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Page 1: HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP Hydro …HEA+_+Hydro...Dec 31, 2012  · This Hydro Equipment (Industry) Technology Roadmap was developed under the responsibility of the Hydro Equipment

HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAPHydro Equipment Association

Page 2: HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP Hydro …HEA+_+Hydro...Dec 31, 2012  · This Hydro Equipment (Industry) Technology Roadmap was developed under the responsibility of the Hydro Equipment

© HEA August 2013 - FINAL

Hydro Equipment AssociationRenewable Energy House63-67 Rue d’ArlonB-1040 BrusselsBelgium

This report may be downloaded from the HEA’s website:

www.thehea.org/roadmap

Tel: +32 (0)2 400 10 [email protected]

Acknowledgements: The HEA wishes to express its thanks to Prof François Avellan of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) for his assistance in facilitating the preparation of this technology roadmap; to our panel at the ‘Stakeholder Workshop’ held in Brussels on 30 April 2013, where a draft of this roadmap was discussed in the presence of the European Commission:

• Manuel Galvez – ELIA• DI. Martin Schrott – Verbund• Dr. Ing. Christian Bauer – Technische Universität Wien …to other participants at the workshop representing our stakeholders:• Dr. Giovanna Cavazzini – Università degli Studi di Padova• Maria João Duarte – European Association for Storage

of Energy (EASE)• Dr. Ing. Stefan Riedelbauch – Universität Stuttgart - IHS• Dr. Klaus Schneider – Schluchseewerk• DI. Dr. Helmut Weiss – Montanuniversität Leoben and to those who sent in written comments on the draft:• Atle Harby – Centre for Environmental Design of

Renewable Energy (CEDREN)• Niklas Dahlbäck – Vattenfall• José Freitas and Alexandre Ferreira da Silva –

EDP Produção• Jean-François Astolfi – EDF

This Hydro Equipment (Industry) Technology Roadmap was developed under the responsibility of the Hydro Equipment Association (HEA) with the contributions of Alstom, Andritz Hydro and Voith. Unless otherwise indi-cated any pictures, diagrams or charts are provided by HEA or these organisations.

The Hydro Equipment Association (HEA) was founded in 2001 and represents electro-mechanical equipment sup-pliers for hydropower globally. It dedicates its work to the advancement of sustainable hydropower worldwide by promoting an industry with a long tradition of engineer-ing excellence.

HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP2

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Pumped storage plant, Afourer, Morocco

Table of contents

FOREWORD 4

SETTING THE SCENE 5

INTRODUCTION 7

CONTRIBUTION OF THE HYDRO EQUIPMENT 8

INDUSTRY TO EU ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL

POLICY OBJECTIVES

IMPACT OF LEGISLATION ON HYDRO PLANTS 10

THE R&D SOLUTIONS OF THE HYDRO EQUIPMENT 11

INDUSTRY

FIVE KEY R&D AREAS FOR HYDRO EQUIPMENT 14

1 Providing flexibility in the electricity system 15

2 Increased hydroelectricity production from refurbishment, 21

greenfield and multipurpose projects

3 Expanding the deployment options for pumped storage plants 27

4 Small hydropower: dispatchable generation for the electricity system 32

5 Maximally environment-friendly deployment 35

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (GANTT CHART) 38

DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS AND BUDGETS 39

GLOSSARY 41

REFERENCES 42

3Hydro Equipment Associat ion

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Foreword

Water. Our lives depend on it. Our energy systems rely on it. Today, our economy could not run with-out hydropower. Countries from Latvia to Italy, via Scotland and Austria, generate a large part of their power with hydro. Nearly all electricity storage in Europe is held behind hydro dams. Hydropower offers much needed flexibility to system operators. It is a low-cost

renewable energy resource which avoids CO2 emissions and energy imports. Small hydro turbines bring secure power to some of the most remote points of Europe.

Hydropower has all the features which we need for sustainable, secure and competitive energy. It could have a bright future in Europe and the world. But there is a lot to do to make the technology more efficient, reduce its environmental impact, modernise old infrastructure and integrate smaller plants into the grid. The Hydro Equipment Technology Roadmap gives a clear picture of the issues and challenges facing the hydro technology sector and assesses the priorities for future research and development.

The Roadmap is an important contribution to the growing debate on hydropower, and is highly relevant for the discus-sions on the new EU RTD programme, Horizon 2020. It will help technology developers, planners, utilities and system operators to take balanced decisions on further hydropower development to enable Europe to benefit fully from this valu-able resource.

Philip LoweDirector-General for Energy

European Commission

4 HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

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Setting the scene

Without innovative hydropower we will not have a renewable future. Hydropower technology is established, widely deployed and highly efficient. But now new demands are being asked of it. Hydropower technology can and must evolve to respond to new societal challenges. By fostering innovative approaches, we will position hydropower as a core

element of future renewable grid structures.

Renewable hydroelectric power plants bring added value to the community. They provide ancillary and important back-up services which help stabilise the grid for volatile renewables such as wind or solar power. We must endeavour to honour and reward all of these important services to secure and develop further hydro’s role in our modern renewable future across Europe and the rest of the world.

As an assembly of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of hydropower equipment, the Hydro Equipment Association is committed to the development of advanced technology and its flexible adaptation to future needs. We are ready to help further the development of sustainable hydropower.

Our Roadmap sketches out the major technological chal-lenges hydropower will face over the next 15 years. We have identified five solutions to these challenges. After consulting our stakeholders extensively, we have prioritised them and the innovation work they propose. The end result is a valu-able tool for guiding appropriate R&D efforts and for helping the industry to navigate a path towards enhanced global technology leadership.

Wolfgang SemperPresident of the Hydro Equipment Association

CEO of Andritz Hydro

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 5

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DefinitionsIn this document, ‘hydro plant’ refers to any kind of installation using hydro equipment, whether generating electricity only (pure-generation), or pumping back water (pumped storage plant). Pure-generation hydro plants may be further dif-ferentiated into projects with or without a reservoir for storage (those without, being situated in the flow of rivers, referred to as ‘run-of-river’ plants).

> Venda Nova Dam, Rabagão River, Portugal: the 756 MW Venda Nova III pumped-storage hydroelectric project will be Portugal’s largest hydroelectric power station. It is expected to be commissioned in 2015. Credit: EDP

6 HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

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Introduction

Hydropower plants providing electricity and energy storage through their large reservoirs were first built in Europe in the 19th century. The first pumped storage plants were built in the first half of the 20th century. These two kinds of project are collectively referred to in this roadmap as ‘hydro plants’.

Both kinds of plant use ‘hydro equipment’. This term refers to the generators, turbines, pumps and other electro-mechanical components (Figure 1) which enable them to operate. The Hydro Equipment Association represents the suppliers of this technology.

This roadmap aims to > show how deployment of hydro equip-

ment can make a major contribution to satisfying growing electricity de-mand while minimising greenhouse gas emissions;

> raise awareness of the scale of the innovation challenge by enumerating research and development topics that could be co-funded with national or European money (including Horizon 2020) up to 2030;

> signal to other players in the value chain (especially utilities and TSOs) where the hydro equipment sector believes its innovation priorities should lie and sketch out the kind of collaborative work it wants to conduct with them.

SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE ROADMAPHydro equipment is widely deployed and the plants using it are little subsidised. But the sector cannot rest on its laurels. It is under strong and growing pressure to innovate. In Europe, the EU’s decarboni-sation agenda is making new demands on hydro equipment, while abroad other manufacturers are threatening to take market share from a sector that is a valuable source of export earnings for the European economy. Even modest public support for some of the innovation work set out in this roadmap could pay dividends to the EU taxpayer.

Gates Penstocks Inlet valve (Pump-)turbine. In a pumped storage plant,

the pump and turbine can be separate. (Motor-)generator Automation, control & protection Medium voltage switchgear Power transformer High voltage switchgear Transmission line

Powerhouse (not electro-mechanical equipment)

1

2

5

9

3

7

6 6

10

4

8

1

Figure 1: Electro-mechanical equipment in a hydro plant (i.e. hydro equipment):

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 7

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Contribution of the hydro equipment industry to EU energy and industrial policy objectives

FLExIBILITY IN THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEMServing as a dispatchable, responsive source of bulk power is hydropower’s forte, both in its application in pure-generation plants and in pumped storage plants. Pumped storage plants can addition-ally serve as controllable loads, drawing electricity from the grid to charge their reservoirs when excess energy is avail-able (Box 1).

The expansion of variable-output RES such as wind and solar has made it harder to manage power flows in the grid. The technical challenges of maintaining grid stability and making progress towards 2050 decarbonisation goals will become greater.

Hydropower can support grid stability in the ways summarised in Figure 2. Ensuring that supply and demand are always perfectly matched is one important

Balancing> Frequency control> Storage capacity if reservoir present> Near zero-carbon backup for variable-

output RES

Black Start > Power system

reconstruction

Reactive power > Voltage stabiliser> Loop flow control> Bottleneck control> Short circuit capacity

Figure 2: List of the ancillary services delivered by hydropower. No other single renewable electricity technology can offer them all.

