In storage hydropower systems, water is kept in a reservoir upstreams of the power plant. By opening the water ways, electricity can be produced on demand, as long as there is water in the reservoir.
To maximize the value of the hydro power production, knowledge about how much and when the water flows into reservoirs from the catchment areas around them is essential. This is especially important during the snow melting season.
Expert Analytics is one of the major contributors to the open source platform Shyft!
Approach
We developed Shyft as a joint effort with Statkraft, combining data driven and physics based modeling to more accurately predict the water flow in the catchment areas. Shyft is able to fully utilize distributed weather and terrain data, to create an accurate hydrological state. This makes it possible to model snow smelting and to adapt new weather patterns, e.g., caused by climate changes. To maximize performance we implemented it as a hybrid system (C++/Python).
Impact
Shyft is released as an Open Source Software. Both the Norwegian hydro power industry and academia to use it extensively and and contribute to further development.