Resilience in Hydropower Operations

The energy landscape has always been standing at a crossroads where technological capabilities, environmental considerations, and societal needs intersect.

When viewing it solely through an environmental lens, we might be tempted to focus only on balancing power generation with preserving ecosystems. Yet the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, driven by climate change, have transformed what was once a predictable operational environment into one marked by uncertainty in all directions.

From sudden floods to prolonged droughts, climate-induced disruptions demand quick thinking and adaptable strategies. Traditional methods of managing hydropower facilities, based on historical weather patterns and seasonal predictions, are becoming less reliable with each passing year.

As a hydropower operator, one must balance multiple, often competing demands: maintaining grid stability, meeting environmental regulations, ensuring community water needs, and maximizing power generation efficiency. All while responding to increasingly volatile energy markets and managing the delicate ecosystem around their facilities.

This paper explores how storage hydropower can simplify the complex operational challenges you face daily while preparing you for your role in the renewable energy transition.

We’ll dive into practical solutions that combine operational expertise with modern technology to create more resilient and efficient hydropower operations in the face of climate change.

The Role of Hydropower in Achieving Renewable Energy Targets

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The effects of climate change are undeniable, with communities across the globe experiencing catastrophic flooding, severe droughts, and unprecedented weather extremes.

Against this backdrop, the transition to renewable energy is a phrase we hear so often it almost starts to lose meaning.  But the need to protect our environment grows more urgent each day, and we have the means to make a difference.

Current global targets call for doubling the renewable energy capacity by 2030 and tripling it by 2050 in order to achieve the 2 degrees global warming cap. As the world’s largest renewable energy, hydropower is an essential part of the solution to climate change.

Recent data shows that hydropower capacity has grown by 115GW in the past five years, yet this is only half the pace needed to stay on track with net zero goals . To meet future demands, the industry must accelerate its build rate by 2030 and maintain this growth through 2050. However, it’s important to note that capacity expansion isn’t limited to new projects. It can be achieved by optimizing existing hydro infrastructure. Through efficient water usage and smart asset management, facilities can increase their capacity by up to 30-40% and significantly contribute to the green transition. This acceleration is crucial not only for direct power generation but also for grid stability and power supply resilience.

As we buckle up for the journey to 2050 with the mission of growing renewable energy use, we need to examine what this transition truly means and how our own actions and daily work impact the bigger picture.

Let’s focus on three key operational aspects of hydropower plants that affect the transition to a greener future and, ultimately, have a real impact on the climate.

Water & Inflow Management

With increasing weather and market volatility, managing water and inflow becomes a stressful task to take on every day. You must respond rapidly to grid fluctuations while maintaining sustainable long-term operations, constantly seeking optimal strategies for water storage.  Your attention to both long-term planning and fine-tuning your daily tasks significantly impacts not just your power plant but also overall grid efficiency, maximizing hydropower’s function in the renewables landscape.

Regulation Compliance

The measures you take to fulfil environmental and operational compliance can be tiresome aspects of your daily work. Environmental awareness goes beyond project development and delivery and into the daily operation of hydropower plants. Production planners and hydrologists aim to comply with multiple ongoing complex environmental regulations while maintaining efficiency in operations. Regulations might seem cumbersome, but they are an indispensable component of a sustainable energy future.

Real-time Decision Making

Accurate production planning requires quick responses to external factors and grid fluctuations. However, real-time decision-making isn’t an innate talent; it’s a skill developed with the right tools. Time is not always on your side when you need to make informed decisions about water release timings and storage levels. In the long run, digital technologies can help optimize your plant’s performance and your decision-making. Even though they seem like a big step to take, they are a significant commitment to the green transition.

