Implementation of Hydro Power Plant Optimization for Operation and Production Planning

Abstract: Output power of hydro power plant was modelled and an optimization algorithm was implemented in a tool for optimizing hydro power plants. The tool maximizes power output of a hydro power plant by distributing water over a set of active units in the power plant which will be used in planning of electricity production. This tool was built in a MATLAB environment, using the optimization toolbox, and a GUI was developed for Vattenfall. The optimization tool was based on the same architecture as the current tool used for this kind of optimization which is to be replaced by the work presented in this thesis. Therefore, the goal was to achieve the same optimal results as the current optimization tool. Power output of three of Vattenfall’s hydro power plants were computed and two of these plants were optimized. These power output results were compared to results from the optimization tool currently used. This showed differences within the inaccuracy of measurements of ≤ 0.3%. These three power plants proved that the new tool is sufficient to replace the current tool but further testing is recommended to be conducted on more of Vattenfall’s hydro power plants to prove its consistency.