Ancillary Services

Pumped storage is the most efficient and cost-effective bulk electricity storage available today [FRE 2011], which explains the dominance of this technology in the energy storage projects put forward to the European Commission as ‘Projects of Common Interest’ [PCI 2012].A survey by Eurelectric in 2011 found the total installed pumped storage capacity in EU27 + Turkey amounted to more than 2.5 TWh, much of it in Spain, whose grid is relatively poorly interconnected with France. A more recent survey put the realisable potential at between 3.5 and 10 times the existing capacity depending on plant typology [JRC 2013]. This capacity is spread over reservoirs of different sizes, from 4 hours at full discharge rate to more than 100 hours. The combined maximum power output of these plants is over 40 GW, but this could rise to 60-65 GW by 2020 if all projects that had obtained their construc-tion licence or were at an early stage of planning were realised. The growth will come in new and existing markets [ERL 2011]. Already now, 15 GW are installed in China, 22 GW in the USA and 25 GW in Japan [REN 2010].

Box 1: More pumped storage plants expected

Figure 3: Energy production of a hydro plant during its lifetime. Refurbishment can result in an upgrade of efficiency of up to 5% or can restore the performance of the plant to its original level.

Time since entry into operation

Ann

ual e

nerg

y pr

oduc

tion

Upgrade

Restore

No refurbishment

Refurbishment

1 By way of comparison, 2.5 TWh is 25-30% of mean daily electricity production in EU27 + Turkey [EST 2013].

DECARBONISATIONPure-generation hydropower plants are a source of renewable energy. In 2013, Eurelectric estimated that 53% of the technically feasible hydropower potential has been developed in ‘Eurelectric Europe’ (meaning EU-28 plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey). Thus, a further 650 TWh remain undeveloped [ERL 2013].The possibility for greenfield projects of over 100 MW exists, for instance in Por-tugal and southeast Europe, however this picture might change as climate change affects reservoir inflow across the continent.

Besides greenfield projects, resources are to be found in:a) Refurbishment of existing plantsThe lifetime of the electro-mechanical equip-ment of hydro plants is typically 40 to 50 years, but plants themselves may have lifetimes of a hundred years. From 2015, in Europe, 5-6 GW per year will reach the age of 40. Refurbishing old plants can improve their efficiency by up to 5% (Figure 3 – see ‘Upgrade’ curve), so if all expiring capacity were upgraded, around 200 MW of newly available capacity could be added per year.

service. Others include the provision of reactive power or the ability to restart the grid in the event of a black-out.

HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP8

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9

Providing flexibility in the electricity system and achieving decarbonisa-tion are related. Hydro plants enable the integration of variable-output renewable energy sources like wind and photovoltaics, or allow fossil fuel power plants to operate more efficiently, enabling reductions in CO2 emissions.

Efficiency is not the only goal of hydropower refurbishments. They aim also to help the plant provide additional flexibility, in part by allow-ing it to extract higher peak power production within the constraints of the site. Increases in peak output of up to 30% have been demonstrated (Outardes III project, Quebec) with-out major civil works, providing the original plant design allows higher discharge rates. Improved reliability, availability, safety and environmental performance are also major refurbish-ment goals.

2 The 23% generation capability share is not thought to have changed much since 2007 because of the length of time needed to build a new power plant.

On average less than 3 GW is currently refurbished each year in Europe.

b) Multipurpose projects23% of reservoirs worldwide in the range 100 to 1 000 billion m3 have not been equipped with hydropower generation capability [ICO 2007 ]. These reservoirs primarily exist to provide another service (typically irrigation, water supply, flood control, ship canal locks).

As civil works are a major part of the investment of a hydro plant, equipping such sites could result in a lower levelised cost of electricity from these plants than from new projects.

c) New plant conceptsOffshore ‘pumped storage lagoons’ or pumped storage plants using underground reservoirs or the sea are being given seri-ous consideration. The costs of these new concepts seem no longer to be as prohibitive as they once were thanks to

progress in construction techniques and the likely increasing value of technologies to store electricity.

REDUCED FUEL IMPORTS TO EUROPEHydropower applications can reduce energy imports both by enabling the electricity system to accommodate greater penetrations of indigenous variable-output generation from wind and solar – two RES sources that are growing strongly – and as a form of renewable energy generation in its own right.

ExPORT-LED GROWTH THROUGH INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPThe top three hydropower equipment sup-pliers are based in the EU. Together, their products and services account for more than 50% of the world hydro equipment market. Adding the contribution of some fifty smaller industry players, Europe’s share rises to two thirds.

This is a sector that wants to keep exper-tise in Europe. It spends significantly on R&D, providing several tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs, and maintains close relationships with European universities and research centres to ensure it exploits the latest scientific advances (Figure 4).

Hydro equipment suppliers seek out opportunities for close collaboration with related businesses, such as civil engineer-ing firms specialised in the construction of plants and go to great efforts to under-stand thoroughly their customers’ needs (utilities, TSOs and DSOs).

Figure 4: Non-exhaustive map of European R&D centres of hydro equipment manufacturers. Alstom, Andritz Hydro and Voith estimate that together they spend 150 M € annually on R&D in Europe (contract R&D projects included).

Hydro Equipment Associat ion

FRANCE

CROATIA

ROMANIASLOVENIA

AUSTRIA

CzECH REPUBLIC

SWITzERLAND

SPAIN

GERMANY

NORWAY

SWEDEN

FINLAND

Levallois-Perret

Grenoble

Saint-Martin-d’HèresLa Cavalerie

ToulouseBilbao

HeidenheimBenešov

Trondheim

Tampere

Niederranna

zurich

Kriens

Weiz

zagrebRes,it,aLjubljana

Herbrechtingen

Birr

Vevey

Graz

Linz

St. GeorgenVienna

Blansko

Trollhättan

Västerås

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GENERAL CONCERNSBuilding a hydropower project is a complex and long process often involving considera-tions that are not technology-related.

An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment is required, which can often be more demanding than the ESIAs required for other renewable energy projects or even fossil fuel generation projects. They analyse the project’s local effects on water quality, biodiversity, ecology, landscape and local communi-ties, and propose measures to avoid or minimise negative impacts.

Local opposition from nearby residents, when present, also slows down hydro-power projects.

Impact of legislation on hydro plants

SPECIFIC TO HYDRO PLANTSIn contrast to many other large infra-structure projects, however, hydro plants face the additional hurdle of compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive [EC 2000]. This Directive aims to improve water quality and the ecology of water bodies. Member States have to establish River Basin Management Plans and also need to designate water bodies as either ‘natural’, ‘heavily modified’ or ‘artificial’.

Member States have transposed the Directive in widely different ways. Some Member States classify almost all their water bodies as ‘heavily modified’, which enables further deployment of hydropower; some have rather chosen to classify them as ‘natural’, which makes it harder (if not impossible) for them to be used for water infrastructure, including hydropower. The HEA has heard that in one Member State (Austria) the refurbishment of a plant could result in a more restrictive licence needing to be obtained (one that limits, for example, the ability of a pumped storage plant use natural inflows of water in its upper reservoir), while in another (Por-tugal) refurbishment could be rewarded with a 14- or 20-year licence extension under the original terms.

Unofficial estimates have put the loss of electricity production due to the imple-mentation of the protective measures needed for compliance with the Water Framework Directive at 5 to 20 %.

Grid fees and taxes differ from Member State to Member State. Pumped storage plants in some countries are charged grid fees twice, once when storing electricity and once when producing it. In other countries fees are charged only in one mode of operation. The business case for investing in a pumped storage plant in a particular country and the choice of equipment to install is affected by the design of that country’s electricity market. Fees and taxes affect the business case, as does the presence or absence of a functioning market in ancillary services. The EC should ensure that the revenue that hydro plants can earn equals the full value of the services those plants offer to the grid. Any change in market design should achieve adequate flexibility in the grid and align incentives with the goal of decarbonisation. This is in line with the recommendations of ENTSO-E [ENT 2012].

Where the impact of legislation may be addressed with a technological solution, it is discussed in this roadmap.

Legislation has an impact on hydro equipment technology development. Grid fees and taxes affect the design of projects. Public pressure can inspire new technological solutions, too.

10 HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

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These charts could apply to a turbine, pump or pump-turbine. Fixed-speed turbines (or pump-turbines operating in turbining mode) are not able to op-erate at power outputs that are as low as variable-speed turbines. In other words, they are less able to reach ‘deep part-load’. Fixed-speed pumps can only pump at a power dictated by the head. Variable-speed pumps, on the other hand, can pump at a wider range of

heads and, for any of those heads, at a range of powers.In some regions of the operating areas the efficiency of operation will be greater. The challenge for hydraulic design for variable-speed solutions is to maximise the overall efficiency weighted across the regions where operation is most likely (see Solution 1 – Task ‘New generation of turbine and generator’ on page 16). For a definition of ‘head’, see Figure 6.