Efficiency and Sustainability in Hydropower

Environmental challenges in hydropower operations can be viewed as either a hindrance or an opportunity for transformation. As climate change effects intensify and environmental regulations become more stringent, you have to reimagine how to maximize energy output while minimizing the ecological impact of your work. While some managers creatively adapt traditional solutions, it’s worth noting that these operations were designed for historically stable market conditions. Today’s energy market is, by definition, volatile and fluctuating as electricity grows in demand at a faster pace than the overall energy demand.

Therefore, outdated operations are not only missed opportunities but can unintentionally increase the vulnerability of power and water grids . With growingly unpredictable weather patterns and climate shocks, relying on outdated methods and past market and weather records becomes a fool’s game. Still, a rapid reaction to events is becoming more important than ever.

The Answer to Unpredictability? Efficient Digital Solutions

Due to the urgent pressure of natural events, many forward-thinking power plant managers turn to data management solutions and machine learning as effective strategies to balance electricity generation with environmental protection. This enables them to turn environmental compliance from a constraint into a catalyst for operational efficiency.

Furthermore, while the younger generation entering the workforce is more attuned to the purpose of the green transition, they also require more workplace flexibility and better information access to make informed decisions. An integrated water management platform provides them with both.

When you implement advanced digital solutions, you don’t just reduce your plant’s environmental footprint. You can respond in real time to weather events, minimize water losses, and maximize your electricity market revenues automatically while ensuring environmental and operational safety as well as compliance with regulations.

For example, smart water management systems can simultaneously maintain environmental flows, optimize power generation schedules, and alert operators about ideal maintenance timing and even commercial risk factors. The modern hydropower industry demonstrates that environmental consciousness and business performance can strengthen each other, pointing to a future where both objectives are achieved at the same time.

Hydropower’s Impact: Benefits, Trade-offs, and Real Opportunities

Hydropower, as a leading source of electricity in many countries (e.g., Norway, Canada, Brazil), is crucial for the global shift toward carbon neutrality. Yet, we must acknowledge certain trade-offs.

The water used for power generation is also needed for drinking water, irrigation, and flood control, so you have a responsibility to manage it wisely, minimizing the impact it has on the environment.

Like any large infrastructure project, the construction of a hydropower facility has significant local impacts on communities and the environment, particularly in river and floodplain ecosystems. Ecological and hydrologic alterations, such as building a new dam, impact aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in a multitude of ways, including fragmentation, flow modification, greenhouse gas emission, and changes in species composition. As a result, environmental regulations worldwide require hydropower facilities to maintain adequate water flow to downstream riverine ecosystems.

For you, these environmental directives might seem like a limitation in your power plant’s flexibility and an additional source of stress for your daily operations. However, these constraints are meant to protect the water system your plant operates in.

So how can we make sure that all stakeholders, especially hydropower developers and operators, maximize their own project benefits while avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating any negative impacts on the environment?

Let’s explore the balancing act between environmental impact and energy production and discover how constraints can be transformed into opportunities for your plant management.

Downstream Water Release

Environmental flow is about maintaining optimal water flows within river systems to support aquatic life and prevent water systems from freezing in some geographies. Minimum flow rates must be maintained at all times, regardless of energy production or economic considerations. Flow rate restrictions are meant to help you plan water release schedules to protect fish populations.

Turbine ramping affects downstream infrastructure and habitats. In certain areas, fish populations or recreational fishing seasons require restricted ramping and specific considerations in water level management. Knowing how to control the rates of discharge variation prevents sudden water level fluctuations and current formation and diminishes the effects of turbine ramping.

Dams create artificial reservoirs that significantly impact migration patterns and wildlife habitats, from fish populations needing to navigate through dam structures to birds and mammals depending on natural river conditions. When you plan production, you must account for seasonal migration patterns of local species, implement measures to ensure safe passage through dam systems and minimize disruption to breeding grounds and feeding areas.

Bridges, riverbanks, and other built structures are vulnerable to excessive water flow. Water release restrictions protect these structures from erosion and structural damage, preventing safety hazards. Additionally, water quality and sediment transport need constant monitoring to minimize the impact on downstream infrastructure.

