Hydrograph variances over different timescales in hydropower production networks

The operation of water reservoirs involves a spectrum of timescales based on the distribution of stream flow travel times between reservoirs, as well as the technical, environmental, and social constraints imposed on the operation. In this research, a hydrodynamically based description of the flow b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water resources research 2016-08, Vol.52 (8), p.5829-5846
Main Authors: Zmijewski, Nicholas, Wörman, Anders
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Control
Creeks & streams
Demand
Diffusion
diffusion model
Discharge
Dispersion
Distribution
Dye dispersion
Energy spectra
Geomorphology
Hydroelectric power
Hydroelectric power stations
Hydrographs
hydropower
Management
Networks
Noise
Noise prediction
operation management
Outflow
Peclet number
Power spectra
Reservoirs
Rivers
Series (mathematics)
Social behavior
Spectra
Statistics
Storage capacity
Storage conditions
Stream discharge
Stream flow
Variance
Water
Water reservoirs
watershed dynamics
Watersheds
Wave dispersion
White noise
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Summary:The operation of water reservoirs involves a spectrum of timescales based on the distribution of stream flow travel times between reservoirs, as well as the technical, environmental, and social constraints imposed on the operation. In this research, a hydrodynamically based description of the flow between hydropower stations was implemented to study the relative importance of wave diffusion on the spectrum of hydrograph variance in a regulated watershed. Using spectral decomposition of the effluence hydrograph of a watershed, an exact expression of the variance in the outflow response was derived, as a function of the trends of hydraulic and geomorphologic dispersion and management of production and reservoirs. We show that the power spectra of involved time‐series follow nearly fractal patterns, which facilitates examination of the relative importance of wave diffusion and possible changes in production demand on the outflow spectrum. The exact spectral solution can also identify statistical bounds of future demand patterns due to limitations in storage capacity. The impact of the hydraulic description of the stream flow on the reservoir discharge was examined for a given power demand in River Dalälven, Sweden, as function of a stream flow Peclet number. The regulation of hydropower production on the River Dalälven generally increased the short‐term variance in the effluence hydrograph, whereas wave diffusion decreased the short‐term variance over periods of
ISSN:0043-1397
1944-7973
1944-7973
DOI:10.1002/2015WR017775