This report seeks to evaluate the flexibility in a number of Fortum’s hydropower stations. The deregulation of the Nordic electricity market has put an emphasis on revenue maximizing rather than cost minimizing and there are good indications that flexible assets will be even more valuable in the future when more wind power has been introduced into the system. Through interviews with people involved in the hydropower planning and operation process a number of factors with the potential of affecting the flexibility or causing deviations between planned and realized operation have been identified and explained. These interviews have also been used to identify main flexibility limitations in studied stations, and what potentially could be done to improve the flexibility. A data analysis has been performed where historical data from planned and realized operation and results from a model developed in Matlab has been studied. The developed linear programming model is used as a reference level of an idealized theoretical potential for flexibility. Volume weighted average prices have been used to measure and compare the flexibility of studied stations. The analysis shows that the studied stations can be divided into two groups with regards to their flexibility compared to the modeled flexibility. This result is somewhat confirmed by the interview findings. Factors related to constraints imposed by water rights seem to have the biggest single impact on the flexibility of hydropower stations. The potential for flexible operation varies with season and the planned and realized operation is closer to the modeled results during the winter. It is a general opinion within the organization that there is a potential for a more flexible utilization of many hydropower stations. Experience, resources, understanding in how to fully utilize the reservoirs, and how multiple stations in a river reach can be coordinated are keys to improving the flexibility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-167674 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Crona, Mats |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för teknikvetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | UPTEC ES, 1650-8300 ; 12001 |
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