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The long-term operation of overyear storage hydroelectric projects within a mixed hydrothermal generating system

University of British Columbia

It is necessary to establish a new operating policy when a major hydro electric project is introduced into an existing generating system. When the project has a large reservoir, capable of storing substantial volumes of water over a number of years, then the operating policy cannot be confined to the current years operation - a long term operating policy is required. Analysis of the operation of the hydro project to determine the optimum long term policy becomes complex when the benefits of complementary interaction of the project with the rest of the generating system are considered. Further complication arises in the analysis from the uncertainty associated with reservoir inflows over this long time period. These complications prohibit the determination of an optimal long term operating policy by direct application of presently available optimisation techniques. In this thesis a system decomposition approach is presented for the determination of efficient long term operating policies for one or more overyear storage hydro projects in a mixed hydro and thermal electric generating system. The system is first decomposed into a set of subsystems which are designed to preserve the complimentary operation of individual hydro and thermal plants. The long term operation of a subsystem is optimised over a range of annual firm energy outputs using an analytical procedure which simultaneously applies optimisation techniques to both short term and long term operation. When only one overyear storage project exists in a generating system the results obtained from the analysis of its associated subsystem provide the required long term operating- policy. In the case where a number of overyear storage projects exist, or are proposed, it is necessary to first analyse the associated subsystems individually. The results obtained form the basis of a procedure for determining an efficient operating policy which, over the long term, coordinates the operation of the overyear storage projects and at the same time integrates their operation with thermal and short term storage plants within the generating system.

Text

2011-02-25

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31828

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

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