The R&D solutions of the hydro equipment industry

MAIN AIMS OF R&D ACTIVITIESProviding flexibility in the electricity systemENTSO-E has drawn attention to a megatrend in the electricity sector of a move away from power generation by centralised plants to distributed renewable energy sources [ENT 2012]. These sources, variable in their output, must be complemented by flexible capacity such as hydro plants.

The provision of balancing power by hydro plants implies trade-offs in the design of their electro-mechanical equipment. The consideration given to the peak ef-ficiency of individual plants will decline relative to the ability of the plant to sup-port the grid. Technological development will be targeted at optimising plants for grid balancing, which includes design-ing them to ramp-up and ramp-down production more often and faster. The ability to function well at deep part-load will become more important (ultimately with the aim of covering the full range of load from 0-100%). Efficiency will be maximised for given modes of operation.

Pumped storage plants will also need to operate at deep part load. In pumped storage technology a major challenge is to use variable-speed or hydraulic short-circuit technology to achieve flexibility. For the development of variable-speed, frequency converter technology will be needed, necessarily accompanied by a variety of other developments related, for example, to the turbine and generator. This technology greatly improves the response times of the plant and extends its operating range. In doing so, it helps to stabilise the power grid (Figure 5).

Flexibility is the key contribution that hydropower can make to the EU’s achieve-ment of its decarbonisation targets.

Figure 5a – Operating area of a fixed-speed turbine (area bound-ed in blue) and pump (purple line)

Turb

ine/

pu

mp

pow

er o

utp

ut/

inp

ut

Head

Fixed-speed

TurbinePump

Figure 5b - Operating area of a variable-speed turbine (area bounded in blue) and pump (area bounded in purple)Tu

rbin

e/p

um

p p

ower

ou

tpu

t/in

pu

t

Head

Variable-speed

Pumping at low power over a wide head range possible

Deeper part-load turbining possible

Consequently, research and develop-ment work to deliver flexibility should have highest priority.

Figure 5: Comparison of fixed-speed and variable-speed operation.

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 11

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Figure 6: The head range is the difference between the minimum and maximum head. ‘Head’ (unspecified) means the weighted average head within the head range.

Min. upstream water level

Min. downstream water level

Max. upstream water level

Max. downstream water level

Min. headMax. head

Adapting to sites with more challenging design constraintsAs easier sites for hydro plants are tapped, the hydro equipment industry increasingly needs to provide equipment capable of performing well in more complex sites. Whereas there was once relatively little variation in the technology supplied by the hydro equipment industry, nowadays manufacturers must produce equipment designed to cope with either higher heads or lower heads than in the past, and wider head ranges (a greater difference between the maximum and minimum head at the site – Figure 6). Other complexities might relate to large sediment loads, very variable hydrology, difficult access, proximity to protected sites or distance from infrastructure.

Boosting peak powerIncreased peak power has long been a trend in hydro plants, and is made pos-sible by increasing the head, discharge rate or efficiency. The head is specific to the site and cannot easily be changed after plant construction. Boosting power in a refurbishment project is generally accomplished by increasing efficiency and discharge. In pumped storage plants, the trend towards higher heads requires double- or multiple-stage pump-turbines. These will achieve higher power density and deliver higher output.

High availabilityNext to efficiency, the availability of a power plant determines its productivity. Minimising outage time including by optimising maintenance intervals is a considerable challenge for all hydro plants, especially those delivering balancing

power because of the related dynamic operation, dynamic loads and increased wear and tear.

Maximise performanceThe performance of the equipment used for a hydro plant (its flexibility, availability, productivity) has a bigger impact on a hydro plant’s levelised cost of electricity than the equipment’s capex. Steep cost reductions are still possible in technology that is only just beginning to be deployed, for example power converters for variable-speed applications, but the potential for cost reduction in more mature technology components such as turbine runners, is limited.

R&D COLLABORATIONSInterdisciplinarityImproving hydro equipment is a task that reaches into domains including ICT through computer-aided engineering tools (CAE), material and coating technology,measurement technology and power electronics. This is particularly true of mechanical design and electrical design (Table 1).

Co-design with the customerEach hydro plant is unique and has the potential to generate new knowledge. Depending on the nature of the project it will be acceptable to use either an off-the-shelf component or a custom-designed component (Box 2).

HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP12

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Project consortia> Upstream innovation actions need

mainly to involve underlying technology industries (mentioned under ‘interdisci-plinarity’), supported by the academic community.

> Downstream innovation actions concern the implementation of technology in a functioning, full-scale plant (Box 3). They require the participation of civil engineering firms and the customers of hydro plants or beneficiaries of their services – utilities, TSOs and, for smaller installations, DSOs – so their needs can be fully taken into account.

Main underlying technologies (which are within the core competence of other industries)

Improvement areasComputer-Aided

Engineering

System simulation

Material Technology

Measurement technology

Power electronics

ICT

Cor

e co

mpe

tenc

es o

f H

.E. m

anuf

actu

rers

Mechanical design

✔ ✔ ✔Reliability, health & safety, outage-time, environment

Material aspects

✔ ✔ ✔Reliability, outage-time, lifetime,

environment

Hydraulic design

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Efficiency, power output, flexibility, outage-time, environment, responsiveness, stability

Electrical design

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Overall efficiency of the power

plant flexibility, reliability

Electric power system

✔ ✔ ✔

Power output, flexibility, responsiveness, stability,

ancillary services

Power electronics

✔ ✔ ✔

Power output, efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness, stability, ancillary services

Automation and ICT

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Responsiveness, outage time, flexibility, efficiency, security

Table 1: The hydro equipment industry has specialist proprietary knowledge in a number of areas (rows). To achieve improvements in the areas listed in the rightmost column they will need to apply knowledge from other industries as indicated in the columns.

The use of standardised equipment is cost-effective for small to medium hydro plants. Refurbishment projects (because of the challenge of working with old, idiosyncratic installation layouts) and large hydro plants demand custom-designed components. The insight gained in the design process could ultimately be incorporated into standard components.

Box 2: Standardised versus custom-designed equipment

> Lowering of a 212 MVA generator stator into the pit of a hydro plant at Bemposta, Portugal The plant helps to integrate windpower into the Iberian power grid.

‘Demonstration’ in the context of hydro equipment means the first time a piece of new equipment is installed in a real project at full scale. The hydro equipment manufacturer and the customer share any risk of failure. Naturally, they seek to keep this risk to a minimum.

Box 3: No room for error

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 1313

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“In the last two years EDP upgraded three hydro plants, raising their ca-pacity from 675 MW to 1 369 MW and in the next two years we will upgrade another two dams, rais-ing their capacity from 323 MW to 1 286 MW.”

APPROACH TO PRIORITISATION WITHINTHESE AREASThe ability of funded research or demonstra-tion work in an area to deliver large impact was the logic for prioritisation. Upgrading projects can deliver large impact through a ‘quick win’ (Box 4).

Figure 7: Five hydro equipment industry solutions for the achievement of the EU’s energy policy objectives.

FIVE KEY R&D AREAS FOR HYDRO EQUIPMENTFive areas of R&D work have been identi-fied as most relevant for achieving the EU’s energy policy targets and are presented in the following pages (Figure 7):1. Providing flexibility in the electricity system2. Increased hydroelectricity produc-

tion from refurbishment, greenfield and multipurpose projects

3. Expanding the deployment options for pumped storage plants

4. Small hydropower: dispatchable gen-eration for the electricity system

5. Maximally environment-friendly de-ployment

Box 4: Quote from EDP on its refurbishment and upgrade programme in Portugal. These upgrades required new hydro equipment, new civil works and new infrastructure – pretty much everything but the building of a dam. In Portugal, the building of a dam would add another 1-2 years to the construction time.

Reduced fuel

imports

Towards a low carbon

future

Stable and reliable electricity

system

Develop more renewable power

generation capacity

Develop more storage

capacity

Increased hydroelectricity

production from refurbishment, greenfield and multipurpose

projects

2

1

3

5

4

Small-scale hydropower: dispatchable generation for the electricity system

Maximally environment-friendly deployment

Providing flexibility in the electricity system

Expanding the deployment options for pumped storage plants

Ensure stability of the electricity

system considering large-scale

RES integration

EU’s energy policy objectives

Hydro equipment industry’s contribution

Hydro equipment industry solution

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Room for improvement in power converter technology:A power converter employs power electronic switches to decouple the mo-tor/generator from the grid in terms of voltage, reactive power and frequency, enabling these quantities to be set individually on the power grid-side and on the motor-/generator-side of the power converter. By doing so, the efficiency of the pump or turbine can be increased, its operation range extended and the dynamic behaviour of the complete hydro unit strongly enhanced. Today, only few pumped storage plants and no hydropower stations are equipped with power con-verter technology. The main obstacles for increased use of power converters are their limited voltage range, high cost, size, and relatively high losses, but the technology is nonetheless key for allowing variable-speed operation.

