Review of Existing Hydroelectric Turbine-Governor Simulation Models
This report is the first in a series of documents to be issued in the course of a DOE project titled “Modeling and Analysis of Value of Advanced Pumped Storage Hydropower in the U.S.” We are all intimately familiar with small energy storage devices; we use batteries of various types in our cell phones and other electronic devices as well as the more traditional battery powered devices such as flashlights and radios. However, storing large amounts of energy, on the scale that would be useful for a utility-scale power system, has been a much more challenging task. While several new technologies are being developed, pumped storage hydro is the most widely employed method available for storing large amounts of energy to supply electricity. The basic concept of pumped storage is quite simple: electricity is used to pump water up to an elevated reservoir, where the energy can be stored as potential energy until it is needed; then electricity is generated by letting the water flow back down thorough a turbine/generator. Of course, since there is a loss of energy due to the pumping and generating cycle (as low as 10% for some new plants), there must be an economic incentive for the storage, such as a variation in electricity prices between times of pumping and generating.