Complementary operation with wind and photovoltaic power induces the decrease in hydropower efficiency

Cheng, Qiansheng; Liu, Pan; Feng, Maoyuan; Cheng, Lei; Ming, Bo; Luo, Xinran; Liu, Weibo; Xu, Weifeng; Huang, Kangdi; Xia, Jun

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121006

Cited by 26 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Ref. 32 reports a 4% decrease in simulated generation because of efficiency losses associated with operating for complementarity with wind and solar. Flexible operations could also lead to more spilled energy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower capacity factors trending down in the United States

Turner,

Ghimire,

Hansen

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

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The United States hydropower fleet has faced increasing environmental and regulatory pressures over the last half century, potentially constraining total generation. Here we show that annual capacity factor has declined at four fifths of United States hydropower plants since 1980, with two thirds of decreasing trends significant at p < 0.05. Results are based on an analysis of annual energy generation totals and nameplate capacities for 610 plants (>5 megawatt), representing 87% of total conventional hydropower capacity in the United States. On aggregate, changes in capacity factor imply a fleetwide, cumulative generation decrease of 23% since 1980 before factoring in capacity upgrades—akin to retiring a Hoover Dam once every two to three years. Changes in water availability explain energy decline in only 21% of plants, highlighting the importance of non-climatic drivers of generation, including deterioration of plant equipment as well as changes to dam operations in support of nonpower objectives.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower capacity factors trending down in the United States

Turner,

Ghimire,

Hansen

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

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“…Fan et al reviewed the complementary potential of renewable energy resources (i.e., wind, solar, and hydropower) for different regions in China, which helped to increase the penetration rate of renewable energy and the complementarity of multiple energy sources [17]. Cheng et al investigated the changes in hydropower efficiency under a wind-solar-hydro hybrid power system and results revealed that the hydropower efficiency decreases compared with separate operation [18]. Han et al proposed a series of assessment indices to evaluate the fluctuation of the independent and wind-solar-hydro power hybrid system in which results showed that the proposed method has higher accuracy [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational Characteristics Assessment of a Wind–Solar–Hydro Hybrid Power System with Regulating Hydropower

Li,

Tong,

Zhang

et al. 2023

Water

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Renewable energy generation technology, as an alternative to traditional coal-fired power generation, is receiving increasing attention. However, the intermittent characteristics of wind and solar energy pose certain challenges to the stable operation of power grids. This requires a better understanding of the operational characteristics of renewable energy to improve the comprehensive efficiency. To achieve this, firstly, four indicators (i.e., average fluctuation magnitude, Richards–Baker flashiness, average climbing rate, and change in the time-averaged value) within a single-evaluation-indicator framework are proposed to quantitatively evaluate the fluctuation characteristics of wind, solar, and hydropower and a wind–solar–hydro hybrid power system. Secondly, a comprehensive evaluation indicator is developed by scientifically assigning and recombining the four indicators using entropy weight theory. Furthermore, the comprehensive evaluation index is applied to the wind–solar–hydro hybrid power system to determine the operational characteristics of subsystems and a complementary system at different time scales. Finally, the load tracking coefficient and coupling degree are used to quantify the complementarity degree of the hybrid power system. It is found that the fluctuation degree of the hybrid power system is smaller than that of the individual power system. Meanwhile, both fluctuation and complementary characteristics are strengthened with the increase in time scale. The proposed methods and results shift the volatility from an abstract concept to concrete representation, providing a new perspective and reference for evaluating the operational characteristics of the hybrid power system to achieve power system planning and scheduling.

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