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TK Consult AG
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Hydraulic Power Management

Hydraulic Power Management

The optimal operating strategy of hydroelectric power systems consists of choosing the preliminary selected quantity of water to release from each reservoir of the system over the planning horizon, in order to meet an hourly electric power demand assigned previously. Ecological factors like the residual flux or the habitat protection play an important role in the design of hydropower stations. During the planning phase, risk scenarios like dam breaks have to be analyzed. Numerical models are an essential tool to the optimum design of hydropower facilities. TK Consult AG has developed a modelling strategy to represent the hydraulic structure, the reservoir(s) and the water courses at its surroundings. Such models allow to: (1) dimension the upsurge-downsurge regulation, (2) analyze impacts on the habitat, (3) forecast the electricity production and (4) forecast the impact of possible dam breaks and evaluate the corresponding damage in the vicinity.

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Our services include, but are not limited to:

Optimum power station management:
1D/2D surface water models can be used to find an optimum management of the conditions regulating hydraulic power stations. A number of factors (e.g., maximum yield of the facility, the corresponding secure water level, etc.) play an important role in the definition of an optimum working point of a hydropower station. These factors must be accounted for in meaningful models and be the object of a multi-parameter sensitivity analysis. This requires a large number of model runs. Our parallelization toolbox alleviates this computational burden.

Ecological impact of hydraulic structures:
Hydropower stations like dams cause ecological impacts. The impact over biodiversity is amongst the largest ones. Habitat models are well suited for studying this impact and yield a qualitative assessment of habitat conditions for species like fishes.

Hazard associated to hydraulic structures:
Construction of new dams imply stress changes over the occupied area that may lead to, e.g., differential movements on faults in the dam foundation and indeed, in soil deformations. This reactivation may induce earthquakes with a corresponding hazard that has to be evaluated by means of a numerical model of the system dam-underground. Moreover, the dam itself may suffer from instabilities due to seismic events. A sensitivity analysis to numerous conditions and parameters is a must for a proper control hazard control of new hydraulic structures.