Industry insight 2023 | Alison Jakupca approved independent consultant and


the professional advancement of numerous employees to professional engineer designation underscore a commitment to professional development for employees.


The RAT


One of the most notable achievements of 2023 was the public launch of the Reservoir Assessment Tool (RAT) version 3.0 as an open source, user-friendly dam modelling platform for the global dam community, says Professor Faisal Hossain from the University of Washington’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department.


Developed by Sanchit Minocha, a PhD student at the University of Washington, the platform enables use of the full power of satellite remote sensing and IT advancements to track historical and current reservoir operations and their impacts (see www. satellitedams.net). This version is optimised for accelerating open collaboration among users for continuous improvement and customisation of RAT to enable reservoir management breakthroughs. Using hydrologic models, satellite remote sensing data and cloud computing, RAT models the full state of reservoirs in terms of inflow, outflow, surface area, storage change and evaporative losses. Hossain says previous versions of RAT were


not as easy to set up as version 3.0 is now, with an average 50-100 downloads of the tool every month. By lowering the barrier of entry to set up a reservoir monitoring tool for the broader community, RAT has been set up in seven large river basins of Columbia, in Texas, Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Indus and Mekong rivers for the water agencies that manage the dams, many of them hydropower. These agencies incdue the Mekong River Commission, Kerala Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, Ministry of Water Resources- Iraq, Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission and Bangladesh Water Development Board. The global impact enabled by RAT3.0


garnered recognition for Sanchit Minocha as its developer from the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) as a People’s Choice Winner at 2022 Annual meeting.


Herrenknecht


Above: The project photo shows the Gripper


TBM, built by Herrenknecht for Marti Holding AG, in the launching cavern at the tunnelling site for the inclined shaft at the Ritom


hydropower plant renovation in Switzerland. Photo copyright Marti AG.


through gneiss formations. The TBM design was developed in cooperation between Marti Tunnel AG and Herrenknecht AG. Along the alignment, inclination changed from 23° to 42° and hence parts of the machine had to be repositioned to work in both working angles. The main challenge was to prevent any back slipping and the solution was using a Gripper TBM with two additional gripper units.


Hydro Tasmania


Above: Dr. Marc Peters, Head of Business Division Energy, Business Unit Utility Tunnelling at Herrenknecht


“At Herrenknecht,” says Dr Marc Peters, “we notice that hydropower projects are becoming more ambitious. It is not only about boring steep shafts with large diameters but with tunnelling technology, shafts and galleries for hydroelectric power plants can be created with absolute precision, drilling along the specified alignment with the utmost accuracy – in various diameters and inclinations.” For example for a small hydropower plant in Italy, a HDD Trailer Rig was used. Drilling almost a kilometre, the machine installed an 8-inch stainless steel pipeline, overcoming an elevation difference of 450m. In comparison to traditional drill and blast, TBMs offer increasing cost and time benefits, allowing more reliable project planning and increased safety. Peters also give the examples of the


Above: The Reservoir Assessment Tool


platform was developed by Sanchit Minocha, a PhD student at the University of Washington


renovation of the Ritom hydropower project in Switzerland where a Gripper TBM (Ø 3230 mm, weight 290 tonnes, length 95m) excavated a 1397m long pressure tunnel


36 | December 2023 | www.waterpowermagazine.com


With more than a century of clean energy generation under its belt, Hydro Tasmania is now focused on the future and making significant progress on hydropower projects that will help underpin Australia’s energy transition. And this year, working closely with its consulting arm Entura, it’s made major advances towards expanding the hydropower system’s capacity and add new pumped hydro. The flagship project proposals are redeveloping the Tarraleah hydropower scheme and adding a new 750MW pumped hydro scheme.


Upgrade works on the Tarraleah scheme


are well advanced and Hydro Tasmania identified its preferred redevelopment option that will generate around 30% more energy from the same amount of water and deliver an additional 100MW of peak capacity. It will also make the scheme more flexible, able to start generating almost immediately. Hydro Tasmania is advancing activities


to assess the commercial viability of redevelopment, obtain environmental approvals, prepare construction contracts, finalise the business case and be ready for a final investment decision.


With Australia setting an ambitious target of


82% renewable energy in the national market by 2030, major hydropower projects like these are key to achieving this goal and a clean, reliable and affordable future market. “Tasmania is on the cusp of an exciting


future. We have an incredible renewable energy legacy that positions us to lead the


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