energy, PSH plants could play a key role in ensuring that the grid is not only carbon-free but also reliable and resilient. Today, PSH is often overlooked in future grid planning efforts, in part because the cost to build a new facility is not always clear. That’s why the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, is developing improved cost estimates and cost models to reduce that uncertainty and give developers the data they need to decide where and when to construct new PSH facilities to support the country’s evolving energy grid."
Technology Application
Pumped Storage
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2022
- Conventional Hydro
Improvement in the accuracy and speed of riparian vegetation simulation
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jianchun Victor Huang
The proposed research aims to develop a reach scale numerical model to simulate long-term vegetation establishment, growth, and desiccation while avoiding the limitation of the 1D model that can only represent the vegetation at limited locations. The model will bridge the gap between a 1D numerical model that is over simplified to cover a reach as long as 100 miles over decades and a vegetation map that needs detailed information regarding each vegetation zone.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Shoreline and Riparian Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Marine Energy
Improvements to Hydrodynamic and Acoustic Models for Environmental Prediction
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jesse Roberts
This research will develop and finalize the spatial environmental assessment toolkit (SEAT) made of linked, user-friendly and open-source (freely available) numerical models and mapping tools for designing MRE array layouts that, a priori, maximize energy production and beneficial environmental change while simultaneously minimizing and supporting mitigation of undesirable change. This work supports both the continental grid market and Powering the Blue Economy (PBE) applications such as coastal resilience and disaster recovery for local communities at device spatial and energy scales (e.g. local shoreline protection, reduced coastal erosion and storm surge, beneficial sediment and habitat management, powering isolated communities, etc.). Imperative, and not found elsewhere, is that the SEAT allows MRE project developers to assess site- and technology-specific challenges unique to each deployment as well as find optimal project layouts for power generation and environmental impacts. The goal of the SEAT is to reduce project design, permitting, and monitoring costs with high quality site characterization and better, a priori, understanding of the potential environmental impacts (beneficial or potentially detrimental), while simultaneously defining array layouts that maximize energy production under given constraints. Because SEAT provides a thorough understanding of the environmental effects from MRE deployments, it helps screen (i.e. retire), or where not possible effectively mitigate, environmental risks enabling effective mitigation and efficient monitoring programs to be developed.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Hydrokinetic
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2025
- Conventional Hydro
Improving distributed hydrologic models using multiscale thermal infrared, near infrared, and visible imagery from sUAS and satellite-based sensors
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Lindsay Bearup
Can the use of sUAS combined with satellite data effectively improve calibration of distributed hydrologic models? Previous work has focused on developing techniques to control variables such as evapotranspiration using satellite remote sensing. The critical component is the equilibrium surface temperature which is normally calibrated using thermal remote sensing data from MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) or AATSR (Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer) which have a 1 km ground sample distance. This study seeks to improve thermal calibration techniques using much finer-resolution thermal measurements derived from a sUAS. The use of a sUAS will allow for the collection of high resolution imagery (< 1 cm – 1 m or more depending upon research goals) of landscape components, repeatedly and during desired time frames. Thermal data from a sUAS will provide much greater spatial and temporal resolution than satellite-based measurements, and will be obtained at a relatively low cost. This study seeks to determine the added benefit of improved spatial and temporal resolution of observations, evaluated through the existing model calibration framework of a sub-daily, sub-kilometer hydrologic model with complex terrain and vegetation, typical of many mountain headwaters systems experiencing change in the West.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Forecasting
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Improving Hydropower Benefits by Linking Environmental Decisions and Power System Trade-offs Through Flow Release Decisions [HydroWIRES]
Lead Companies
ORNL, PNNL, ANL, INL, NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Brenda Pracheil, pracheilbm@ornl.gov
Hydropower has a new and potentially important role in enhancing resilience of the electric system due to its ability to generate power without inputs from the grid. It is imminently important to understand if hydropower can have the necessary operational flexibility to provide these services given environmental flow requirements placed on the fleet. Environmental flow requirements included in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydropower licenses are an important component to preserving and, in some cases, restoring ecological function and services provided by riverine ecosystems. While environmental flow requirements in a FERC license may improve outcomes such as water quality, fish habitat, or recreation, they may limit the operational flexibility of hydropower plants, narrowing their ability to respond to the grid. Defining linkages between flow requirements and specific environmental outcomes is essential to not only producing favorable environmental outcomes, but also to enabling greater operational flexibility within a given hydropower facility. This project will provide pathways for this co-optimization in hydropower systems by quantitatively linking power system and environmental outcomes through the common hub of flow decisions. It is anticipated that the co-optimization framework created in this project will provide a guide for designing environmental flow requirements that create value propositions for a diversity of stakeholders in FERC licensing proceedings. Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Optimization
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Improving Hydropower Representation in Power System Models [HydroWIRES]
Lead Companies
PNNL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Abhishek Somani, abhishek.somani@pnnl.gov
This project will provide a critical update to dynamic models of hydropower generators that were developed in the 1960s and 1970s. Researchers will also develop tools that provide an accurate, updated representation of water availability and hydropower generation constraints in different models. These accurate representations will allow will give system planners and operators a more realistic understanding of operating reserves, resulting in fewer unexpected outages. Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Transmission Services
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org