Periodic Reporting for period 1 - iAMP-Hydro (intelligent Asset Management Platform for Hydropower operation and maintenance)
Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-03-31
The EU electricity sector is undergoing a fundamental change with the increase of the digitalisation of energy systems and the increase in intermittent renewable sources. As a result, these systems are more deeply monitored, and artificial intelligence and big-data are implemented in daily operations. Hydropower represents one-sixth of global electricity generation and the majority of renewable energy generation. It also provides a significant contribution to grid flexibility and energy security, as it can modulate generation very rapidly and be stopped and restarted smoothly. This enables as greater penetration of intermittent wind and solar power in the grid. Current estimations show that the digitalisation of the world's 1,225 GW of existing hydro could increase annual production by 42 TWh, which amounts to $5 billion US in annual operational savings, significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and improvements in the sustainability of hydropower.
However much of the EU hydropower fleet requires modernisation and refurbishment actions. Modernisation actions related to digitalisation in the short to medium term have the potential to make a significant impact on the efficiency, sustainability and predictability of existing hydropower plants. Digitalisation of hydropower can deliver enhanced services, increase grid flexibility, aid environmental and socio-economic sustainability, and foster the general green and digital transition in Europe.
The iAMP-Hydro project will improve the digital operation of existing hydropower plants through the development of 6 expected results (R) which will collectively form iAMP - a novel intelligent Asset Management Platform (see result R5 in Fig. 1) encompassing secure open and transparent data sharing protocols (R4) and three novel digital solutions: R1. Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance modelling; R2. Ecological status monitoring and water management; R3. Improved weather and flow forecasting. The full package of digital solutions will be validated at a diverse set of five real-world existing hydropower plants producing evidence for policy making to support the green and digital transition of hydropower (R6).
iAMP-Hydro includes five existing hydropower plants as test sites which include differing power capacities, electromechanical equipment type, water end-use, flow and head regimes, climatic conditions, and environmental sensitivities (biodiversity).
The project will increase the technology competitiveness of existing hydro by reducing O&M costs by 5-10%, improving generation and revenues, increasing flexibility and data-driven decision making in hydropower operations. It will also increase the market penetration of renewables in the grid by 8.4 TWh, and getting closer to the EU 2030 Climate and Energy targets, and EU green deal.
iAMP-Hydro will improve environmental and socio-economic sustainability of the existing hydropower fleet by reducing operating costs by €1 billion per annum, reducing CO2 emissions by 1260 tonnes, creating 10,000 future-proof jobs, and enabling environmentally sustainable flow regulation using digital solutions.
The project will advance the scientific basis for hydropower digitalization by developing, validating and providing a roadmap for the further development of 5 new digital technologies. We will produce 10 peer reviewed journal publications and 20 conference publications.
However much of the EU hydropower fleet requires modernisation and refurbishment actions. Modernisation actions related to digitalisation in the short to medium term have the potential to make a significant impact on the efficiency, sustainability and predictability of existing hydropower plants. Digitalisation of hydropower can deliver enhanced services, increase grid flexibility, aid environmental and socio-economic sustainability, and foster the general green and digital transition in Europe.
The iAMP-Hydro project will improve the digital operation of existing hydropower plants through the development of 6 expected results (R) which will collectively form iAMP - a novel intelligent Asset Management Platform (see result R5 in Fig. 1) encompassing secure open and transparent data sharing protocols (R4) and three novel digital solutions: R1. Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance modelling; R2. Ecological status monitoring and water management; R3. Improved weather and flow forecasting. The full package of digital solutions will be validated at a diverse set of five real-world existing hydropower plants producing evidence for policy making to support the green and digital transition of hydropower (R6).
iAMP-Hydro includes five existing hydropower plants as test sites which include differing power capacities, electromechanical equipment type, water end-use, flow and head regimes, climatic conditions, and environmental sensitivities (biodiversity).
