Multi-Reservoir Utilization Planning to Optimize Hydropower Energy and Flood Control Simultaneously

Abstract

Optimizing the utilization of reservoirs has become an indispensable part of water resources planning. One of the challenges is how to overcome the conflict between the flood control and the revenue generated from hydropower energy. The Ostour and Pirtaghi reservoirs, which are crucial in Iran water system, are selected in this study. The aim is to find the optimal values for water release from each reservoir over a 12-month period to maximize both objective functions. The imperialist competitive algorithm is employed to optimize this multiobjective-nonlinear problem with complex constraints. It is observed that the imperialist competitive algorithm has a fast convergence and it is highly adaptable to defined constraints such as water release limitation, minimum downstream flow, water balance in reservoirs. This study results in better flood control and more revenue from the sale of hydropower energy. The paper also provides a systematic guidance to properly formulate and solve a multi-objective problem.