Hydroelectric Utilities Research Articles

Exploring Interacting Effects of Forest Restoration on Wildfire Risk, Hydropower, and Environmental Flows

Forest fires in the western U.S. are increasing in size and intensity, partly due to overstocked forests, a legacy of fire exclusion. Forest restoration can mitigate fire severity and improve ecological health, but funding poses challenges to meaningfully scaling restoration efforts. Co-benefits of restoration can expand the funding options for forest management. In particular, streamflow enhancement may justify financial participation from water and hydroelectric utilities and environmental organizations. However, most efforts to estimate the value of this benefit do not account for interacting effects of restoration, fire, and operational constraints, including environmental flows. To address this, we coupled multiple models using generalizable techniques in order to quantify the impact of restoration on fire behavior, water yield, and hydropower generation in a California reservoir system subject to real-world constraints. The modeled results show water yield benefits from treatment alone, with greater benefits accruing with a return of low-intensity fire. Average annual runoff with treatment increases by 1.67 to 1.95 thousand acre-feet (1.5 to 1.8%) depending on the fire scenario, creating up to 2880 MWh and USD 115,000 of annual generation and revenue. These modest but non-negligible impacts could account for 8.2–15.8% of restoration costs, supporting the co-benefits model to drive investment in forest management.

Developing An Intraorganizational Human Factors Design Guideline

This paper is intended for human factors practitioners who are looking to develop or evaluate intraorganizational human factors design guidelines. It is based on the experiences of a Canadian hydro-electric utility that is currently working on a multi-stage project to develop an intraorganizational human factors design guideline. The paper discusses the challenges faced, methods used to overcome the challenges, outcomes from the implementation of the methods, and recommendations to practitioners.

The financialization of local governments—the case of financial rationality in the management of Norwegian hydroelectric utilities

Abstract Research on the diminishing distance between global financial markets and traditional nonfinancial actors has increased dramatically over the last decade, most commonly captured in the notion of ‘financialization’. This literature has largely been preoccupied with a confluence of structural changes in the state and in the economy that advance the power and scope of financial capital. However, scholars have also provided evidence for cultural change in the framework in which people think about finance and property. Despite the fact that governments have increasingly engaged in heterodox financial market practices, this culturalized analysis has not yet been extended to the public sector. Based on interview data from Norwegian municipal owners of hydroelectric utilities, this article suggests that a rationality attuned to a financialized world economy is disseminating into public sector management. The article concludes by discussing what this means in a sector traditionally governed by a logic rather alien to that of global finance.

Production and use of electrolytic hydrogen in Ecuador towards a low carbon economy

This paper presents a pre-feasibility study of producing and using electrolytic hydrogen in Ecuador as part of a strategy towards a low carbon economy. Hydrogen could be produced using hydropower either alone or combined with other renewable energy sources. For this study, we analyzed two scenarios of energy availability based on data from the largest hydroelectric power plant in the country. The first scenario assumes that an amount of water equivalent to 30% of that spilled in 2011 could be used to generate additional electricity. Thus, an additional amount of energy equivalent to 5% of the energy produced in 2011 could be available. The second scenario doubles this amount of energy. Economic analysis showed that to obtain low-cost hydrogen (3.00 US$/kg) it is necessary to operate the electrolysis plants 24 h/day, using low-cost electricity (30 US$/MWh). A continuous supply of energy could be possible when new hydroelectric utilities start operating or by integrating hydropower with solar and wind. Three possibilities for using hydrogen are discussed: 1) production of ammonia as a raw material for nitrogenous fertilizers, 2) hydro-treating heavy oils and bio-oils in oil refineries, and 3) as an energy storage medium to offset natural instability and unpredictability of renewables.

“The Eyes of the Power Company”: Workplace Information Practices of a Vault Inspector

To date, LIS studies of workplace information practices have primarily focused on occupations that require a university education, and, consequently, little is known about the information practices of blue‐collar workers. This study uses a qualitative case study approach to examine the workplace information practices of a blue‐collar worker—a vault inspector at a hydroelectric utility company. Using social practice theory as a framework, this article argues that vault inspection is a practice involving situated judgment, embodiment, educated perception, finding and navigating, and classification. This article also asserts that the practice of vault inspection produces documents that act as “boundary objects” that dynamically connect disparate parts of the organization and meet a range of organizational information requirements. This suggests that vault inspection is an information practice.

Parameterisation effect on the behaviour of a head-dependent hydro chain using a nonlinear model

This paper is on the problem of short-term hydro scheduling (STHS), particularly concerning a head-dependent hydro chain. We use a method based on nonlinear programming (NLP), namely quadratic programming, to consider hydroelectric power generation a function of water discharge and of the head. The method has been applied successfully to solve a test case based on a realistic cascaded hydro system with a negligible computational time requirement and is also applied to show that the role played by reservoirs in the hydro chain do not depend only on their relative position. As a new contribution to earlier studies, which presented reservoir operation rules mainly for medium and long-term planning procedures, we show that the physical data defining hydro chain parameters used in the nonlinear model have an effect on the STHS, implying different optimal storage trajectories for the reservoirs accordingly not only with their position in the hydro chain but also with the new parameterisation defining the data for the hydro system. Moreover, considering head dependency in the hydroelectric power generation, usually neglected for hydro plants with a large storage capacity, provides a better short-term management of the conversion of the potential energy available in the reservoirs into electric energy, which represents a major advantage for the hydroelectric utilities in a competitive electricity market.

