Industry Experience with Power Generation Options for Environmental Flows

摘要

Minimum flows, instream flows, fish-related flows, and other types of environmental flows can represent a significant loss of generation due to direct discharges (e.g., sluiceways, spillways, re- regulation weirs, fish ladder flows, fish attraction flows, etc.) or due to inefficient turbine operation at lower flows. Consequently, owners/operators of hydroelectric power facilities have adopted a variety of strategies and technologies for providing environmental flows while also generating power. This paper reviews and summarizes industry experience with environmental flow options that also provide power generation, including environmental flow options with existing (primary) hydropower units, environmental flow options with dedicated environmental flow units, and potential environmental flow options with emerging turbine technologies. The paper summarizes the identified plants producing power while providing environmental flows with primary units, with dedicated minimum/instream flow units, and with fish flow units. Additional plant details, including owner, site, turbine types, and the types of environmental flows, are provided. To date, 229 units providing environmental flows and generation have been identified. This total includes 181 primary generating units, 36 dedicated minimum flow units, and 12 fish flow units. The paper also provides recommendations for additional investigation and research.