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Hydro storage node

The reference storage node, RefStorage is quite flexible with respect to the individual storage behaviours, that is cyclic (both representative and strategic) or accumulating as it is included as parametric type using the individual storage behaviours. In addition, it allows for modelling charge and storage level as different storage parameters. It is, however, not possible at the moment to provide a discharge capacity required in hydropower modelling. Furthermore, it is not possible to include an inflow to the storage node, except through artifically creating a source node representing the water flowing into the node.

Hence, it is necessary to include a specific hydropower storage node.

Introduced types and their fields

The HydroStorage abstract type is used to simplify the design of the constraints. It has in its current stage two concrete subtypes, HydroStor and PumpedHydroStor. Both types utilize the same main functionality, although PumpedHydroStor allows for utilizing electricity to store more water. The two nodes are designed to work with the cyclic storage behaviors. HydroStor and PumpedHydroStor should mainly be used for aggregated hydropower descriptions.

Input, output, and stored resource

Although hydro reservoir store water, we have to assume in the current implementation that electricity is stored. The key reason for this is that we do not support in the modelling approach a conversion from the variable $\texttt{flow\_in}$ of a resource to a different stored resource.

For detailed hydropower modeling, see Detailed hydropower.

Standard fields

The standard fields are given as:

  • id:
    The field id is only used for providing a name to the node. This is similar to the approach utilized in EnergyModelsBase.
  • charge::EMB.UnionCapacity:
    The charge storage parameters must include a capacity. More information can be found on storage parameters.
    Meaning in boths nodes

    The charge field is only included for PumpedHydroStor nodes while HydroStor do not allow for flow into the node.

  • level::EMB.UnionCapacity:
    The level storage parameters must include a capacity. More information can be found on storage parameters.
  • discharge::EMB.UnionCapacity:
    The discharge storage parameters must include a capacity. More information can be found on storage parameters.
    Permitted values for storage parameters in `charge`, `level`, and `discharge`

    If the node should contain investments through the application of EnergyModelsInvestments, it is important to note that you can only use FixedProfile or StrategicProfile for the capacity, but not RepresentativeProfile or OperationalProfile. Similarly, you can only use FixedProfile or StrategicProfile for the fixed OPEX, but not RepresentativeProfile or OperationalProfile. The variable operating expenses can be provided as OperationalProfile as well. In addition, all capacity and fixed OPEX values have to be non-negative.

  • stor_res::ResourceEmit:
    The stor_res is the stored Resource. The current implementation of HydroStorage nodes do not consider the conversion of potential energy of the stored water to electricity. Hence, you must specifiy your electricity resource.
  • input::Dict{<:Resource, <:Real} and output::Dict{<:Resource, <:Real}:
    Both fields describe the input and output Resources with their corresponding conversion factors as dictionaries. The values correspond to charge and discharge efficiencies from the HydroStorage nodes.
    All values have to be in the range $[0, 1]$.
  • data::Vector{Data}:
    An entry for providing additional data to the model. In the current version, it is only relevant for additional investment data when EnergyModelsInvestments is used.

Additional fields

HydroStorage nodes add additional fields compared to RefStorage nodes. These fields are located below the field discharge, and hence, correspond to the 4ᵗʰ to 6ᵗʰ fields of the node. As a consequence, stor_res is now the 7ᵗʰ field compared to being the 4ᵗʰ in a RefStorage node.

The individual fields are related to specifics of hydropower. These fields are given as:

  • level_init::TimeProfile:
    The initial level corresponds to the amount of electricity stored in the reservoir at the beginning of each strategic period. It can be provided as OperationalProfile. In practice, it is however sufficient to provide it as StrategicProfile as only a single value is used.
    The initial levels have to be non-negative and less than the maximum storage capacity.
  • level_inflow::TimeProfile:
    The inflow is representing the potential electricity flowing into the reservoir in each operational period. It is depending on rivers flowing into the reservoir or rainfall. It can be provided as OperationalProfile.
  • level_min::TimeProfile:
    The minimum level provides a lower bound on the usage of the storage node in each operational period. This lower bound can be enforced by regulators to maintain a minimum amount of available stored electricity. The current implementation does not allow for a violation of the constraint, although this can be implemented in a latter stage. It can be provided as OperationalProfile.
    The inflow has to be able in combination with the initial level to provide the required minimum level in the first operational period of each strategic period. In addition, all values have to be in the range $[0, 1]$.

Mathematical description

In the following mathematical equations, we use the name for variables and functions used in the model. Variables are in general represented as

$\texttt{var\_example}[index_1, index_2]$

with square brackets, while functions are represented as

$func\_example(index_1, index_2)$

with paranthesis.

Variables

Standard variables

The hydro power node types utilize all standard variables from RefStorage, as described on the page Optimization variables. The variables include:

The variables $\texttt{flow\_in}$ and $\texttt{stor\_charge\_use}$ are fixed to a value of 0 in the function constraints_flow_in for HydroStor nodes as these nodes correspond to regulated hydropower plants and not pumped hydropower plants..

