Hydropower: running to the market price within flow limits
What small hydro plants and pumped-storage operators face when they sell at market prices, and how to check an optimised dispatch plan first.
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Small hydro plants may lose their fixed tariff and must run to the price
What happens. The draft reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) would end the fixed feed-in tariff for small hydro plants, and plants below 25 kilowatts would also be excluded from the market premium, which the hydropower association criticises (statement of the Federal Association of German Hydropower Plants). Income would then depend on market prices. The draft is not final, but operators plan with it.
What it costs. Income will depend on when the plant produces, not only on how much. At the same time the minimum flow in the residual stretch, the headwater level and the inflow set hard limits on when it may run.
Why the usual fix fails. Running by the clock or by the operator’s feeling for the river leaves the price signal unused. A complicated plan for each plant by hand is not realistic for an owner with a few turbines.
How a fixed-price remote diagnosis checks it. From turbine and level logs, inflow records, minimum-flow rules and price series I check how much a price-led operating plan could have shifted without breaking the limits. The fixed-price remote diagnosis says whether this pays at your plant and whether better control of the turbine adds output on top.
Background: Economic predictive control
New and refurbished pumped-storage sets must start up and sell into fast markets
What happens. Pumped-storage operators are building new plants and renewing turbines. Each machine set has to be brought into service, and the plant is expected to switch between pumping and generating and to deliver grid services quickly.
What it costs. Commissioning takes time and risks stressed machines. Once running, the plant earns only if it picks the right mode at the right hour; a wrong choice costs both energy and wear.
Why the usual fix fails. Dispatch rules by experience worked when the plant served a few predictable hours a day. With volatile prices, several markets and mode changes that wear the machines, those rules leave value on the table.
How a fixed-price remote diagnosis checks it. From machine data, mode-change histories, price series and the plant’s limits I check how an optimised schedule of units would have run, and where commissioning tests could be shortened by simulation. The fixed-price remote diagnosis shows whether this is worth building for your plant.
Background: Economic predictive control
More problems that concern this industry
These problems are described on the page of the industry where they matter most:
- Turbines in the network are not part of the control (Water supply utilities)
Check it on your plant first: a fixed-price remote diagnosis
EUR 4,500 net · 5 working days · remote · availability on request · freelance or through temporary agency work
Within a fixed scope and at a fixed price, I review your data, control structure and measurements remotely and tell you whether the problem on this page is behind your symptoms and what fixing it would take. You get a short summary for decision-makers and a technical report for your engineers.