Impacts of Reservoir Creation on the Biogeochemical Cycling of Methyl Mercury and Total Mercury in Boreal Upland Forests

The FLooded Upland Dynamics Experiment (FLUDEX) at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) in northwest Ontario was designed to test the hypothesis that methylmercury (MeHg) production in reservoirs is related to the amount, and subsequent decomposition, of flooded organic matter. Three upland forest sites that varied in the amounts of organic carbon stored in vegetation and soils (Low C, 30,870 kg C ha−1; Medium C, 34,930 kg C ha−1; and High C, 45,860 kg C ha−1) were flooded annually from May to September with low-organic carbon, low-MeHg water pumped from a nearby lake. Within five weeks of flooding, MeHg concentrations in the reservoir outflows exceeded those in reservoir inflows and remained elevated for the duration of the experiment, peaking at 1.60 ng L−1 in the Medium C reservoir. We estimated the net production of MeHg in each reservoir by calculating annual changes in pools of MeHg stored in flooded soils, periphyton, zooplankton, and fish. Overall, there was an initial pulse of MeHg production (range = 120–1590 ng m−2 day−1) in all FLUDEX reservoirs that lasted for 2 years, after which time net demethylation (range = 360–1230 ng MeHg degraded m−2 day−1) began to reduce the pools of MeHg in the reservoirs, but not back to levels found prior to flooding. Rates of MeHg production were generally related to the total amount of organic carbon flooded to create the reservoirs. Large increases in MeHg stores in soils compared to those in water and biota indicate that flooded soils were the main sites of MeHg production. This study should assist hydroelectric utilities and government agencies in making informed decisions about selecting sites for future reservoir development to reduce MeHg contamination of the reservoir fisheries.

The Development of the Merchant Power Market in Alberta

The first cracks in the traditional monopolies held by Canadian provincial-government-owned hydroelectric companies and large integrated utilities are beginning to emerge. Among the provinces, Alberta is leading the charge towards deregulation of the Canadian power market. In December 1999, the first non-recourse merchant-power project financing to emerge from Canada hit the syndication market. The 416 MW Joffre Cogeneration Plant in the Province Alberta is a model for future merchant power financings in Alberta and across Canada. Despite the significant progress made in deregulation of the Alberta market, the creation of a broad merchant-power market in Canada is still years away. The force that may eventually drive Canada to merchant power is the increased interconnection with the U.S. and greater participation by Canadian utilities in the developing merchant markets to the south.

Utility planning implications of efficient electric cooking in a developing country: Case of Nepal

We examine implications of electric cooking as a demand-side management (DSM) option for power development plans, as well as emission of pollutants, for the predominantly hydroelectric utility of Nepal. Options considered include seasonal and year-round electric cooking with high- and low-efficiency appliances. For both types of appliances, seasonal electric cooking is economically and environmentally attractive. However, substantial reductions in electricity tariffs are required for it to be financially acceptable to consumers.

Utility planning implications of electricity loss reduction in developing countries: The case of Nepal

Electricity loss as a percentage of total electricity generated is very high in most developing country utilities. The paper analyses the effects of reducing electricity losses on generation mix, capacity expansion plan, and environmental performance in the case of a predominantly hydroelectric utility in Nepal from a long-term power generation expansion planning perspective. A key finding of the study is that reductions of technical losses in transmission and distribution system do not always reduce emissions of air pollutants from power generation.

Managing Hidroeléctrica Española's Hydroelectric Power System

Beginning in 1984, Algorithmics Inc. together with Hidroeléctrica Española, developed and implemented a hierarchy of models, to assist Hidroeléctrica Española in managing its system of reservoirs used for generating hydroelectric power. These models incorporate major technological advances in modeling and solution methods. Moreover, for the first time, the technology upon which they are based is transferable to other hydroelectric utilities. We developed new generic algorithms for large-scale nonlinear programming and for specializations to network flow optimization to permit extremely rapid solution and thorough optimal analysis. The models have profoundly affected long-term planning and the operation of Hidroeléctrica's reservoirs. Apart from the intangible benefits of completely transforming the level of modeling expertise in the company, increasing operational security, and providing better and more consistent management of the reservoir system, the direct savings as a result of their use amounts to approximately two million dollars annually.

Permit Not Required for Discharge of Fish Remains

The US Court of appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that a hydroelectric facility's movement of pollutants already in the water did not constitute the “addition of pollutants” to navigable waters. The hydroelectric utility pumps water between its man‐made reservoir and Lake Michigan and fish and other aquatic organisms enter the power generation system during normal pumping operations. The National Wildlife Federation brought this action to preclude the discharge of dead fish.

The application of marginal cost pricing principles to a hydro-electric system: The case of hydro-Québec

This paper develops a marginal cost pricing methodology for electricity generated almost entirely from hydro sites. We apply this methodology to the case of Hydro-Quebec, a large hydro-electric utility. Cost minimizing rules for the choice of generating equipment while taking into account the limited availability of water power are derived, and these form the basis for the estimation of the marginal cost of delivering power. Here are the main findings. First, prices based on the marginal cost of delivering power to final users would stand in a ratio of 15:l for the peak period versus the off-peak period. Second, prices established under the marginal cost principle would exceed current uniform prices in the peak period for all classes of users and they would decrease in the off-peak period for residential and commercial users. Third, such price changes could generate additional profits to Hydro-Quebec of more than one billion dollars a year even if the change in overall output is rather small. Finally, the welfare gain resulting from the application of marginal cost pricing would range from $270.0 to $530.0 millions a year, without taking into account the added metering expenses required to implement such a pricing scheme.

The utility view of electric boilers

The installation of electric boilers to provide off-peak loads for hydroelectric utility systems is now widely accepted in Canada. Such installations have proved to be beneficial to utilities, customers, and to the nation in general.