Optimizing Hydropower Systems for Power and Environment
The Water Power Program sponsored a team of DOE national laboratories to develop and demonstrate a suite of advanced, integrated analytical tools, known as the Water-Use Optimization Toolset (WUOT). WUOT will assist managers and operators in operating hydropower plants more efficiently, resulting in more energy and grid services from available water resources while enhancing the environmental benefits from improved hydropower operations and planning. WUOT includes tools for hydrologic forecasting, seasonal hydro-systems analysis, day-ahead scheduling and real-time operations, and environmental performance operations, in addition to a graphical user interface and a shared database. WUOT is being deployed for demonstration at the Oroville Complex on the Feather River in California, the upper Colorado River portion of the Colorado River Storage Project, and the Conowingo Dam complex on the Susquehanna River in Maryland.