Difficulty in simulating how hydro plants respond and should respond to the instantaneous state of the grid: Hydro plants can react to changes in the state of the grid in periods of seconds to minutes but the state of the grid itself is changing from millisecond to millisecond. Better models and simulation techniques are needed to understand the interac-tion between these two entities with very different time constants. Simulations must demonstrate that the plant and grid SCADA interpret and react to these changes appropriately.

SOLUTION 1: PROVIDING FLExIBILITY IN THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEM

BACKGROUNDHydropower’s dispatchability is being seen as an increasingly valuable asset. Hydropower stations which have been designed for base load are increasingly used for providing ancillary services, particularly primary and secondary control in order to balance supply and demand in the grid.

To provide this control, a new generation of electro-mechanical equipment offering shorter response times and adapted for more frequent starts and stops is needed. Large-scale power converter technology enabling variable-speed turbining and pumping (Figure 5) will be a major in-novation in hydroelectricity production, allowing hydro plants to provide stabilising power to the grid within milliseconds, while maintaining their existing ability to regulate reactive power and rebuild the grid following a black-out.

STATE OF THE ART AND OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME

Primary control allows for second-to-second matching of supply and demand while secondary control achieves balance on minute-to-minute timescales.

Electro-mechanical equipment is not sufficiently well suited to new operating requirements:Today, single-regulated hydraulic tur-bines are designed for a narrow range of operation (70% to 100% load). At lower loads, pressure pulsations, vibra-tions and cavitation may damage the turbine and make operation impossible (this is discussed under Solution 2). Furthermore, pumped storage plant pump-turbines and motor-generators are designed for 2-3 stop-starts per day, but will need to increase to 20-30. Similar demands are being made of pure-generation hydropower plants. Among the components that can fail is the generator’s high voltage insulation system, which is damaged by thermal cycling and the higher temperatures associated with power converter technology. Stop-starts also cause fatigue in moving parts.

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PRIORITY R&D acTIvITIes TaRgeTs

1 2015-2030TasK: New generation of turbine and generator Develop (with the help of models of fluid mechanics and models of the interaction between water and the turbine structure) robust designs of hydro plant components which allow both electricity production between 0-100% of peak power and frequent stop-starts for both vari-able- and fixed-speed operation, and in the case of pump-turbines, rapid and stable change of mode of operation.Model dynamic load and dynamic stress on the mechanical structure and develop lifetime prediction methods for the rotating and station-ary components of turbines. Understand and mitigate the causes of pressure pulsations, vibrations and instability. Test the models against data from real projects.

Electro-mechanical equipment:• Increase max. possible operating

temperature of the high-voltage insulation system to 180°C.

• Increase number of thermal cycles of the high voltage insulation sys-tem according to IEEE standards by factor of 2.5 (from 1 000 to 2 500 in the case of pure-gener-ation hydropower plants).

• Robust design (turbines and generators)

- Lifetime prediction reliable for all operating conditions including increased stop-starts (today: only for 70% to 100% load)

- Increase lifetime of turbine runners and critical rotor parts (generator) from 1 000 to 10 000 stop-starts in pure-generation hydropower plants and from 10 000 to 100 000 in a pumped storage plant

- Turbines can be operated at 0 to 100% load (today: 70% to 100% load).

HOW TO READ THE DATE RANGES AND PRIORITIES FOR THE TASKS UNDER THE R&D ACTIVITIESExample: “Work on the task ‘New generation of turbine and generator’ has highest priority and will begin in 2015 and be complete, or have yielded conclusive results, by 2030.”

> Simulation of a vortex in the draft tube of a Francis turbine

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PRIORITY R&D acTIvITIes TaRgeTs

These designs are expected to, for example…

…feature new insulation systems for hydro generatorsIn insulation, the following should be developed in turn:1) A high-voltage insulation system that can withstand the temperature

effects of 10 stop-starts a day for 50 years without delaminating and without deterioration of corona protection (Currently the only defined and internationally accepted thermal cycle test is the IEEE 1310 test but the cycling in that test happens far faster than in plant operation. It is difficult to infer the integrity of the generator in real-life operation from its IEEE 1310 test results);

2) Class 180 insulation systems for rotor and stator capable enabling them to be operated up to 180°C for short periods instead of today’s limit of 155°C. In those short periods, this would allow 10-15% more power to be generated. The use of variable-speed designs, which is expected in the future, presupposes the use of power converters. The use of power converters implies higher temperature peaks.

…minimise mechanical fatigue induced by frequent stop-startsWith the help of simulation, new designs must be found to extend the resilience of critical static and rotating components in the turbine and generator. In parallel, work must be done to find new materials.

2 2015-2030TasK: Power electronics and converter technology for hydro plantsCo-operate with converter manufacturer to develop power electronics and large scale power converters for hydro plants. Future converter technology should enable the integration of variable-speed generators or pumps into the grid, so that turbines or pumps may be operated at optimal efficiencies and provide millisecond regulation services. For instance, multiphase machines associated with adapted converters would allow emergency operation after single phase failure.

Power converter technology:• Increase voltage range from

6.6 kV today to 20 kV in 2020• Reduce size by 40% by 2020

(from 2-3 m3/MVA to 1.5 m3 /MVA)• Increase efficiency from 98%

today to 99% in 2030 …while considerably reducing costs.

3 2015-2025TasK: system-level simulationsCreate models and efficient simulation tools for optimising the in-teraction between the hydro plant and the power grid. This task requires the physical and mathematical modelling of many hydro plant components: penstock, surge tank, draft tube and tailrace and any bifurcations and valves.Models of the dynamic response of turbine operating between 0 to 100% load should be tested against site measurements. Once the models are found to model real life acceptably, simulations should be made of the hydro plant’s ability to respond to the rapidly varying state of the grid, thereby increasing its ability to provide ancillary services to the grid.

System level simulation:• Widely different time constants

for state of grid and reaction time of hydro plant no obstacle to successful simulation of their interaction

• Integrated hydraulic-electrical system model available for op-timisation of system elements

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Actors to involve Projects

Object of collaborative project

TSO Utility AcademicConverter

manufacturerSteel

manufacturer

Turbo generator industry

Total cost of a

project /M €

Total external funding

needed for a project /M €

Number of projects

for the European

H.E. industry

New generation of hydraulic and mechanical turbine

designs✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2-10 1-7 7

Power electronics and converter technology for

hydro plants✔ ✔ ✔ 5-10 3-5 3

System-level simulation ✔ ✔ ✔ 2-5 1-3 2

Table 2: List of the collaborative projects needed to achieve the R&D plan

COLLABORATION NEEDED These R&D activities may be addressed with collaborative projects as summarised in Table 2.

> Runner of 30.3 MW bulb turbine now installed at Freudenau run-of-river power plant, Austria

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HOW TO READ THE DATE RANGES AND PRIORITIES FOR THE DEMONSTRATION PROJECTSExample: “The upgrade of a hydro plant to improve its ability to balance the grid will be begun and completed in the period 2015-2020 and is the most important demonstration project to undertake.”

PRIORITY DemOnsTRaTIOn PROjecTs

1

2

Hydro plant upgraded for better grid-balancing 2015-2025Hydro plants are already frequently used today to deliver system regulation services. The technology de-veloped in Solution 1 R&D tasks will enhance the delivery of these services or enable plants that are today not flexible to become flexible. The proposition is to launch plant upgrading projects in order to significantly improve their capability to deliver ancillary services. Two to three such projects should be financed, includ-ing, for example:

Bulb turbine hydro plant upgraded for network code compliance 2015-2020The ENTSO-E Network Code due to be adopted in 2014 is changing to demand fault ride-through capability from hydro plants. This requirement cannot be fulfilled by most run-of-river plants, in which low inertia bulb turbines are in operation. The consequences of non-fulfilment are at present unknown, but could make it hard for plants to have their licences renewed or mean (worst-case scenario) that plants have to be taken offline. Power electronics must come to the aid of these plants. Demonstration of such a use of power electronics is proposed.

Turbine optimised for a full-size converter (>40 MW)

Class 180 hydropower generator demonstrated (>50 MW)

A pumped storage plant of at least 40 MW plant should be built that includes electro-mechanical equipment optimised for use with a power converter able to convert all the electricity generated by the equipment from a zero discharge rate up to the peak discharge rate (a so-called “full-size converter”). The project should prove conclusively how power electronics in hydropower applications can provide flexibility in the electricity system.

Large generators, especially hydro generators, have not been operated such that the tempera-ture of their windings reaches 155°C. Today the maximum operating temperature is 130°C, whereas the maximum capability of the insulation system is 155°C. Operating a generator at 155°C implies insulation of Class 180 (capable of withstanding temperatures up to 180°C). In order to de-risk this new insulation by guaranteeing a lifetime of 50 years, a demonstration project at a scale of about 50 MW is needed. Public subsidy is justi-fied because there will be times when the system is unavailable for electricity production so that the insulation may be checked.

ABB is about to bring into service a power converter of 100 MVA at the Grimsel 2 pumped storage plant in Switzerland. It will permit variable-speed pumping but not turbining [GRI 2012].

