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oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/105066 2023-07-11 col_2142_5131 col_2142_14770 com_2142_5130 com_2142_3518 com_2142_234

Stillwell, Ashlynn S. Garcia, Marcelo H. Auth, