Quantification of Optimization Benefits from Detailed Unit Performance Testing at Multiunit Hydropower Facilities (PPT)

摘要

Operators of hydro plants typically assume that nominally identical units have identical performance characteristics. However, multiple factors can influence a unit’s performance. Differences in construction of intakes, penstocks, spiral cases, stay vanes, wicket gates, throat rings, and draft tubes can lead to performance differences among units. Turbine fabrication errors, different operational patterns, and different maintenance experiences, such as cavitation repairs, impact the performance of nominally identical units. Also, unit performance results are often obtained at a few heads and scaled across the full head range, leading to potential errors. The U. S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (USBR’s) Flaming Gorge Plant was selected for the initial case study of a research project to evaluate and quantify potential optimization benefits from detailed unit performance testing and optimized dispatch at USBR hydropower facilities. USBR personnel conducted efficiency tests for Flaming Gorge Units 1, 2, and 3 in November 2015.