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Figure 8: Canal locks can be used to generate electricity. In this example, an abandoned ship lock from the 19th century has been equipped with five innovative generating modules with a capacity totalling 1.35 MW without compromising its discharge capability.

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A lot of experience exists in the hydro equipment industry in making opti-mal use of a specific site’s physical constraints (which determine, most importantly, head and discharge rate). But more could be done:• Today‘s Computational Fluid Dynamics

(CFD) tools need to be improved to model turbulent flow and perform-ance at a wider range of discharge rates more accurately and faster.

The quantity to optimise is the weighted efficiency of the plant (the efficiency of electricity production achieved at different loads and heads weighted by the amount of time the plant operates at that load and head – Chart 1). By 2020, CFD codes are expected to incorporate DES (Detached Eddy Simulation) and

LES (Large Eddy Simulation) in models of turbulence. Developments leading to this major step are currently taking place in the software industry and in the computer industry.• New mathematical models must also

be developed for the electromagnetic and mechanical design of generators. The new tools need to produce results faster, which can be achieved with better algorithms as well as, of course, better computer hardware.

• The efficiency, power density, thermal performance and power quality of generators could also, in the long term, be improved by using high-temperature superconductors in generator windings.

• Current lifetime prediction tools do not accurately predict component lifetime for loads less than 70% of peak output for Francis turbines, which account for 60% of the installed capacity in the world. Imperfect lifetime prediction can lead to unnecessary downtime and lost revenue because the failure of a component was not foreseen. On the other hand, cautious operators may be led to underutilise their plant.

SOLUTION 2: INCREASED HYDROELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FROM REFURBISHMENT, GREENFIELD AND MULTIPURPOSE PROJECTS

BACKGROUNDHydropower can be expanded by build-ing greenfield installations in favourable locations, refurbishing existing power stations and exploiting novel, untapped hydropower resources such as multipur-pose projects, low-head sites or sites with low potential.

Topics have been chosen with the follow-ing aims in mind:1) increase the availability (= reduce the

outage time) of the electro-mechanical equipment

2) increase power density and efficiency of the generation units

STATE OF THE ART AND OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME

• Today’s monitoring systems are used mainly to avoid equipment failure, not to optimise maintenance intervals. Knowing when to maintain the plant will become more important as plants are operated in ways that will tend to wear out components faster, such as at low-load or as spinning reserve. New, intelligent monitoring systems are needed to optimise maintenance intervals and minimise outage.

• Water infrastructure like irrigation dams and canal locks (Figure 8) may be equipped with electricity-generation functionality to create a so-called ‘multipurpose project’. The fault behaviour of small units embedded in such infrastructure is insufficient to comply with the Network Code. Compliance could be achieved with the aid of power electronics (Solution 1).

Hydraulic instability can prevent a hydro plant from operating at low load and sometimes causes prob-lems at high load. Plant operation at these lower loads will become more usual as hydro plants increasingly function to provide grid stability.

3) integrate small, non-conventional or multipurpose hydro plants such as irrigation dams or canal locks into the grid.

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PRIORITY R&D acTIvITIes TaRgeTs

1 2015-2030TasK: virtual test rigCreate new Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) methods in hydro-electrical equipment – the ‘Virtual Test Rig’.Validate and perfect these new CAE methods.Carry out in-depth studies of the flow phenomena most relevant for instability, pressure pulsations and cavitation, which impede operation at low loads. Apply results in designs.Improve hydraulic design process. Use CFD to explore design pa-rameters and their effects on efficiency, performance and output with particular regard to flow-induced vibrations, hydraulic and mechanic stability limits (especially of single-regulated Francis turbines and pump-turbines).

• 2020: CFD, Finite Element Meth-ods, and models of the interactions between water and the turbine structure should yield reliable lifetime predictions for any load.

• 2030: CFD successfully predicts flow (in)stability for any design (today: it makes errors having serious consequences in 30% of design cases where the design is thought to be close to creating instability).

2 2015-2030TasK: ventilation optimisation and electromagnetic design of generatorsCreate fast and accurate models, calculation and design methods for higher power per unit volume of the generator of power generators with emphasis on precision in ventilation, thermo-mechanical and electromagnetic modelling.Validate and fine-tune the models by comparing with experimental data.Identify relevant design parameters and test them. Develop new design rules for high-performance generators to achieve higher efficiency.

• CFD for generator ventilation (heat dissipation) and 3D Finite Ele-ment analysis for electromagnetic calculation with higher accuracy and with 10% of today’s computer power or time.

3 2015-2025TasK: systems for optimised maintenance intervals Apply new lifetime prediction methods to assess the impact of opera-tion mode on the lifetime of the core components of a hydro plant, like the turbine runner or regulation elements.Develop new online monitoring and diagnostic systems which predict the optimal maintenance interval based on the way of operation.Collaborate with utilities to build prototype monitoring systems and install them at plants.Integrate into plant SCADA.Maintenance intervals and lifetime are also affected by the choice of material (like coating) used for different hydro equipment components. Monitoring techniques that isolate the effect of materials on lifetime need to be developed.

• Monitoring systems for optimised maintenance intervals have reduced outage time by 20%.

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> CFD simulation

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Actors to involve Projects

Object of collaborative

projectTSO Utility Academic

Material / coating industry

Aerospace / automo-

tive industry

Turbo machin-

ery industry

Turbo generator industry

ICT hardware supplier

Software

Total cost of a project /M €

Total external funding needed for a

project /M €

Number of

projects for

the Euro-pean H.E. industry

Virtual test rig ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 3-5 2-3 3

Ventilation optimisation and electromagnetic

design of generators

✔ ✔ ✔ 5-10 3-7 2

Systems for optimised

maintenance intervals

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2-5 1-3 4

Table 3: List of the collaborative projects needed to achieve the R&D plan

COLLABORATION NEEDEDThese R&D activities may be addressed with collaborative projects as summarised in Table 3. Collaboration with the aero-space industry will be useful in develop-ing cavitation- and abrasion-resistant low-friction coatings – ideally the hydro equipment industry would participate in

an aviation industry-led project looking at those materials. The relevant aerospace actors might not be in the same country as the hydro equipment company/ies, meaning European-level funding for the collaboration would be particularly use-ful. The hydro equipment industry would

also like to be a junior partner in projects concerning monitoring systems led by the aerospace or automotive industries or concerning turbo machinery (e.g. gas turbines, compressors).

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<Andritz_perf chart.pptx>

Chart 1: Improvement of hydraulic performance over time. The peak efficiency of a turbine of a particular type supplied in a particular year is within the range bounded by the upper and lower line of the corresponding colour. For pump-turbines, however, band represents a range of efficiencies in both pumping (light line) and turbining (dark line) modes.

Turb

ine

peak

effi

cien

cy

100%

95%

90%

85%

80%

75%

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Year of equipment supply

Francis

Kaplan

Pelton

Pump-turbine (turbine mode)

Pump-turbine (pump mode)

PRIORITY DemOnsTRaTIOn PROjecTs

1

2

multipurpose project with excellent grid connection and grid stability 2015-2020One or more grid-code compliant generating units will be embedded in water infrastructure (see ‘State of the art and obstacles to overcome’). The services provided to the grid by the new hydro plant will be measured at the site.

superconductive generator installed at 10 mW then at 100 mW 2020-2030This will be high-risk technology even in 2020. A subsidy will need to be provided to persuade the customer to install it. First substantial development work will be needed. Then, a 10 MW unit will need to demonstrate smooth, reliable operation. Only then should a 100 MW unit be attempted. Little is known about the only superconductive generator ever to have been made (Box 5).The hydro equipment industry will wait for another sector, perhaps one where the mass of the generator is critical (such as wind turbines), to pioneer high temperature superconductive technology in generators before adopt-ing it when it is largely derisked. The efficiency gains will be slight, edging efficiency up from 99 % to 99.5%.

The FP6 project Hydrogenie, led by Converteam (UK), resulted in a design for superconductive generator of 1.75 MW. Converteam designed and manufactured the generator, with Zenergy (a company that went bankrupt in 2012) supplying its superconducting coils.Converteam’s last public announcement on Hydrogenie was to say that testing has gone well and that the generator would be installed in summer 2011 [CNV 2011] at a small run-of-river hydropower plant at Hirschaid. In September 2011, GE bought Converteam and chose to abort the installation. GE has not disclosed the reasons for this.

Box 5: Learning from previous experience in high-temperature superconductive generators

25Hydro Equipment Industry 25

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0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 4000

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Hea

d (m

)

Unit power (MW)

Pumped storage plant installed base

> The new underground pumped storage plant Limberg II in Austria provides 480 MW of pumped storage capacity by utilising the two existing reservoirs Mooserboden and Wasserfallboden. The pumped storage plant powerhouse is inside a neighbouring mountain.

Chart 2: Existing European pumped storage plants by capacity and head (situation as at 31 Dec 2012)

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STATE OF THE ART AND OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME

More than 40 GW of pumped storage plants are installed in Europe (Chart 2), completing partial or full charge-discharge cycles every 4 to 40 hours.

