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- Conventional Hydro
Establishing a Standard Methodology to Evaluate Start/stop and Cycling Costs and Impacts
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- 03/104
The goal of this project is to develop a standardized methodology to identify equipment degradation and cost impacts of start/stops and cycling. The methodology is intended to be easy to use and will produce inputs and outputs are similar and comparable across hydro plants and utilities so that members can record, illustrate, and evaluate the phenomenon of accelerated start/stop and cycling costs
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2020
- Conventional Hydro
Experimentation of Synchronous and Variable Speed Small Scale Hydropower Systems
Lead Companies
Oregon State University
Lead Researcher (s)
- Elliott Jackson
Hydropower is the one of the oldest renewable energy technologies and is wrongly thought of today as having little room to grow. The opportunity for new hydropower capacity is immense through both technology advancement and run-ofriver new stream reach projects. Despite the age of hydropower, a divide in opinion is forming regarding how we should proceed with generating power from smaller undisturbed rivers and canals. Hydropower generation techniques have been primarily fixed speed since its inception in the late 19th century, but it seems as though variable speed generation could hold the key to more efficiently utilizing new stream reach resources. This research aims to provide a cost benefit analysis of fixed speed vs. variable speed hydropower generation topologies, and distinguish the performance advantages that variable speed generation could hold in other aspects of hydropower. Simulation results are validated with hardware.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
complete
Completion Date
2017
- Conventional Hydro
Feature Selection for Monitoring Erosive Cavitation on a Hydroturbine
Lead Companies
Colorado School of Mines
Lead Researcher (s)
- Seth Gregg
This paper presents a method for comparing and evaluating cavitation detection features - the first step towards estimating remaining useful life (RUL) of hydroturbine runners that are impacted by erosive cavitation. The method can be used to quickly compare features created from cavitation survey data collected on any type of hydroturbine, sensor type, sensor location, and cavitation sensitivity parameter (CSP). Although manual evaluation and knowledge of hydroturbine cavitation is still required for our feature selection method, the use of principal component analysis greatly reduces the number of plots that require evaluation. We present a case study based on a cavitation survey data collected on a Francis hydroturbine located at a hydroelectric plant and demonstrate the selection of the most advantageous sensor type, sensor location, and CSP to use on this hydroturbine for long-term monitoring of erosive cavitation. Our method provides hydroturbine operators and researchers with a clear and effective means to determine preferred sensors, sensor placements, and CSPs while also laying the groundwork for determining RUL in the future.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
complete
Completion Date
2018
- Conventional Hydro
Flexibility Low Head Francis
Lead Companies
GE
Lead Researcher (s)
- David Havard
To assess the extended flexibility capability of the low head Francis hydropower fleet, the empirical characterization of a typical plant will be undertaken.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2021
- Conventional Hydro
Flexible Operation of Hydropower Assets: An Analytical Look into the Runner
Lead Companies
EPRI
Lead Researcher (s)
- Francisco Kuljevan
With the increased penetration of variable renewable energy sources (wind and solar) into the electric grid’s energy mix, a greater need for a more flexible power system is required to maintain grid reliability. Hydropower has been shown to outpace variable generation energy sources on a relative basis when providing the flexibility that is needed by the electric grid. Unfortunately, this flexibility comes with a potential decrease in fatigue life that is caused by the increased cycle activity, which was not envisioned when the assets were originally designed. The analytical study aimed to continue expanding the knowledge of the implications that a flexible operation schedule could have in hydropower assets. The project that is the subject of this report focused on investigating—using state-of-the art numerical simulations—the aging acceleration that a representative Francis runner can undergo when its operation changes from a baseload to a more flexible strategy.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Pumped Storage
Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time (FAST) Commissioning for Pumped-Storage Hydropower Prize: [HydroWIRES]
Lead Companies
ANL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Vladimir Koritarov, koritarov@anl.gov
Today’s electricity system is changing rapidly and hydropower and PSH have an essential role in contributing to the resilience, reliability, and affordability of the US power system. PSH is by far the largest source of energy storage on the grid, and it will play a key role in supporting increased integration of variable generation resources. But large capital investments and long lead times for PSH commissioning are deterrents to would-be developers and utilities. The goal of the prize is to catalyze new solutions, designs, and strategies to accelerate PSH development by reducing the time, cost and risk to commission PSH. In fall 2019, four technology developer teams were selected to receive cash prizes as well as national lab technical assistance to further develop their ideas. Learn more at: Technology Application
Pumped Storage
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Pumped Storage
Hydraulic Design and Optimization of a Modular Pump-turbine Runner
Lead Companies
Lehigh University
Lead Researcher (s)
- William Schleicher
A novel modular pumped-storage scheme is investigated that uses elevated water storage towers and cement pools as the upper and lower reservoirs. The scheme serves a second purpose as part of the wastewater treatment process, providing multiple benefits besides energy storage. A small pumped-storage scheme has been shown to be a competitive energy storage solution for micro renewable energy grids; however, pumpedstorage schemes have not been implemented on scales smaller than megawatts. Off-theshelf runner designs are not available for modular pumped-storage schemes, so a custom runner design is sought. A preliminary hydraulic design for a pump-turbine runner is examined and optimized for increased pumping hydraulic efficiency using a response surface optimization methodology. The hydraulic pumping efficiency was found to have improved by 1.06% at the best efficiency point, while turbine hydraulic efficiency decreased by 0.70% at the turbine best efficiency point. The round-trip efficiency for the system was estimated to be about 78%, which is comparable to larger pumped-storage schemes currently in operation.