Reservoir Levels

Preserving habitats also highly depends on reservoir levels. The amount of water that can be kept in a reservoir may be limited by certain regulations or social factors, such as practicing water sports in summer. It’s common for power plant operators like you to experience challenging regulatory and reservoir-level fluctuations throughout the year, which is why you still need to keep a level of flexibility in your planning and decision-making.

Floods and Droughts

Recent years have seen an unprecedented increase in extreme weather events globally. In 2023, severe flooding in Libya caused by Storm Daniel resulted in over 4,000 deaths, while prolonged droughts in the Horn of Africa affected millions of people. According to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate 2024 report, these extreme weather and climate events continue leading to massive economic and human losses, which makes water management infrastructure a critical piece in building climate resilience.

It might seem like nothing can be done to prepare and better manage weather events of this magnitude, but it’s not quite so. Your hydropower facility plays a crucial role in both flood control and drought management. By thoughtfully balancing power generation with water management objectives in your own plant, you are a vital part of building climate resilience.

From Constraints to Flexibility

How can you respect the environment, adhere to these constraints, and still be flexible and quick in your operations? It’s time to delegate and automate.

Enter HYDROGRID Insight, your digital hydro control room, with a dedicated Environmental and Compliance Module. This will enable you to easily oversee restrictions and plan maintenance at the right time, all while making sure you manage water in the most efficient way possible.

And just like your power plant, HYDROGRID Insight is not limited to environmental constraint management. Since any plant is simultaneously part of two interconnected, dynamic systems – a power system and a water system – it always accounts for constraints with limited operational resources.

HYDROGRID Insight uses an integrated approach, bringing production planning, constraint and maintenance management, and power trading – all under one single hood.

Over the past years, our team has seen all manner of constraints. We have helped dozens of plants become fully compliant, accountable, and transparent.

The Environment Without Hydropower:
‍A Hypothetical Scenario

Let’s imagine for a second: how would a world without hydropower look like? And what makes hydropower’s role as a “green battery” so special in our energy landscape?

Think of hydropower as a good night’s sleep for our electrical grid. Just as your body needs consistent, reliable rest to function well, our power grid needs a stable, dependable energy source. When you don’t get a full night’s sleep, you fight the lack of energy with quick fixes, like coffee, tea, or energy drinks. Similarly, other renewable sources like wind and solar fluctuate throughout the day based on weather conditions, making them less reliable as standalone solutions.

Hydropower provides that essential stability, acting as a “green battery.” Just as nothing can truly replace a good night’s sleep for your body’s energy needs, no other renewable energy source can match hydropower’s unique ability to provide both clean energy and large-scale storage.

In the absence of hydropower, the energy landscape would face significant challenges in maintaining grid stability and achieving renewable energy goals.

Grid Stability Challenges

Without hydropower’s flexible storage and generation capabilities, power grids would struggle to maintain stability when wind and solar generation fluctuate. The system would require massive investments in alternative storage solutions, primarily batteries, which come with their own environmental concerns.

Environmental Impact of Alternative Storage

Relying solely on batteries for energy storage would present several environmental challenges:

• Increased demand for critical materials like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements

• Environmental degradation from mining these materials

• Shorter infrastructure lifespan compared to hydropower facilities

• Significant waste management challenges from battery disposal

In this case, the critical materials required for photovoltaic panels and batteries would become crucial resources for countries with limited availability. An optimized use of water basins would be a truly valuable solution to moderate the need for new and costly energy storage technologies such as batteries

Increased Reliance on Fossil Fuels

The absence of hydropower would likely lead to increased dependence on fossil fuel power plants to provide the necessary grid stability and baseload power. This would significantly impact emission reduction goals and slow down the transition to a clean energy future. With their unmatched flexibility and storage capability, hydropower systems facilitate the transition away from fossil fuels – a shift that both research evidence and international energy policies strongly endorse.

