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Description
Title: | Low-head hydropower as a reserve power source for wind power |
Author(s): | Auth, Trevor L. |
Advisor(s): | Stillwell, Ashlynn S.; Garcia, Marcelo H. |
Department / Program: | Civil & Environmental Eng |
Discipline: | Civil Engineering |
Degree Granting Institution: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Degree: | M.S. |
Genre: | Thesis |
Subject(s): | Low-Head Hydropower
Small Hydropower Renewable Energy |
Abstract: | Wind power generation faces intermittency challenges, typically requiring reserve power generation sources burning fossil fuels to maintain reliability of the electricity grid in the event of a decrease in wind. This study proposes an alternative hypothesis: that hydropower turbines installed at low-head dams can provide similar reserve power generation to support wind, thereby avoiding the externalities associated with fossil-fuel plants and conventional hydropower. Low-head dams, common across the United States, are used for flood control, securing municipal water supplies, and providing ample water depth for recreation. As a case study, hydropower potential at 13 such dams along a 150-kilometer reach of the Fox River (Northeastern Illinois, USA) was estimated using a HEC-RAS model calibrated with U.S. Geological Survey data. The output of the model was then analyzed to determine the capacity of the system and gauge its reliability both as a standalone generator and as a component in a coupled wind-hydropower system. Findings revealed that economic, environmental, and regulatory factors all affected the implementation of this low-head hydropower system. The system was found to perform reliably over a five-year time period in spite of significant long-term fluctuations in streamflow, thereby enabling it to offset the short-term variability of wind power. However, combining the low-head hydropower system with wind power limits the reliable output of the entire system to the lowest amount of power generated by the low-head hydropower system, regardless of how much wind power is deployed. The low-head hydropower system's relatively small capacity and inauspicious cost-benefit ratio suggest that this low-head hydropower system would be best suited for local applications rather than grid-scale operations, especially if environmental and regulatory considerations are included. |
Issue Date: | 2019-04-22 |
Type: | Text |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105066 |
Rights Information: | Copyright 2019 Trevor Auth |
Date Available in IDEALS: | 2019-08-23 |
Date Deposited: | 2019-05 |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
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Dissertations and Theses - Civil and Environmental Engineering
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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois