technology advancement for hydropower industry needs … · 2017. 5. 15. · • self-cleaning...
TRANSCRIPT
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Technology Advancement for Hydropower Industry Needs Perspective
Gia Schneider
May 4, 2017
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Motivations Unlock value in enhanced energy, capacity and ancillary services through small hydro hybridization Baseload operation
Hybridization reduces volatility, improves dispatch
Solar
Wind
Hybrid (Hydro
+Battery+ PV)
Deliver climate resilient distributed water solution by pairing watershed restoration with new hydro → Restoration Hydro
Summer cattle grazing land; 1993
Beavers established a persistent colony, 2012
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Total Potential ~2 GW 12 GW 10-100+ GW
Addressable Market
1 GW “Simple” Dams 5 GW
“Complicated” Dams 7 GW
Degraded watersheds 20-50 GW
Pristine watersheds
Typical Project Size
200 kW-10 MW (aggregated)
2 - 20 MW 2 - 50 MW 2 -50 MW
Market Barrier to Address
Installed Cost Installed Cost
Installed Cost Permitting
Installed Cost Permitting
Opportunity Distributed, flexible energy that hybridizes well with other renewables at delivered LCOE <$60 per MWh; and has opportunity to deliver water benefits such as groundwater recharge
Combine watershed restoration and dam upgrades with new renewable energy production
In-Conduit Non-Powered Dam New Stream Near Term Mid Term Long Term
Low Head Distributed Hydro Markets
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Challenges
Installed Cost Conventional hydro is highly site specific with a lot of excavation; costs dominated by civil works
Permitting Conventional hydropower development is slowed by long permitting timeframes due to environmental, water and some social concerns.
Learn from Wind, Solar Go Modular and Standardize
Go Over Tailwater Eliminate site specific work, particularly excavation
Go Distributed and Low Head “Walk down the stairs”
Go Multi-Benefit Design for water and ecosystem benefits using lessons learned from watershed restoration
Solutions
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Advanced Manufacturing • 3D printing for molds for mass produced, standard components (blades, buckets, etc) made
from advanced composites • Carbon fiber for structural components • Flexible penstocks as one path for floating power house • Use high power computing to refine design for manufacturing Modularity, Standardization • Standardize and modularize equipment • Standardize and modularize balance of plant • Minimize site specific engineering Ecological Design • Identify and prioritize environmental criteria to set engineering criteria • Engineer to achieve optimal plant design for deliver a benefit stack that is built on energy, but
delivers ecosystem and water benefits Big Data + Machine Learning • Site Screening • Monitoring • Operations Optimization
Technology Opportunities
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Solutions: Interactive cloud deployed dashboards updated in real / near real time Developer Dashboard identify, screen, design and develop projects to achieve prioritized results (eg: dispatchable hydro, groundwater recharge, runoff management, wetland restoration, etc) Manager Dashboard connect, monitor and manage distributed projects to create an intelligent, networked, responsive system that optimizes the natural resource productivity of water and watersheds for energy, environment and economics
Design Objective: A knowledge and analytics platform for distributed water+energy projects
Software Innovation
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Design Objective: Build a program to automate detection of potential sites and other features using machine learning applied to visual and near-infrared data.
Machine Learning, Neural Nets
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Design Objective: A plant operations platform for any site and any turbine.
Agile Controls
Freedom Dashboard Simulation
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Building low cost storage into distributed hydro
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● Design equipment package to be modular and standardized like wind, make thousands of the same turbine, instead of custom units
● Design for high performance (90% turbine efficiency) in low pressure, high flow settings
● Design for simplified civil works and installation turbine should sit above tailwater ● Design for safe fish passage ● Design for easy debris handling
Innovation: Turbine Design
• Linear powertrain • Blades made from injection molded
composites • Self-cleaning blades • 90% hydraulic efficiency • Jet deflector: instant depower with no
change in flow rate; no water hammer and no overspeed risk
• Powertrain in air • Sits above tailwater
Free jet hydroEngine: Linear Pelton
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Install over tailwater to reduce excavation and concrete 80% reduction in excavation 40% reduction in civil works cost Simplify, standardize and modularize balance of plant civil works to reach $2,000 to $3,000 per kW installed cost ● standardized pre-fab powerhouse modules
achieve faster construction with reduced schedule risk from weather and excavation related delays
Innovation: Balance of Plant Over Tailwater
Other evaluated options
Leading design
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Invert conventional powerhouse design logic: Buoyancy is a feature, not a bug. Minimize civil works complexity at sites with variable tailwater.
Innovation: Floating Powerhouse
Existence proof: spud barges, common in marine construction.
80% reduction in civil works cost useful at 80% of the NPD market
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● NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Coho Salmon Recovery project in the Klamath Basin using Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs)
Restoration Hydro
Before After
Images and data shared with thanks to NOAA NMFS. Michael Pollock NOAA Fisheries-Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
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NOAA Fisheries Project has demonstrated: ● 30X increase in habitat capacity over the starting baseline condition ● Juvenile fish passage across a BDA side channel with 10% slope and <1 cfs
flow ● Increase in the water table over a span of >1 km
Restoration Hydro
Upstream of the BDA, the water table dropped, while near and downstream of the BDA, the water table rose.
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Pilot Idea: Partner with NOAA NMFS, Pacific Northwest National Labs to demonstrate combination of BDAs for salmon recovery with hydro generation. Key objectives are to demonstrate: ● Habitat creation and fish population recovery ● Fish passage upstream and downstream ● Water benefits incl: groundwater recharge, water table improvements, stream temperature reduction ● $3,000 per kW installed: standardized, modular, over tailwater hydro project design
Restoration Hydro Pilot
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Buckeye Pilot Project commissioned
Fatigue testing program hits 100 million cycles
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
First round of tests at
Alden Hydraulic
Lab
Natel’s onsite hydraulic
performance scale model test facility
comes online
Natel closes first
commercial sale to Apple
First commercial
project commissioned
using fully flooded unit
Natel closes second sale in Maine
Second commercial
project commissioned using free jet
unit
Natel Innovation History