Economic Implications

A study of the China Southern Power Grid reveals that, in a 2050 net-zero grid, adapting hydropower operations could simultaneously reduce total system costs and save huge amounts of water each year, highlighting the role of hydropower as a reliable green battery for the grid.

Globally, the absence of hydropower would require substantial investments in alternative energy technologies and storage solutions. Additionally, the ongoing maintenance and replacement costs of alternative technologies like battery storage systems would create sustained economic pressure on both the public and private sectors, affecting everything from consumer electricity prices to industrial competitiveness.

A Predictable Future with Smarter Hydro Operations

Now that hydropower’s role is undeniable, how can you reinforce your own role in the green transition? And how can you bring some predictability into your work?

While climate change is reshaping weather patterns, it’s still in your power to choose how to respond to the new challenges you are facing. Rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events make the traditional operational strategies less reliable. This unpredictability affects everything from water availability to seasonal flow patterns, ultimately affecting you, your team, and your operational environment.

However, with challenges come opportunities. Modern technology and smart management of operations can help hydropower facilities maintain their crucial role in the renewable energy landscape while adapting to changing conditions.

Let’s explore how modern solutions can help address your key operational concerns.

Increased Efficiency with Inflow Forecasting

Accurate inflow forecasting is crucial for optimal reservoir management and production planning. Relying on historical data and basic models has become risky due to changing weather patterns. You need accurate information, quick decision-making, and simultaneously a long-term holistic overview.

As artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize industries across the globe, it’s no surprise that the hydropower sector is also starting to embrace this technology.

Advanced machine learning algorithms help you:

• Analyze multiple data sources: weather forecasts, snowmelt predictions, and historical inflow records.

• Review accurate and timely inflow forecasts.

• Manage reservoirs better and optimize the balance between power generation and water conservation.

• Make informed decisions about water release schedules and reduce spillage.

• Fulfill both environmental requirements and production goals.

Optimized Maintenance Timing

It’s no secret that weather unpredictability poses a significant financial challenge and can lead to substantial revenue losses for hydro. Additionally, rapid weather changes require you to modify your production schedules at short notice.

So, what is the best way to handle maintenance planning and timing? Traditional scheduling approaches might seem like the easiest way forward, but the fact is that they often lead to unnecessary revenue losses. To become more competitive, you must anticipate and prevent potential issues before they impact your operations and strategically plan an outage when it is most economically relevant.

For example, it might be worthwhile to schedule maintenance during the weekend. Despite higher labor costs, you might reduce downtime costs since power prices can be lower.

A data-driven approach to maintenance timing can help you:

• Identify optimal maintenance windows by analyzing price and inflow forecasts.

• Quantify the cost-benefit analysis of different maintenance schedules.

• Coordinate maintenance across multiple units or cascaded plants.

• Make informed decisions about typical trade-offs.

• Minimize revenue loss during necessary downtimes.

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Workload & Shift Management

Different teams rely on various tools and data sources for water management, from operational data to environmental regulations or market dynamics. This often leads to inefficient sync meetings and lengthy email chains to gather information, hindering collaboration and compromising decision quality.

With shift work being critical for your plant’s performance, a centralized system becomes decisive for information to flow smoothly between shifts without the risk of miscommunication or oversights. This becomes especially important during extreme weather events or emergency situations where quick, coordinated responses are so important.

What you need is a single source of truth that funnels data from all relevant stakeholders. A good digital solution can streamline handovers and create an intuitive, collaborative space for informed decision-making at all levels and across organizations of all sizes.

Digital dashboards help you:

• Provide real-time collaboration and information sharing across teams.

• Maintain clear communication channels during critical operations.

• Better manage handovers and operational decisions across shifts.

• Make quick decisions through shared dashboards and analytics.

