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- Conventional Hydro
A Methodology for Rockwad Velocity and Predator Habitat
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jenna Paul
A continuous sequence of velocity and predator refugia is imperative to the survival of out-migrating juvenile salmonids on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Gaps in habitat along the river corridor increase the risk of predation, fatigue, stress, and reduced growth rates, and therefore, necessitate mitigation actions. However, traditional habitat enhancement methods, such as side-channel restoration, are not applicable on all reaches or during all flow conditions. Areas confined by levees, steep banks, or other topographical constraints require new methods to supplement migration habitat where it is missing or insufficient. A rockwad is a tree trunk (with root cluster) anchored to a large boulder. The boulder and root mass provide velocity and predator refugia, and therefore, allow juveniles to safely rest and eat during their emigration. Through hydrodynamic simulations, physical modeling, and fish behavior algorithms, this project will determine the optimum quantity and placement patterns to achieve suitable migration habitat conditions. It is expected that the results from this research lead to design recommendations for future habitat projects.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2022
- Conventional Hydro
A Methodology to Assess the Value of Integrated Hydropower and Wind Generation
Lead Companies
The University of Colorado - Boulder
Lead Researcher (s)
- Mitch Clement
Installed wind generation capacity has increased at a rapid rate in recent years. Wind generation provides numerous economic, social and environmental benefits, but it also carries inherent variability and uncertainty, which can increase the need for additional balancing reserves, generation resources that can adjust their output rapidly to keep power supply in balance with demand. Hydropower is an inexpensive and flexible generating resource that has been considered one of the best resources to provide the necessary balancing reserves for wind. Hydropower’s flexibility and capacity are limited, however, by non-power constraints associated with environmental and water management objectives that have not been fully accounted for in previous wind integration studies. We present a methodology to evaluate hydropower and wind integration using the RiverWare river system and hydropower modeling tool. The model represents both the physical characteristics of the hydropower system and accounts for realistic non-power policy constraints. An economic evaluation is provided that includes the value of both energy and ancillary services. In addition, operational outputs include the ability to satisfy all policy constraints. The methodology is applied to a test case integrated hydropower and wind generation system including five hydropower projects in a run-of-river configuration for a range of wind penetration levels and hydrologic conditions. Results show that wind at low penetrations adds economic value to the system. As the installed capacity increases, additional wind generation has diminishing returns, primarily due to increased reserve requirements. Increased wind capacity also causes increases the number of policy constraint violations. Non-power constraints have a significant impact on total system value, but that relative impact varies depending on system conditions. Complex interactions between policy and the physical system result in a highly non-linear response of the system to changes in wind penetration. Utilization of goal programming makes it possible to capture these effects that would be missed without a realistic representation of both the integrated physical system and its operating policy. This methodology can be used to provide an improved representation of hydropower systems in future wind integration studies.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Renewable Integration
Status
complete
Completion Date
2012
- Conventional Hydro
A Real-Time and Autonomous Water Quality Monitoring System
Lead Companies
PNNL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Daniel Deng
PNNL is developing an enhanced real-time and autonomous water quality monitoring system to advance water quality measurement technologies for challenging locations, resulting in more informed management decisions regarding new and existing hydroelectric facilities that minimize or avoid environmental impacts and maximize operational efficiency.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
A Stochastic Dynamic Programming Approach to Balancing Wind Intermittency with Hydropower
Lead Companies
Cornell University
Lead Researcher (s)
- Sue Nee Tan
Hydropower is a fast responding energy source and thus a perfect complement to the intermittency of wind power. However, the eect wind energy has on conventional hydropower systems can be felt, especially if the system is subject to several other environmental and maintenance constraints. The goal of this paper is to develop a general method for optimizing hydropower operations of a realistic multireservoir hydropower system in a deregulated market setting when there is a stochastic wind input. The approach used is stochastic dynamic programming (SDP). Currently, studies on hydropower operations optimization with wind have involved linear programming or stochastic programming, which are based on linearity. SDP, by contrast, is a stochastic optimization method that does not require assumptions of linearity of the objective function. The true adaptive and stochastic nonlinear formulation of the objective function can be applied to multiple time steps, and is effcient for many time steps compared to stochastic programming. The preliminary results for the deterministic optimization demonstrates the potential of this method to guide operation of the hydro system knowing the state of the system. The research will continue with optimizing under uncertain inflows as well as wind.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Renewable Integration
Status
complete
Completion Date
2013
- Conventional Hydro
A Stratigraphic Approach to Characterize the Deposition and Storage of Organic Matter in Reservoir Sediments
Lead Companies
Oregon State University
Lead Researcher (s)
- Laurel Stratton
The relationship between carbon burial and sedimentation in reservoirs is unknown, exposing gaps in our fundamental understanding of the transport, processing, and deposition of sediment and organic matter in fluvial and lacustrine systems and contributing to uncertainty in our understanding of the net impact of dams to the global carbon budget. The 2011-2014 removal of two large dams on the Elwha River, Washington State, the largest dam removal yet completed globally, created extensive cutbank exposures of reservoir sediments, allowing the first characterization of the facies architecture of sediments through direct observation in reservoirs worldwide and providing an unparalleled opportunity to 1) assess the relationship between environmental influences, such as and changes in sediment supply, and their expression in the stratigraphic record, 2) assess the relationship between sedimentation processes and detrital organic carbon deposition and storage, and the importance of coarse-grained organic matter and woody debris to the total carbon budget of a reservoir, and 3) apply the insight gained from these reservoirs to evaluate current global estimates of carbon storage in reservoirs and develop a conceptual