The power output of greenfield pumped storage plant is mostly in the range 50 to 500 MW. Such plants are generally installed in mountainous or hilly areas where heads of 100 to 1 500 m can be obtained. Penstocks are expensive to build because of tunnelling and met-alwork cost, which favours sites with minimal distance between upper and lower reservoir. Typically, the ratio of penstock length to head should be below 10. These constraints limit the number of places suitable for the technology.

New concepts are, however, under in-vestigation that could expand the range of geographies suitable for pumped storage plants:

> Small pumped storage plants These cost more per kWh of storage

capacity than larger plants. With the hydro equipment accounting for a larger share of overall costs than in large projects, minimisation of the equipment cost becomes important, encouraging the use of standardised rather than custom-made equipment.

> Pumped storage plants built in or along the sea such as the ’pumped storage lagoon’

This is an offshore reservoir built in the sea (Figure 9), buffering, for example, electricity production from a nearby wind farm and thereby provid-ing power generation flexibility close to the source of potential instability. This will require the development of extremely low-head equipment (10 to 30 m heads pump turbines). Offshore marine hydro pumped stor-age technology is considered a high priority in the Smart Grids European Technology Platform’s “Summary of Priorities for SmartGrids Research Topics” [SMA 2013].

> Underground reservoirs These would require new mining tech-

nologies, specialist geological surveys and very-high head (e.g. 1 400 m) pump-turbine technology. The cost driver will be the size of the underground reservoir. It must be small for the plant to be eco-nomical, so the head must be high to get sufficient output for the limited discharge (linked to compactness) [OPAC].

SOLUTION 3: ExPANDING THE DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS FOR PUMPED STORAGE PLANTS

Figure 9: schematic of an offshore reservoir in a pumped storage lagoon.

Sea level

Reservoir level typically 20 m

below sea level

> The sea as lower reservoir with an onshore upper reservoirOne demo of 30 MW is operating, in Okinawa, Japan.

> Pumped storage using heavy masses

More and more examples are appearing of energy storage concepts using water driven through pumps to lift masses. Examples include i) lifting a large mass vertically in an underground shaft or ii) forcing water into bladder reservoirs (i.e. expandable and compressible reservoirs) with a material denser than water on top of them (like sand) [DK 2009]. Moving masses denser than water allows plants to be more compact, implying cost savings in civil works. To take ideas such as these forward, R&D funding for the design of the different parts of the plant (including hydro equipment) and demonstrations of proof-of-concept will be needed.

The underground reservoir and pumped hydro lagoon concepts are speculative and the business case for them has not yet been assessed.

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PRIORITY R&D acTIvITIes TaRgeTs

1 2015-2030TasK: standardisation of hydro equipmentBecause of their lower cost, standardised components can facilitate the exploitation of more costly potential storage sites. Customised components and technologies originally developed for large pumped storage plants will be adapted into standard models for pumped stor-age power plants that can support them.

2015-2025TasK: Upgrading pure-generation hydro into pumped storage plantsPump-turbines normally need to be set deeper than conventional turbines to avoid cavitation issues. To avoid the expense of modify-ing and enlarging the powerhouse, new turbines or variable-speed generators must be developed.

Targets for novel forms of pumped storage plant:• Cost per kW of max. 2 000 EUR

(or a little higher depending on the services offered by the plant and its location). This is much less than the cost of battery technol-ogy – the nearest rival to these new concepts.

• System round-trip efficiency > 70%

• Availability > 95%• The cost / kWh of storage capacity

will also be a consideration, but as there has been no project so far, setting a target is difficult.

3 2015-2025TasK: very-low-head pump-turbinesThe construction of seawater PSP will require the use of very low head equipment (bulb pump-turbines such as those used at La Rance Tidal Plant in France). This technology has not been developed for 40 years, while designs of conventional bulb turbines (that cannot pump) have improved considerably. Equipment that can guarantee at least 70% round-trip efficiency must be developed to make low-head seawater projects viable.

4 2015-2020TasK: systematic investigation of unconventional sitesInvestigate potential sites like the ones above. Underground reservoirs could include disused pits and mines. Contribute to the exploitation of these sites by, for example, developing appropriate water-tightness (especially important for plants moving seawater between sea and land) or sealing systems

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COLLABORATION NEEDEDInnovation in pumped storage plants will require development of hydro equipment and technology like tunnel and shaft drilling, sea operation, dyke erection, powerhouse prefabrication, sealing tech-nologies and bladder reservoirs.

Consortia seeking to construct such plants will therefore need to gather actors able to tackle:> Civil works> Grid integration> Public opinion

Actors to involve Projects

Object of collaborative

projectUtility Academic

Material / coating industry

Civil work industry

Converter manufac-

turer

ICT supplier

Aerospace / automo-

tive industry

Turbo machinery industry

Total cost of a project /

M €

Total external funding needed for a

project / M €

Number of projects

for the European

H.E. industry

Standardisation of small hydro

equipment✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 3-5 2-3 3

Upgrading pure-generation hydro

into pumped storage plants

✔ ✔ ✔ 5-10 2-5 3

Very-low-head pump-turbines

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 5-10 2-5 4

Systematic investigation of unconventional

sites

✔ ✔ ✔ 2-5 1-3 3

Table 4: List of the collaborative projects needed to achieve the R&D plan

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> Model runner of a 200 MW Francis reversible pump-turbine in a hydraulic test rig

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PRIORITY DemOnsTRaTIOn PROjecTs

1

3

small pumped storage plants (1-20 mW) in unconventional sites 2015-2025Demonstration of small pumped storage plants in a variety of unconventional locations like slag heaps and bladder reservoirs. Several projects should be run in order to test different technologies.

Large pumped storage plants (100-500 mW) in unconventional sites 2015-2030…such as underground reservoirs or artificial lagoons close to offshore wind farms to reduce the cost of the grid connection (e.g. by allowing a lower capacity of cable). Two or three projects would be sufficient to test different technologies.Note that these projects will most probably not simply be scaled-up versions of the projects described in the paragraph above. There are some technologies where it is uneconomic to construct at only 1-20 MW scale (e.g. offshore artificial lagoon) and there are some sites where it will not make economic sense ever to install generating capacity over 20 MW.

new energy storage concepts using hydraulic equipment to convert electrical energy into concentrated potential energy at 1-5 mW and then, for the best technologies, at 100-500 mW scale Ideas are emerging that could enable far more sites to serve as locations for bulk electricity storage via pumped storage. Six small scale projects should identify the three best technologies before demonstrating them in a GWh (commercial-scale) plant. The demonstration in commercial-scale plants, which would be high-risk, high-capex projects, would happen in the timeframe 2020-2025.

2015-2030

313131Hydro Equipment Industry

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BACKGROUNDHydro plants, as has been shown, for example, with small pumped storage plants or multipurpose projects, can play a part in balancing supply and demand in a distribution grid and in stabilising the transmission grid. These small hydro plants can be designed to be a relatively flexible asset in a virtual power plant (VPP) and provide ancillary services to the grid. Even a run-of-river hydropower plant can hold back some water in order, for brief period, to achieve above average power-output (a

storage technique known as ‘pondage’) and respond quickly to signals to ramp-up or ramp-down production. It would be wrong to think of it as incapable of deviating from a particular nominal output.

The VPP is the most promising way to aggregate generation and loads at the distribution level, presenting itself to the distribution or transmission system (depending on scale and voltage level of the grid connection) as a single fully controllable generation asset.

SOLUTION 4: SMALL HYDROPOWER: DISPATCHABLE GENERATION FOR THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEM

The generators in a VPP might be wind turbines, PV, hydro plants, batteries (including of electric vehicles if their charging can be controlled), and small thermal generation units using biomass or fossil fuel. The controllability of small hydropower plants, which is necessary to keep downstream flows within certain limits for environmental reasons, makes them a valuable asset in the VPP.

> Small hydropower plant with belt-driven axial turbine (2 x 0.6 MW)

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Small hydropower plants have generators that are capable either of synchronous or asynchronous generation. Some syn-chronous generators can provide voltage regulation, but asynchronous generators are regulated by the grid and do not ac-tively support grid stability. The voltage

regulation of generators can respond in as little as 100ms to a variation in the grid voltage. Hardware (thyristor bridges, insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), power electronics) and software (regulation loop algorithms) make this possible. The challenge is to upgrade small hydropower

STATE OF THE ART AND OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME

plants so that as many as possible may provide cost-effective voltage regulation. A precondition, however, is that a market in ancillary services exists.

R&D activities taRgets

2015-2020tasK: small hydropower plants as providers of flexibilityDevelop technologies to efficiently perform dynamic regulation with short response time. The main functionalities which require technology improvement are the following:• Islanding: improve the capability to maintain rated frequency• Regulation: develop a governor able to compensate variable-output RES• Voltage control: develop adaptive control at connecting point• Reactive power compensation: ensure additional reactive power compensation• Load generation balancing: provide quick response• Optimal load shedding: give ability to resume operation after shedding• Ride-through capability: create ability to resume from a transient voltage drop• Limitation of short-circuit: develop limitation under switchgear capability• Adaptive protection: develop ability to cope with various topology• Autonomous demand area: develop spinning reserve to avoid congestion & volt-

age problem.