Additional variables

HydroStorage nodes must allow for spillage of surplus stored water. Hence, a single additional variable is declared through dispatching on the method EnergyModelsBase.variables_node():

  • $\texttt{hydro\_spill}[n, t]$: Spilled electricity in hydropower node $n$ in operational period $t$ with a typical unit of MW.
    The spillage in each operational period is a rate specifying how much electricity is spilled, that is not routed the the grid, but instead directed from the turbines to avoid overfilling the reservoir. It hence allows for an overflow from a reservoir if the inflow to a reservoir exceeds its capacity and the outflow through power generation.

Constraints

The following sections omit the direct inclusion of the vector of hydropower storage nodes. Instead, it is implicitly assumed that the constraints are valid $\forall n ∈ N$ for all HydroStor or PumpedHydroStor types if not stated differently. In addition, all constraints are valid $\forall t \in T$ (that is in all operational periods) or $\forall t_{inv} \in T^{Inv}$ (that is in all strategic periods).

Standard constraints

Hydropower storages nodes utilize in general the standard constraints described on Constraint functions for RefStorage nodes.

stor_charge_xxx

The constraints for $\texttt{stor\_charge\_use}$ are only implemented for PumpedHydroStor nodes. This also includes the contribution to the variables $\texttt{opex\_fixed}$ and $\texttt{opex\_var}$.

These standard constraints are:

  • constraints_capacity:

    \[\begin{aligned} \texttt{stor\_level\_inst}[n, t] & \geq \texttt{stor\_level}[n, t] \\ \texttt{stor\_charge\_inst}[n, t] & \geq \texttt{stor\_charge\_use}[n, t] \\ \texttt{stor\_discharge\_inst}[n, t] & \geq \texttt{stor\_discharge\_use}[n, t] \\ \end{aligned}\]

  • constraints_capacity_installed:

    \[\begin{aligned} \texttt{stor\_level\_inst}[n, t] & = capacity(level(n), t) \\ \texttt{stor\_charge\_inst}[n, t] & = capacity(charge(n), t) \\ \texttt{stor\_discharge\_inst}[n, t] & = capacity(charge(n), t) \end{aligned}\]

    Using investments

    The function constraints_capacity_installed is also used in EnergyModelsInvestments to incorporate the potential for investment. Nodes with investments are then no longer constrained by the parameter capacity.

  • constraints_level: The level constraints are in general following the default approach with minor modifications. They are explained in detail below in Level constraints.

  • constraints_opex_fixed:

    \[\begin{aligned} \texttt{opex\_fixed}&[n, t_{inv}] = \\ & opex\_fixed(level(n), t_{inv}) \times \texttt{stor\_level\_inst}[n, first(t_{inv})] + \\ & opex\_fixed(charge(n), t_{inv}) \times \texttt{stor\_charge\_inst}[n, first(t_{inv})] + \\ & opex\_fixed(discharge(n), t_{inv}) \times \texttt{stor\_discharge\_inst}[n, first(t_{inv})] \end{aligned}\]

    Why do we use `first()`

    The variables $\texttt{stor\_level\_inst}$ are declared over all operational periods (see the section on Capacity variables for further explanations). Hence, we use the function $first(t_{inv})$ to retrieve the installed capacities in the first operational period of a given strategic period $t_{inv}$ in the function constraints_opex_fixed.

  • constraints_opex_var:

    \[\begin{aligned} \texttt{opex\_var}&[n, t_{inv}] = \\ \sum_{t \in t_{inv}}& opex\_var(level(n), t) \times \texttt{stor\_level}[n, t] \times scale\_op\_sp(t_{inv}, t) + \\ & opex\_var(charge(n), t) \times \texttt{stor\_charge\_use}[n, t] \times scale\_op\_sp(t_{inv}, t) + \\ & opex\_var(discharge(n), t) \times \texttt{stor\_discharge\_use}[n, t] \times scale\_op\_sp(t_{inv}, t) \end{aligned}\]

    The function `scale_op_sp`

    The function $scale\_op\_sp(t_{inv}, t)$ calculates the scaling factor between operational and strategic periods. It also takes into account potential operational scenarios and their probability as well as representative periods.

  • constraints_data:
    This function is only called for specified data of the CO₂ storage node, see above.

Implementation of OPEX

The fixed and variable OPEX constribubtion for the level and the charge capacities are only included if the corresponding storage parameters have a field opex_fixed and opex_var, respectively. Otherwise, they are omitted.

The function constraints_flow_in is extended with a new method for hydropower nodes to differentiate whether the node is a pumped hydropower node or not. The standard constraints given by

\[\begin{aligned} \texttt{stor\_level\_inst}[n, t] & \geq \texttt{stor\_level}[n, t] \\ \texttt{stor\_charge\_inst}[n, t] & \geq \texttt{stor\_charge\_use}[n, t] \\ \end{aligned}\]

are extended with a constraint for PumpedHydroStor nodes given by

\[\texttt{flow\_in}[n, t, p] \times inputs(n, p) = \texttt{stor\_charge\_use}[n, t] \qquad \forall p \in inputs(n)\]

while the variables $\texttt{flow\_in}$ and $\texttt{stor\_charge\_use}$ are fixed to a value of 0 for HydroStor nodes.

