Hydro Pumped Storage - DOE Award to Support Development of Advanced Water Power Technologies

Aug. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- Hydropower Grid Services to maximize the benefits of hydropower technologies

A consortium headed by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has been selected by the Department of Energy to develop new methods to quantify and maximize the benefits that conventional hydropower and pumped storage hydropower provide to transmission grids.  For a period of two years, DOE will provide up to $1.5 million for this effort.

LCG as a member of the consortium will assist EPRI to develop and demonstrate an innovative approach using UPLAN, an industry-proven modeling tool, at the unit level, the plant level, the system level, and the regional/national level, over multiple time scales ranging from hours to years in order to quantify and maximize the benefits provided by conventional and pumped storage hydroelectric projects to transmission grids.

Because of the large role hydro plays in the West, the anticipated increase in renewable portfolio in the West aided by California’s postulated 33% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2020 and the proposed carbon trade policy, the team has selected the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) as the region of study.

“LCG will simulate the WECC electricity system using its proprietary UPLAN model and the hybrid WECC-California database for the study years 2010 through 2020.  Our primary objective is to develop a realistic WECC model to demonstrate how existing and new conventional and pumped storage hydro can bring benefits to the grid to meet the proposed RPS requirements in the West,” said Sidart Deb, Vice President of Operations at LCG.  

About LCG Consulting:
With more than 25 years of experience, LCG Consulting is a pioneer and market leader in modeling the competitive energy market.  LCG offers a full range of consulting services and specialized software products including the UPLAN Network Power Model and regional PLATO databases which are widely adopted for simulating electric systems.  

Contact: Sidart Deb
LCG Consulting
Phone: (650) 962-9670
http://www.EnergyOnline.com

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With more than 20 years of experience, LCG Consulting is a pioneer in modeling the competitive energy market. LCG Consulting offers a full range of consulting services for the electric and gas industries.