OPTIMAL-DESIGN OF RUN-OF-RIVER POWER-PLANTS

In optimization of any hydro plant system, the analysis should make use of all information available, including a thorough study of streamflow and civil engineering and electromechanical cost effectiveness. For this purpose a general mathematical model is used for an overall design optimization of run-of-river power plants. The design criteria for such power plants are fundamentally based on some important and critical cost-effective parameters such as discharge design, penstock or tunnel diameter, turbine capacity, number of units and type of turbines. The optimization process consists of three main steps: (1) find the maximum yearly energy; (2) maximize the yearly benefits of all the maximized sets of power plants; and (3) select the most beneficial of the feasible sets of run-of-river power plants on the basis of a combination of the cited criteria. The computational analysis is based upon two major objective functions and a computer program which is developed for fast maximization and optimization of the generated equations.