Optimal Design and Operation of Hydraulically Coupled Hydropower Reservoirs System

Abstract

This paper presents an optimization formulation for reliability-based optimal design and operation of a hydraulically coupled cascade hydropower reservoirs system, where the upstream power plant's tailwater is affected by the downstream reservoir's water level. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program (MINLP) with the objective function of maximization of the system's firm energy production while controlling the reliability level of hydroenergy production. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used as the optimization algorithm to solve the MINLP. The performance of the proposed methodology is tested through its application in the Karoon2-Karoon3 cascade reservoirs system in Iran as a real-world case study. Karoon3 Dam has already been constructed, whereas Karoon2 hydropower system is being designed. The results are used for capacity optimization of the Karoon2's reservoir and powerplant as well as optimal operation of the whole cascade system.