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Research theme: Digital solutions for predictive maintenance of existing hydropower plant operations
Supervisor: Professor Aonghus Mc Nabola
Bhaskar is a doctoral student involved in the iAMP-Hydro project which is focused on the development of solutions for the optimization of the operation of the existing hydropower fleet in Europe. The objective is to increase the profitability, flexibility, predictability, and sustainability of the existing hydropower fleet.
When compared to most other generation technologies, hydropower plants should have a very high level of availability and a longer life lifespan, with over 95% availability conceivable under favorable circumstances (World Bank, 2020). Their ability to modulate generation swiftly facilitates integration of intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind in the European energy market. However, the ageing hydropower fleet in Europe is required to operate more flexibly than ever to fulfill the energy demands and support grid balancing services. Consequently, hydraulic turbines are often pushed to operate in extreme off-design situations, which accelerates their susceptibility to damage, eventually leading to higher failure rates.
The condition of the turbines affects both the operational safety and financial performance of hydropower plants. Thus, it is acknowledged that integrating data-driven digital tools into their condition monitoring (CM) system is crucial. This research is concentrated on addressing these issues with an aim to develop novel CM tools that will enable predictive maintenance using real-time monitoring of variables including vibration, acoustics, flow, and pressure. Data will be collected over various stages to characterize normal operating conditions, initiation and evolution of damage, failure states and post repair conditions.
Real-world hydropower plant data from five EU sites, along with lab-based experimental data will be studied and compared with the computer-based simulations. Reliability of the CM tool will be validated at various hydropower demo sites. The CM tool is expected to increase the plant availability and reduce O&M cost by 5-10%, helping to increase the penetration of other renewable energy sources in the European grid.