These constraints allow either to include an efficiency for filling the reservoir (PumpedHydroStor) or avoiding unconstrained variables (HydroStor).

Additional constraints

Constraints calculated in create_node

The outlet flow constraints are given as

\[\texttt{flow\_out}[n, t, p] = \texttt{stor\_charge\_use}[n, t] \times outputs(n, p) \qquad \forall p \in outputs(n)\]

As a consequence, similar to the inlet flow constraint, we can specify an efficiency between 0 and 1 to account for loses in the turbine.

In addition a constraint on the maximum discharge given by

\[\texttt{stor\_discharge\_use}[n, t] \leq \texttt{stor\_level}[n, t]\]

is included to constrain the discharge further. This constraint is in practice not active as the storage level is bound at a lower bound provided through the field level_min.

Level constraints

The level constraints are in general slightly more complex to understand. The overall structure is outlined on Constraint functions. The level constraints are called through the function constraints_level which then calls additional functions depending on the chosen time structure (whether it includes representative periods and/or operational scenarios) and the chosen storage behaviour.

The hydro power nodes utilize the majority of the concepts from EnergyModelsBase but require adjustments for both constraining the variable $\texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}$ and specifying how the storage node has to behave in the first operational period of a strategic period. This is achieved through dispatching on the functions constraints_level_aux.

The constraints introduced in constraints_level_aux can be divided in three groups:

  1. the energy balance,

    \[\begin{aligned} \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}&[n, t] = \\ & level\_inflow(n, t) + \texttt{stor\_charge\_use}[n, t] - \\ & \texttt{stor\_discharge\_use}[n, t] - \texttt{hydro\_spill}[n, t] \end{aligned}\]

  2. the initial storage level in the first operational period of a strategic period, and

    \[\begin{aligned} \texttt{stor\_level}& [n, first(t_{inv})] = \\ & level\_init(n, first(t_{inv})) + \\ & \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}[n, first(t_{inv})] \times duration(first(t_{inv})) \end{aligned}\]

  3. the minimum level constraint

    \[\texttt{stor\_level}[n, t] \geq level\_min(n, t) \times \texttt{stor\_level\_inst}[n, t]\]

corresponding to the change in the storage level in an operational period and strategic period, respectively.

If the time structure includes representative periods, we also calculate the change of the storage level in each representative period within the function constraints_level_iterate (from EnergyModelsBase):

\[ \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_rp}[n, t_{rp}] = \sum_{t \in t_{rp}} \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}[n, t] \times scale\_op\_sp(t_{inv}, t)\]

The general level constraint is calculated in the function constraints_level_iterate (from EnergyModelsBase):

\[\texttt{stor\_level}[n, t] = prev\_level + \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}[n, t] \times duration(t)\]

in which the value $prev\_level$ is depending on the type of the previous operational ($t_{prev}$) and strategic level ($t_{inv,prev}$) (as well as the previous representative period ($t_{rp,prev}$)). It is calculated through the function previous_level.

In the case of hydropower node, we can distinguish the following cases:

  1. The first operational period in the first representative period in any strategic period (given by $typeof(t_{prev}) = typeof(t_{rp, prev})$ and $typeof(t_{inv,prev}) = NothingPeriod$). In this situation, we can distinguish three cases, the time structure does not include representative periods:

    \[prev\_level = \texttt{stor\_level}[n, last(t_{inv})]\]

    the time structure includes representative periods and the storage behavior is given as CyclicRepresentative:

    \[prev\_level = \texttt{stor\_level}[n, last(t_{rp})]\]

    the time structure includes representative periods and the storage behavior is given as CyclicStrategic:

    \[\begin{aligned} prev\_level = & \texttt{stor\_level}[n, first(t_{rp,last})] - \\ & \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}[n, first(t_{rp,last})] \times duration(first(t_{rp,last})) + \\ & \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_rp}[n, t_{rp,last}] \times duration\_strat(t_{rp,last}) \end{aligned}\]

  2. The first operational period in subsequent representative periods in any strategic period (given by $typeof(t_{prev}) = nothing$) if the the storage behavior is given as CyclicStrategic:

    \[\begin{aligned} prev\_level = & \texttt{stor\_level}[n, first(t_{rp,prev})] - \\ & \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_op}[n, first(t_{rp,prev})] \times duration(first(t_{rp,prev})) + \\ & \texttt{stor\_level\_Δ\_rp}[n, t_{rp,prev}] \end{aligned}\]

    This situation only occurs in cases in which the time structure includes representative periods.

  3. All other operational periods:

    \[ prev\_level = \texttt{stor\_level}[n, t_{prev}]\]

All cases are implemented in EnergyModelsBase simplifying the design of the system.