Technology |
Virtual platform powers hydropower innovation
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Real-Time Hydropower Emulation Platform enables researchers to simulate and study hydropower plants, providing a low-cost, low-risk way to test new technologies and grid configurations for a dependable and flexible energy future
CONSIDER TWO HYDROPOWER SCENARIOS: First, a severe winter storm hits the Midwest. Power outages ricochet across the region, stranding residents in freezing temperatures for hours; and yet, the area’s hydropower plants could jump-start the grid if only they had the right system to do so. The second takes place in the remote Alaskan city
of Cordova, which can run its local grid on hydropower alone – or it can in the summer, at least. Once winter blows in, water stays frozen, and avalanches can rumble through, cutting off power when temperatures are at their lowest.
Both of these scenarios are real examples of where
hydropower could – but cannot quite – fulfill its role as the reliable backbone of our power grids. As the US adds more and more renewable energy to the power grid, hydropower’s steady, affordable energy is key to making the grid both dependable and resilient. But today’s plants could be even better – and more flexible – if researchers can find a better way to study these big, complex facilities. Now, experts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have designed a way to do exactly that. With their Real-Time Hydropower Emulation Platform, which uses field data from actual hydropower plants, mathematical models, and even hardware, researchers can recreate hydropower plants in a virtual, lab setting. With the platform, users can study how various hydropower plant designs are likely to
Right: Mayank Panwar, a hydropower researcher at NREL, is bringing hydropower to the lab, reconstructing these complex facilities through modeling, real-world data, and a few mechanical components to make sure these energy behemoths can support the country’s future clean energy grid. Photo from Rob Hovsapian, NREL
operate in the real world and in real time – providing a low-cost, low-risk way to test out new hydropower technologies and grid configurations. “We want the field to come to the lab,” said Mayank Panwar, the lead researcher on the three-year project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) as part of its Water Innovation for a Resilient Electricity System (HydroWIRES) Initiative.
Solving a big challenge Panwar’s hydropower emulation platform first
got started thanks to the WPTO Seedlings and Saplings program, which supports creative, high-risk, high-reward ideas in water power. With this initial investment, Panwar and his team set out to solve a big challenge that can hinder the hydropower industry from adopting new technologies and designs: How do you test something you cannot build? Researchers can build a new solar photovoltaic
system to validate in the field. But building a hydroelectric prototype is often impractical, time consuming, and expensive because these plants are so large and depend on specific geographies – sometimes whole mountains – to operate. And tinkering with operational facilities is risky; tests could cause irreversible damage. Even so, new hydropower technologies and grid configurations are perhaps more critical today than
40 | August 2023 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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