model of carbon burial in reservoirs to guide further research, as defined by characteristic stratigraphic “types”. Former Lake Mills, the younger, upstream reservoir, was characterized by a tripartite, subaerial Gilbert-style delta which prograded >1 km into the main reservoir from 1927 to 2011. Sediments were composed of coarse-grained topset beds, steeply dipping foreset beds, and a fine-grained, gently dipping prodelta. While individual event horizons were discernible in fine-grained sediments of former Lake Mills, their number and spacing did not correspond to known drawdown or flood events. Former Lake Aldwell, impounded from 1913 to 2011, was initially defined by the rapid progradation of a Gilbert-style, subaerial delta prior to the upstream completion of Glines Canyon Dam. However, the 1927 closure of Glines Canyon Dam upstream caused the delta to evolve to a fine-grained, mouth-bar type delta indicative of low, finer-grained sediment. This evolution, combined with a previously-unrecognized landslide deposit into the upper delta plain, suggests that understanding the exogenic influences on reservoir sedimentation is critical to interpretation and prediction of the sedimentation within individual systems. Former Lake Mills accumulated ~330 Gg of, with depositional-zone average accumulation rates from 229 to 9262 gCm-2 yr-1 , while Former Lake Aldwell accumulated ~ 91 Gg (263 to 2414 gCm-2 yr-1). Carbon storage in both reservoirs was dominated by heterogeneous, coarse organic matter and woody debris in the coarse-grained delta slope and relatively coarse-grained prodelta regions of the reservoirs, with little storage in the gravel-dominated, subaerial delta plains. Carbon accumulation in fine-grained lacustrine and prodelta sediments was relatively homogeneous, but turbidity flows from the Gilbertstyle delta slope in former Lake Mills delivered significantly more carbon to the prodelta than the mouth-bar style delta of former Lake Aldwell. C:N ratios support interpretation of most organic matter in both reservoirs as allochthonous. Sampling schemes based only on lacustrine and/or prodelta would underestimate of total carbon accumulation by up to 30% in former Lake Aldwell, but the overestimate by up to 47% in former Lake Mills. Global estimates of carbon sequestration rates in reservoir sediments vary by three orders of magnitude, while individual-reservoir estimates vary by four orders of magnitude and over only 37 reservoirs and a literature review of predictive variables suggests weak or contradictory relationships. A conceptual stratigraphic framework of four unique reservoir types suggests that organic matter deposition is intrinsically tied to sedimentation processes and that patterns of carbon storage vary systematically with the stratigraphy of reservoir sediments. Deltaically-dominated reservoirs (whether Gilbert style or shoalwater) appear to store most carbon in their deltaic and prodelta regions, while thalweg-style reservoirs exhibit a bimodal distribution, with allochthonous carbon preferentially routed along the former river thalweg and autochthonous deposited on the former floodplain. Lacustrine-style reservoirs are dominated by suspended sediment deposition and thus relatively homogeneous, but literature suggests these reservoirs are more variable than typically measured. Current methods of reservoir sampling fail to account for this systematic variation and tend to be biased toward fine sediment, suggesting that global reservoir carbon storage is underestimated.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Sediment Transport
Status
complete
Completion Date
2018
- Conventional Hydro
Activation Guidelines for Dam Safety Emergency Preparedness Plans
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- #0232
This study addresses the key components of the emergency plan activation process, including the organizational, human and technical aspects of activating a dam owner’s emergency plan in the event of a large flood or dam safety incident.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Dam or Weir
Research Sub-Category
Dam Safety
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Adaptation of the Existing Fryingpan-Arkansas Project RiverWare Planning Model to Support Operational Modeling, Forecasting, and Probabilistic Decision-Making
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Theresa Dawson
The existing Fryingpan-Arkansas Project RiverWare planning model was developed to support long-term water management and planning uses such as water supply and policy evaluation. In the model's current state, it doesn't support real-time operational uses. The primary objective of this project is to adapt the existing model to support uses for short-term operational decision-making, forecasting, probabilistic risk management, and administration so that the model can be used by Reclamation's Pueblo Field Office for these purposes with thorough documentation so this process can be used by model developers in the future.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Forecasting
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap Development
Lead Companies
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Mirko Musa (musam@ornl.gov)
During the last decade, advanced manufacturing has revolutionized the energy sector, boosting the U.S. manufacturing industry and opening pathways to increased American competitiveness. While these novel applications of advanced manufacturing have ushered in benefits in other energy sectors, the potential benefits for hydropower applications remain largely unexplored. To improve our understanding and identify key advanced manufacturing technologies for both existing and future hydropower development, this study will establish an advanced manufacturing roadmap/strategy for hydropower to identify high-impact opportunities that address critical challenges for hydropower.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro, Pumped Storage
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Advancing Modeling Tools for Assessment of Long-Term Energy/Water Risks for Hydropower
Lead Companies
PNNL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Mark Wigmosta
This project will provide a scalable, fine-resolution, physics-based modeling framework to evaluate different potential hydropower investment and operational decisions in the face of hydrologic change. Specifically, the modeling framework will be able to quantify risk, at the plant and system levels; impacts of hydrologic conditions on hydropower and thermoelectric production; water temperature; and ecosystem resources.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Interconnect Integration and Markets
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Forecasting
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Aging Reservoirs, Climate, Operations, and Potential Cumulative Impacts to Water Quality, Clarity and Fisheries and Recreation
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Mike Horn
Can Reclamation develop a set of tools and techniques that will allow researchers to gain a better understanding of benthic turbidity layers, their composition, what causes them, and why in some areas have they only recently been observed? If this is potentially becoming a bigger problem, and if we can describe the cause, can we identify other reservoirs that are likely susceptible to this same phenomenon over time, and through mechanistic and modelling approaches provide solutions for Clark Canyon and other reservoirs?
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org