Technology Application
Pumped Storage
Research Category
Powerhouse Pump
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
complete
Completion Date
2015
- Conventional Hydro
Hydraulic Generation Stations Machine Condition Monitoring and Control Equipment
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- 03/106
Deliverables will include a report comprising hydro machine condition monitoring best practices and relevant, authoritative hydro machine condition monitoring resources for powerhouses. Scope to include hydropower generator, turbine, exciter and governor.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2021
- Conventional Hydro
Hydroelectric Turbine-Generator Units Guide for Erection Tolerances and Shaft System Alignment
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- #0381
This guide is the latest update of the original Alignment Guide published in 1989, and the goal is to present the tolerances for the erection of the principal components of vertical shaft hydroelecric generating units.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Hydrophobicity of Rare-earth Oxide Ceramics and their Application in Promoting Sustained Dropwise Condensation and Corrosion and Fouling Mitigation in Hydropower Systems
Lead Companies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lead Researcher (s)
- Sami Khan
Hydrophobic surfaces that are robust can have widespread applications in various industries including energy, hydropower, and transportation. In particular, hydrophobic materials promote dropwise condensation, which results in heat transfer coefficients that can be an order of magnitude higher than those seen in conventional filmwise condensation. Existing durable materials such as metals and ceramics are generally hydrophilic and require polymeric modifiers to render them hydrophobic, but these modifiers deteriorate in harsh environments. Therefore, robust hydrophobic surfaces have been difficult to realize and their widespread applicability has been limited. In this project, the class of ceramics comprising the lanthanide series rare-earth oxides (REOs) is studied for their hydrophobic potential. The unique electronic structure of the rare-earth metal atom inhibits hydrogen bonding with interfacial water molecules resulting in a hydrophobic hydration structure where the surface oxygen atoms are the only hydrogen bonding sites. Despite being inherently hydrophobic, the presence of excess surface oxygen on REOs can lead to increased hydrogen bonding and thereby reduce their hydrophobicity. Using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and wetting measurements, surface stoichiometry and surface relaxations have been shown to impact wetting properties of REOs. Specifically, freshly sputtered ceria is shown to be hydrophilic due to excess surface oxygen (shown to have an O/Ce ratio of ~3), which when relaxed in a clean, ultra-high vacuum environment isolated from airborne contaminants reaches close to stoichiometric O/Ce ratio (~2.2) and becomes hydrophobic. Further, airborne hydrocarbon contaminants do not exclusively impact the wetting properties of REOs, and relaxed REOs are intrinsically hydrophobic. This project also demonstrates that thin-film coatings (~300 nm) of relaxed hydrophobic REOs show sustained dropwise condensation behavior for over 100 hours at accelerated saturated steam conditions without compromising structural integrity or hydrophobicity, and produce an almost tenfold enhancement in the heat transfer co-efficient (103 ± 5kW/m2 K) compared to conventional filmwise condensation (usually <10 kW/m2 K). It is envisioned that robust hydrophobic rare-earth oxide ceramics will have far reaching technological applications, especially in dropwise condensation and fouling mitigation in hydropower systems.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Powerhouse Equipment
Research Sub-Category
Turbine
Status
complete
Completion Date
2015
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org