Informed Investment Decisions

Environmental changes and regulations are not only a daily chore, but they may even require substantial modifications to your plant’s setup, including turbines, reservoir configurations, or storage capacity. In the face of such changes, you must first assess the financial implications for your business. What is the impact of building new hydropower plants, adding reservoirs, replacing turbines, or acquiring power plants? These are critical questions, and you cannot afford to wait years before understanding the realistic consequences or the potential risk factors.

A smart assessment tool will help you:

• Calculate revenue potential.

• Evaluate operational constraints.

• Identify commercial risk factors.

• Compare different dispatch strategies, storage options, and turbine specifications.

By embracing advanced simulation capabilities and real-time data analytics, you can make well-informed decisions that align with both your operational goals and your environmental commitments.

Are you ready to embark on the journey toward the green transition while making sure your facility remains competitive and sustainable in the long term?

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The Digital Solution You Need: HYDROGRID Insight

HYDROGRID Insight is your comprehensive solution for modern hydropower operations. The platform addresses all key operational challenges through a single, integrated interface that evolves with your needs.

You can’t control the weather, but you can control your response to it with our digital hydro control room.

Inflow Forecasting

HYDROGRID Insight collects, stores, and analyzes all your static and variable data, as well as your input, to offer you real-time inflow forecasts and aligned production plans geared at achieving your objectives.

Using multiple ML models trained on your hydropower plant, HYDROGRID Insight generates real-time inflow forecasts from day-ahead to 12-month spans, water value calculations, flood and drought prevention and control, and more.

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This advanced solution helps you:

• Improve the accuracy of your day-ahead planning, which minimizes costs and maximizes profit.

• Stay in complete control of all processes: Fully customize all your automation to enhance human intelligence and minimize human error.

• Gain valuable reaction time in short-term planning and a holistic overview of your long-term production planning.

Maintenance Timing Optimization

Gone are the days of old-fashioned maintenance schedules that impact your revenue. Our maintenance timing tool analyzes market conditions, weather patterns, and operational data to:

• Identify optimal maintenance windows that minimize financial impact.

• Coordinate maintenance across multiple units efficiently.

• Calculate cost-benefit scenarios for different maintenance timings.

• Provide clear visibility into the financial implications of maintenance decisions.

Workload Management

It’s time to transform how your teams collaborate and make decisions. HYDROGRID Insight brings together critical information from all teams, giving each specialist the insights they need. This enables you to:

• Plan production with precision and foresight.

• Quickly dispatch your most valuable water by comparing all assets at a glance.

• Access key metrics instantly for quick decision-making.

• Monitor real-time data while planning for the future.

• Keep all stakeholders synchronized with live information, such as constraints, strategy adjustments, and telemetry updates.

• Maintain a clear record of all decisions and actions.

• Execute seamless shift handovers with thorough documentation.

Investment Decision Simulation

Making significant investment decisions in hydropower infrastructure and operations can be daunting when faced with climate uncertainties and evolving market conditions - one wrong choice could impact operations and revenue for decades to come. HYDROGRID Insight’s Investment Decision Simulation module helps you:

• Make revenue projections based on historical plant data.

• Evaluate different operational constraints and flexibility scenarios.

• Compare different dispatch strategies, storage, turbine & spillway specifications.

• Visualize potential outcomes and risks based on different market and weather scenarios.

• Improve ROI Analytics aligned with market opportunities.

• Evaluate the ROI potential of a prospected new asset before acquisition.

By bringing all these features together in one intuitive platform, HYDROGRID Insight transforms complex operational challenges and uncertainties into manageable processes you master. The platform can be configured and grown with your needs, incorporating new technologies and adapting to changing market conditions.

Don’t let unpredictable weather patterns and complex operational challenges hold you back. You know what you have to do.

Take the first step toward exploring the full potential of your water with HYDROGRID Insight and discover how to revolutionize your operations, enhance efficiency, and secure your position in the renewable energy future. With HYDROGRID Insight, you’re not just managing a power plant. You’re future-proofing your operations for the next generation of hydropower.

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