• Small hydropower plants enabled for the provision of ancillary services to the distribution grid by 2020

Actors to involve Projects

Objectif of collabrative project

Utility Academic ICTTotal cost of

a project /M €

Total external funding needed

for a project /M €

Number of projects for the European

H.E. industry

Develop and test the interfacing of a small

hydropower plant with a VPP

✔ ✔ ✔ 2-5 2 1-3

Demonstration project

small hydro power plant as active component in a Vpp 2015-2030A variety of actors (including owners of generating capacity, distribution system operators and aggregators) should be brought together to create a VPP where small hydropower plants play a major role.Interfaces will translate signals sent from the VPP manager into changes in the operation of the small hydropower plant. The plant, equipped with instrumentation to allow its performance to be analysed, should demonstrate rapid regulation of frequency, voltage and active or reactive power, while keeping downstream flows within acceptable limits.

Table 5: Collaborative project needed to achieve the R&D plan

COLLABORATION NEEDEDThese R&D activities may be addressed with collaborative projects as summarised in Table 5:

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 33

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> Figure 10: Venda Nova III: Powerhouse cavern and hydraulic circuit (longer than 4 km) hidden inside the mountain. In blue, passages through which water flows; in red, access tunnels. Credit: EDP

Lower reservoir

Upper reservoir

Powerhouse

Water intake / exit

Water exit/intake

420 m

HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP34

> Small hydropower plants like this one in Austria using a 1.8 MW Pelton turbine can be integrated into the landscape in an environmentally sound way.

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KEY CHALLENGES

SOLUTION 5: MAxIMALLY ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY DEPLOYMENT

> Figure 11: Kaplan turbines can be designed to increase fish survival rate by making the gap between the runner and the hub as small as possible, as in this example. Compare image on the left (minimal gap) with that on the right (wider gap).

Improvements to environmental per-formance that are addressable by the hydro equipment industry are:> Water quality Depending on the nature of a hydro

plant, substances in contact with the water flowing through the turbine can accidentally be released into water-ways. Typically these substances are lubricants.

> Fish survival On passing through a turbine Minimising negative impacts on fish

populations may be possible by vari-ous measures such as adjusting the rotational speed of turbines or using ‘minimum gap’ designs (Figure 11).

Downstream of the turbine Tailwater needs to contain accept-

able levels of oxygen. The European

approach tends to be to pass some water from the top of the upper res-ervoir through the turbine, while in the US, air is compressed and blown into tailwater as it leaves the turbine.

Hydro plant owners must also en-sure that water flow in the waterway downstream of their installation is kept within a particular range (known as ‘Environmental flow’–Box 6. Flexible generation units that can operate well at different flows are necessary. This is a second driver for bringing to market installations that work well over the full range of 0-100% load.

General remarks Fish survival at a given hydro plant

site markedly differs according to fish species. A lot more data needs to be collected in order to predict

fish survival robustly. Multipurpose projects, which may be in areas rich in aquatic life, require particular attention to fish-friendliness.

Fish-friendly designs can imply a loss of revenue for the project owner because water that would have been sent through a turbine is reserved for fish movement, or plants must be taken offline to allow fish migration. It is important therefore to understand the costs and benefits well.

> Integration into the landscape It is possible to build hydro plants

that are completely hidden from view. This is the case of the Venda Nova III (756 MW) pumped storage plant in Portugal where hydro equipment is hidden from view inside the mountain as shown schematically in Figure 10.

BACKGROUNDIf sensitively integrated into existing geo-graphical features, the environmental impacts of hydro plants are, on balance,

> manufacturing> construction> operation> de-commissioning

very benign. Nonetheless, it is important to minimise damage to the environment that can occur during a hydro plant’s lifecycle:

35Hydro Equipment Industry

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PRIORITY R&D acTIvITIes TaRgeTs

1 2015-2018TasK: Design principles for a 100% water-lubricated turbineIt is likely that the use of biodegradable oils as lubricants will increase in European hydro plants, even though these oils are more expensive than non-biodegradable variants and do not perform as well. Legisla-tion might make their use mandatory. As hydro plants are refurbished, some should be adapted to test biodegradable oils designed to perform effectively in the plant’s usual operating mode.The use of biodegradable oils is an interim measure. In the long term, the challenge is to avoid oil and grease altogether in all parts of the turbine, in part by developing new bearings.

60% of new turbines will by 2020 be lubricated by water only; by 2030, 100%.

2 2015-2018TasK: Fish-friendly solutions1) Systematic investigation on selected power stations of a) Fish species most at risk from hydropower projects; b) Correlation between design parameters and survival rates for

different species. Fish populations before and after refurbishments will be com-

pared. Ideally it should be possible to isolate the contribution of different individual enhancements made to:

• runner design • water intakes and outtakes • racks2) Models for fish mortality are created using these findings and CFD

(Figure 12). Models are then applied in test sites with the aim of enabling hydro equipment manufacturers to guarantee a certain survival rate, set at a minimum of 90%. A test rig will be needed to check the effectiveness of turbine designs against the model (See ‘Research infrastructure’, below).

• It is not possible to set targets for fish survival because fully accepted data and understanding of river ecology is lacking.

• Perfect control of oxygen content in tailwater by 2020

3 2015-2025TasK: environment-friendly materialsIdentification of materials with very high environmental performance that do not compromise turbine dynamic stability or manufacturability.

Environmental flow is not considered to be the flow that would exist absent any human intervention in the waterway. It is rather a range of flows that sustain river ecology while allowing economic activity to carry on, including exploitation of a hydropower resource. Hydropower can help (re-)establish environmental flows in a waterway through their ability to ‘dose’ quantities of water.

Box 6: ‘Environmental flow’

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COLLABORATION NEEDEDThese R&D activities may be addressed with collaborative projects as summarised in Table 6:

Actors to involve Projects

Objectif of collabrative project

Material / coating industry

Academic Steel manufacturerTotal cost of

a project /M €

Total external funding needed

for a project /M €

Number of projects for the European

H.E. industry

Design principles for a 100% water-lubricated turbine

✔ ✔ 2 1 1

Fish-friendly design ✔ 5-10 1-7 3

Environment-friendly materials

✔ ✔ ✔ 2-5 1-3 3

Table 6: Collaborative research projects needed.

> Figure 12: Simulation of the flow and the fish path in a turbine runner. Colour indicates pressure level. Such simulations help predict fish survival and optimise the turbine design.

PRIORITY DemOnsTRaTIOn PROjecTs

1 100% water-lubricated plant 2015-2020No component may be lubricated with oil or grease.

PRIORITY ReseaRch InfRasTRucTuRe3

2 european test rig for fish friendliness 2015-2018The rig should assess hydro equipment at 1:20 scale for fish-friendliness

3 The prioritisation of the demonstration project and research infrastructure was considered together. The research infrastructure topic has priority 2.

Hydro Equipment Industry 3737Hydro Equipment Industry

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Implementation plan

2015 2020 2025 2030

Figure 13: Gantt chart of the R&D and demo activities

Providing flexibility in

the electricity system

New generation of hydraulic and mechanical turbine designs

Power electronics and converter technology for hydro projects

System-level simulations

Hydro plant upgraded for better grid balancing

Bulb turbine hydro plant upgraded for Network Code compliance

Increased hydroelectricity production from refurbishment, greenfield and multipurpose

projects

Virtual test rig

Ventilation optimisation and electromagnetic design of generators

Systems for optimised maintenance intervals

Multipurpose project with excellent grid connection and grid stability

• Superconductive generator (10 MW) 4

Superconductive generator at full scale (100 MW) 4

Expanding the deployment

options for pumped storage plants

Standardisation of hydro equipment

Upgrading pure-generation hydro into pumped storage plants

Very-low-head pump-turbine development

Systematic investigation of unconveniontal sites

Small pumped storage plants (1-20 MW) in unconventional sites

Large pumped storage plants (100-500 MW) in unconventional sites

New energy storage concepts using hydraulic equipment to convert electrical energy into concentrated potential energy (1-5 MW)

Full-scale projects using hydraulic equipment to convert electrical energy into concentrated potential energy (100-500 MW)

Small-scale hydro-power: dispatchable generation for the electricity system

Small hydropower plants as providers of flexibility

Small hydro power plant as active component in a VPP

Maximally environment-friendly

deployment

Design principles for a 100% water-lubricated turbine

Fish-friendly solutions

Environment-friendly materials

100% water-lubricated plant

European test rig for fish-friendliness

4 If pioneered by another industry first.

R&D tasks

Demonstration projects

Research infrastructure

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Demonstration projects and budgets

