Gaps in Representations of Hydropower Generation in Steady-State and Dynamic Models

In the evolving power system, where new renewable resources continually displace conventional generation, conventional hydropower resources can be an important asset that helps to maintain reliability and flexibility. Varying climatic patterns do affect the operational pattern of hydropower. This would potentially play a vital role in meeting and delivering energy and meeting climate policy needs. Hydropower is one of the oldest forms of renewable energy resources, however, its dependency on water availability and other constraints are not well represented in power system steady state and dynamic models. This leads to multiple gaps in operations planning especially due to high intermittent renewable generation. Operating constraints and lack of high-quality data often become a barrier to hydropower modeling which leads to inconsistencies in reliability and operational planning studies resulting in unintentional blackouts or unforeseen situations. This paper identifies some of the gaps in hydro-based generation representation in steady-state and dynamic models and provides recommendations for their mitigation.