Insights from the D-HYDROFLEX project analysis
The European energy system is undergoing significant transformation: decarbonization, security of supply, deployment of renewables and their integration into the market, generating significant opportunities and challenges for energy stakeholders. Hydropower is a key technology in supporting the European pathway to a decarbonized energy system and to achieving global leadership in renewable energy generation. It consists of a renewable and highly sustainable electricity resource and can supply the European power system with stability and valuable flexibility.
The D-HYDROFLEX project aims to advance excellence in research on digital technology for hydropower paving the way towards more efficient, more sustainable, and more competitive hydropower plants in modern power markets. To this end, D-HYDROFLEX develops a toolkit for digitally ‘renovating’ the existing hydroelectric power plants based on sensors, digital twins, AI algorithms, hybridization modelling (power-to-hydrogen), cloud-edge computing and image processing. Validation will take place in 7 hydro plants operated by EDF (France), TEE (Poland), PPC (Greece), TASGA (Spain) and INTEX (Romania), covering different geographical areas of Europe.
To ensure the strategic alignment of the D-HYDROFLEX activities with the current needs of hydropower plants, in the initial phase of the project a survey to examine current challenges and new technological opportunities was carried out. The survey was structured to cover three areas, which also are the core pillars of the project: (i) Digitalization, (ii) Flexibility and (iii) Sustainability of hydropower plants. In this survey, 40 responses were received in total with 47.5% of the respondents being stakeholders not involved in the D-HYDROFLEX project. Most of the respondents were either researchers or hydropower plants operators active within Europe. A few responses were also received from people professionally active outside EU borders.
Hydropower plant digitalization
In the question related to assessing the impact of employing digital solutions on the HPP operation, most of the respondents (78%) consider that equipment condition monitoring and maintenance will be impacted the most. Around half 0f them believe that reservoir management, water quality monitoring and generation, flow and weather forecasting will be highly impacted, while sedimentation management and fish migration monitoring will be impacted moderately. Monitoring GHG emissions from reservoirs seems to be perceived as impacted less than the other operation activities, since 38% of the respondents indicated the impact as low and 35% as moderate.
Regarding the priority level that employing emerging technologies should have for digitalising hydropower plants, 70% of the respondents highly prioritized forecast models for production, water and weather and 65% prioritized the algorithms for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. In the third place in terms of priority, came the digital twins with 48% of respondents assessing them as high priority. Around half of the respondents indicated unmanned vehicles and robotic inspection and sensors for environmental monitoring and fish migration as moderate priority (45% and 50% respectively).
When asked to rate the relevance of specific barriers in hindering HPP digitalization from 1-5 (where 1 means not relevant and 5 extremely relevant), the high upfront cost seems to be the most relevant for respondents with 66% rating it in the scale of 4 and 5. Lack of expertise and distrust towards digital solutions in terms data handling and security are rated as relevant mostly in the scale of 4 and 3, while time consuming procurement processes, low benefits for the HPP operation and unavailability of sufficient technical documentation are mostly rated as relevant in the scale of 3 and 2.
Regarding what measures can be more effective in incentivizing hydropower plants digitalization and refurbishment, 71.1% indicated training personnel in new technologies, 52.6% the establishment of support schemes such as tax incentives and market premiums, while 55.3% indicated the establishment of technology hubs for bringing together HPP operator and IT providers. Long-term loans from commercial banks, was the least voted measure deemed as effective in incentivising plants’ refurbishment.
Hydropower plant flexibility
We also asked respondents to rate the relevance of specific barriers in hindering the deployment of hydropower flexibility technologies from 1-5, where 1 means not important and 5 means extremely important. It should be noted that with the term hydropower flexibility technologies, we referred to technologies that allow more flexible generation and operation such as hybridization with H2, turbine digital twins and real-time monitoring. 51% of the respondents indicated the complex decision-making (e.g., complexity in deciding which aspects of HPP facilities to enhance), 46% indicated the uncertain revenue streams and 40% the lack of expertise as important in the scale of 4. Moreover, 33% rated permitting and environmental compliance in the scale of 3-4, 38% rated aging infrastructure in the scale of 4 and 35% rated the risk perception (e.g., new technologies are perceived as riskier) in the scale of 3. Lack of market standardisation, competing technologies and expiring licenses are rated as less important by the respondents compared to the other barriers.
Regarding the hydropower hybridization concepts that will have the highest growth in the next 5 years, almost half of the respondents indicated pairing with battery energy storage systems (BESS), 20.5% pairing with floating PV, 15.4% indicated the pairing with hydrogen storage and 10.3% the pairing with wind production. A 7.7% indicated other hybridization trends such as hydro storage with two reservoirs, reversible pumping-storage plants and small scale, modular Pump as Turbine (PaT) plants.
Hydropower plant sustainability
In terms of best practices that can be adopted to ensure the sustainability of a hydropower plant’s operation, the following answers were received through the survey:
- Heat extraction from the cooling system of generators
- Monitoring engagement and community involvement, decommissioning and site restoration, renewable energy integration.
- Monitoring, maintenance and forecast of generation to maintain ecologic flow
- Use of predictive tools and regular testing and maintenance of devices, regular inspections and maintenance of equipment
- Introduction of full digitalization process, monitoring, maintenance, rehabilitation/upgrade and optimal management of the HPP
- Regular maintenance, optimizing water usage, implementing advanced monitoring systems, adopting environmental conservation measures, and engaging in continuous stakeholder communication.
- Collection of good baseline data and continuous monitoring
- Standardization of servicing of turbine sets and associated equipment
- Introduction of fish passages, fish migration monitoring, temperature and salination monitoring.
- When possible, ensure transparency period for fish migration.
- Lower environmental impact (flexibility of the production), pairing with renewable energy, adaptation of the HPP operation with the evolution of the environmental conditions of the river (global change, river discharge, water temperature),
- Finding a good cooperation between operator and NGO´s regarding environmental needs
- Establishing relationship with local territories near the powerplants
- Well-trained staff with good equipment and integration of smart technologies (digital twin, well-chosen sensors)
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