Demonstration project recommendations – 2015 to 2030

H.E. Solution Type of projectTotal cost of a project /M €

Number of projects needed

Total budget /M €

Total external funding needs

/M €

Providing flexibility in the electricity system

Hydro plant upgraded for better grid-balancing 2015-2025

60-200 2-3 975

20-50 M€ (roughly 50% of the non-civil works costs)

Bulb turbine hydro plant upgraded for Network Code compliance 2015-2020

10-20 1 10-20 5-10

Increased hydroelectricity production from refurbishment, greenfield and

multipurpose projects

Multipurpose project with excellent grid connection and stability properties 2015-2020

20-50 3 60-150 30-75

Superconductive generator – 10 MW 2020-2030

10-15 (for generator

cost only)1 10-15 5-8

Superconductive generator at full scale – 100 MW 2020-2030

80-120 1 80-120 40-60

Raising the potential of pumped storage

plants

Small pumped storage plants (1-20 MW) in unconventional sites 2015-2025

5-50 3 15 - 150 7-75

Large pumped storage plants (100-500 MW) in unconventional sites 2015-2030

200-1 000 2 400-2 000 40-200

New energy storage concepts using hydraulic equipment to convert electrical energy into concentrated potential energy (1-5 MW) 2015-2020

5-30 6 30-180 15-90

Full-scale projects using hydraulic equipment to convert electrical energy into concentrated potential energy (100-500 MW) 2015-2020

200-1 000 3 600-3 000 60-300

Small-scale hydropower: dispatchable

generation for the electricity system

Small hydro power plant as active component in a VPP 2015-2030

15-30 4 60-120 30-60

Maximally environment-friendly

deployment

100% water-lubricated plant 2015-2020

5-10 3 15-30 7-15

Table 7: List of the demonstration projects needed to achieve the R&D plan. These projects do not need to be in Europe necessarily. The hydro equipment industry would need a subsidy of roughly 50% of total costs to carry out the work indicated. One exception: the cost of developing and building hydro equipment for projects under the two headings concerning 100-500 MW demonstration novel pumped storage would need to be covered largely by a customer.

Research infrastructure recommendations – 2015 to 2030

H. E. Solution Type of projectTotal cost of

a project /M €Number of projects

neededTotal budget /M €

Total external funding needs /M €

Maximally environment-friendly

deployment

European test rig for fish-friendliness

2015-201810 1 10 10

Table 8: Research infrastructure needing public investment

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 39

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As mentioned above (page 9), roughly 150 M € is spent on R&D annually by Europe’s three largest hydro equipment manufacturers. About a quarter of this amount would be available as in-kind contributions (in the form of personnel time and research infrastructure costs) to collaborative R&D actions (the remaining three quarters would go towards research work contracted by a customer or towards

in-house, non-collaborative projects). The volume of collaborative R&D work could be doubled to 75 M € annually if external sources of funding could be found that cover roughly 50% of the costs.

With reference to Table 7 listing demon-stration projects, multiplying the middle estimates of the total project cost by the number of projects needed and

averaging over 15 years yields an annual volume of work of 40 M €. Performing a similar calculation on our proposals for collaborative R&D projects results in 10 M €. Added together, the volume of external funding needed is approximately 50 M €, which is well inside the 75 M € annually that the hydro equipment industry could spend if subsidies of roughly 50 % were available.

RECONCILING TOTAL R&D SPENDING BY THE INDUSTRY WITH BUDGETS INDICATED FOR R&D AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

40 HYDRO EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP40

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Glossary

• Bladder reservoir : Purely artificial reservoir that expands as it is charged and collapses as it is discharged.

• Cavitation: The formation and then immediate implosion of vapour bubbles in a liquid, resulting in material removal from the

turbine components and consequently modifying their surface and shape. This in turn results in damage to the turbine and

decreases its efficiency and lifetime.

• CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics.

• Demonstration project: Project involving the deployment of an innovative piece of technology or use of an innovative approach

in a real hydro plant.

• DSO: Distribution system operator (i.e. operator of the local low- and medium-voltage grid).

• Efficiency: Defined with respect to a certain operating point, efficiency of turbining is the electrical power from the hydro plant

at that operating point divided by hydraulic power at that operating point. In the context of pumping, it is the increase of the

potential hydraulic energy in the storage reservoir per second divided by the electrical power in.

• DSO: Distribution system operator (i.e. operator of the local low- and medium-voltage grid).

• Electricity system: The universe containing all stakeholders – from power generator to final electricity consumer – including

market actors and their generators or loads and all infrastructure providers (DSOs and TSOs) and their infrastructure and con-

trol systems.

• Greenfield: In this context, describes sites that have never been used for hydroelectricity generation.

• Head: See Figure 6, page 12.

• Hydro equipment: The electro-mechanical equipment needed to produce electricity from hydraulic energy (list in Figure 1, page 7)

or store electricity in the form of hydraulic energy.

• Hydro plant: Term to refer to pure-generation hydropower plants and pumped storage plants collectively. The hydro equipment

industry provides technology for both such plants.

• ICT: Information and communication technology.

• Outage time: Plant downtime (i.e. the plant is not available to operate), which may be planned, or unplanned in the case of

failure or an accident.

• Power density: Generator’s power output divided by its volume.

• Productivity: Annual electricity production from the plant, which depends on efficiency, plant downtime, head and water availability.

• Pumped storage plant: Installation that, unlike a pure-generation hydropower plant, has a motor-generator and either a pump-

turbine or a pump and a turbine. It can store electricity in the form of hydraulic energy as well as produce electricity from the

stored hydraulic energy.

• Pump-turbine: Device that can act both as a pump and a turbine.

• Pure-generation hydropower plant: Installation with a turbining capability but no pumping capability (refer to page 6). Some

have reservoirs for storage. Others (run-of-river plants) do not.

• R&D project: Project aiming for a new discovery that might ultimately be applied in a demonstration project.

• RES: Renewable energy sources (such as hydro, wind or photovoltaic electricity).

• SCADA: Supervisory control and data acquisition (electronic control systems that monitor and control industrial processes).

• Tailwater: The water released after passing through a turbine.

• TSO: Transmission system operator (i.e. operator of the high-voltage grid).

• Turbining: Letting water pass downhill through a turbine to generate electricity (opposite of pumping).

• Turbine runner: Rotating part of a hydro turbine, analogous to the blades of wind turbine.

• VPP: Virtual power plant. Discussed in Solution 4, page 32.

Hydro Equipment Associat ion 41

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References

• CNV 2011: Press release by Converteam 21 Feb 2011, Converteam’s HYDROGENIE superconducting generator successfully

completes landmark testing in the quest for clean energy sources.

• DK 2009: Article on Ingeniøren website dated 26 Sept 2009‚ Danske ingeniører vil gemme vindenergi under 25 meter sand.

• EC 2000: Directive 2000/60/EC, OJ L 327, 23.10.2000, p. 1.

• ENT 2012: ENTSO-E Research & Development Roadmap 2013-2022, Innovation Cluster 4: Market Designs, ENTSO-E,

Dec 2012.

• ERL 2011: Hydro in Europe: Powering Renewables Full Report, Eurelectric, Sept 2011.

• ERL 2013: Hydropower for a sustainable Europe Fact Sheet, Eurelectric, Feb 2013.

• EST 2013: Eurostat database query on 2013-07-24 for net annual electricity production in EU27 + Turkey in 2011 divided by 365.

• FRE 2011: Frontier Economics report for Verbund, Sept 2011, Effiziente Stromspeicher brauchen effiziente Rahmenbedingungen.

• GRI 2012:

- Grimsel 2 unit: Programme of Hydrotagung 2 Nov 2012.

- Capacity of 100 MVA: ABB presentation 10 Sept 2010, The power of the portfolio.

- Soon to enter operation: ABB Schweiz blog post 26 Oct 2012 (‘Informationen über aktuelle Projekte’).

• JRC 2013: Assessment of the European potential for pumped hydropower energy storage, European Commission DG JRC, 2013.

• ICO 2007: Query of the ICOLD World Register of Dams database in 2007. The data was used in a presentation by Alstom to

the World Energy Council 20-24 Sept 2010 in Montreal.

• OPAC: Website of the OPAC project: www.O-PAC.nl

• PCI 2012: Public consultation by the European Commission in 2012 on energy infrastructure projects having a cross-border

impact on the energy supply.

• REN 2010: Deane, J.P., Gallachoir, B.P., McKeogh, E.J. (2010) Techno-economic review of existing and new pumped hydro

energy storage plant. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 12, pp. 1293-1302. Data for China from the U.S. Energy

Information Administration.

• SMA 2013: Summary of Priorities for SmartGrids Research Topics, June 2013, European Technology Platform Smart Grids.

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> After several automated manufacturing steps have been executed with computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, the shapes of the buckets on the runner of a Pelton turbine are ground and polished manually.

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Hydro Equipment AssociationRenewable Energy House63-67 Rue d’ArlonB-1040 BrusselsBelgium

Tel: +32 (0)2 400 10 [email protected]

This HEA Technology Roadmap may be downloaded from:

www.thehea.org/roadmap

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