Capacity expansion and operational planning for regional water-resource systems

Abstract

Here is an hierarchical approach aimed at coordinating several different mathematical models in order to achieve optimal regional management of water resources and related land. The overall hierarchical model is based on the assumption that projects have two different types of water (fresh and irrigation) and a power capacity. The system's objective is to meet fresh-water, irrigation-water and power demands while maximizing the present value of the net benefits for the entire region. The hierarchical model structure consists of two levels and the following decisions are made: 1. (1) A project construction sequence which meets given water and power demands at minimum cost for a planning time horizon, T ( T = 30 years). 2. (2) The resource allocation policies which yield the greatest return while meeting all demands. Water and power demands are assumed to be functions of water and power prices, respectively. Thus, the return and cost will be functions of water and power prices. The lower level of the model uses the solution of a dynamic programming to generate the return and cost for various values of the water and power prices. Then regression analysis yields the return and cost as explicit functions of the water and power prices. At the higher level the empirical functions, generated by the lower level are solved for the optimal prices.