The project will increase the technology competitiveness of existing hydro by reducing O&M costs by 5-10%, improving generation and revenues, increasing flexibility and data-driven decision making in hydropower operations. It will also increase the market penetration of renewables in the grid by 8.4 TWh, and getting closer to the EU 2030 Climate and Energy targets, and EU green deal.
iAMP-Hydro will improve environmental and socio-economic sustainability of the existing hydropower fleet by reducing operating costs by €1 billion per annum, reducing CO2 emissions by 1260 tonnes, creating 10,000 future-proof jobs, and enabling environmentally sustainable flow regulation using digital solutions.
The project will advance the scientific basis for hydropower digitalization by developing, validating and providing a roadmap for the further development of 5 new digital technologies. We will produce 10 peer reviewed journal publications and 20 conference publications.
The main activities performed in the iAMP-Hydro project during the 1st 18 months of activity have focused on the development of sensors, methods, data handling and platform architecture, and development of sensors in the field.
The project has completed a number of work packages in respective of these activities. We have developed a condition monitoring sensor suite for the digitalisation of operation and maintenance activities in hydropower plants (WP2). This sensor suite has been installed in our five demonstration plants (WP12). We have also developed our ecological status monitor (WP4) and installed this in the field (WP12). We have developed flow forecasting models for several of our five demonstration plants (WP6) using AI and conventional approaches. We have made significant progress in the development of the data handling and programme architecture for the development of the iAMP-Hydro data-driven optimisation and decision support platform.
With this work the project is on track to move from development for most of the work to the validation phase where focus will shift to continued R&D using real-world application data.
The project has completed a number of work packages in respective of these activities. We have developed a condition monitoring sensor suite for the digitalisation of operation and maintenance activities in hydropower plants (WP2). This sensor suite has been installed in our five demonstration plants (WP12). We have also developed our ecological status monitor (WP4) and installed this in the field (WP12). We have developed flow forecasting models for several of our five demonstration plants (WP6) using AI and conventional approaches. We have made significant progress in the development of the data handling and programme architecture for the development of the iAMP-Hydro data-driven optimisation and decision support platform.
With this work the project is on track to move from development for most of the work to the validation phase where focus will shift to continued R&D using real-world application data.
The key project results beyond the state of the art include:
1. Development of a transferable sensor suite for hydropower plant condition monitoring in a digtal framework (WP2)
2. Development of a methodology for the creation of digital twin models of the fluid dynamics of existing hydropower plants in the absence of detailed geometric data (WP3)
3. Development of an ecological sensor suite with monitoring capabilities for total dissolved gas, pH, temperature, depth, and oxygen level. Including new digital interface replacing previous analogue versions and novel communication platform capability (WP4)
4. Development of an improved flow forecasting methodology using an ensemble approach including AI techniques and conventional hydrological modelling (WP6)
5. Development of an improved failure detection methodology for hydropower turbines using digital sensor data (WP3).
6. Development of the data and system architecture of the iAMP-Hydro intelligent asset management platform (WP8-10).
These results beyond the state of the art represent the initial progress of the project, with significantly more to come. As such it remains too soon for the potential impacts of these to be realised as other elements of the project work must be completed before substantial impacts are delivered.
1. Development of a transferable sensor suite for hydropower plant condition monitoring in a digtal framework (WP2)
2. Development of a methodology for the creation of digital twin models of the fluid dynamics of existing hydropower plants in the absence of detailed geometric data (WP3)
3. Development of an ecological sensor suite with monitoring capabilities for total dissolved gas, pH, temperature, depth, and oxygen level. Including new digital interface replacing previous analogue versions and novel communication platform capability (WP4)
4. Development of an improved flow forecasting methodology using an ensemble approach including AI techniques and conventional hydrological modelling (WP6)
5. Development of an improved failure detection methodology for hydropower turbines using digital sensor data (WP3).
6. Development of the data and system architecture of the iAMP-Hydro intelligent asset management platform (WP8-10).
These results beyond the state of the art represent the initial progress of the project, with significantly more to come. As such it remains too soon for the potential impacts of these to be realised as other elements of the project work must be completed before substantial impacts are delivered.