Abstract
The role of hydropower as a renewable and balancing power source is
expected to significantly increase in a Net Zero Emissions by 2050
scenario. As a common phenomenon in hydropower plants, hydropeaking will
become more prominent, resulting in additional stresses on the
ecological status of rivers. Here we propose a novel approach to design
and operate auxiliary reservoirs called re-regulation reservoirs that
aims to mitigate the adverse impacts of hydropeaking on rivers. A
re-regulation reservoir aims at smoothing flow fluctuations caused by
hydropeaking by diverting and retaining parts of high flows and
returning them back to river corridors during low flows. The regulatory
performance of re-regulation reservoirs is a function of its geometry
and volume availability. It is defined (and optimized) by restricting
various flow components thresholds. Using actual data from a
hydropeaking-influenced river system, the operation and efficiency of
potential re-regulation reservoir have been investigated by employing a
range of thresholds for hydropeaking mitigation. A methodology and an
open-access algorithm to operate re-regulation reservoirs, by
establishing a hierarchy of conditions to restrict peak flow, minimum
flow, up-ramping rates, and down-ramping rates was developed. Our
calculations show clear theoretical possibilities for regulating
hydropeaking with re-regulation reservoirs, while offering several
advantages, including greater flexibility and adaptability to changing
environmental conditions, power, and water demand without increasing the
operational cost of power systems.