Taking Control of Flow Releases: A Tool for Better Calculating Water Needed for Minimum Flows

摘要

Several of the 57 hydroelectric plants Statkraft SF of Norway owns sit upstream from scenic waterfalls. To ensure that adequate water flows over these falls during the summer tourist season, the Norwegian Water and Energy Directorate requires, in its permission to build and operate the hydro facilities, that Statkraft provide a certain minimum flow level to the waterfalls. This water must be sent past the hydro plants and thus cannot be stored for electricity generation.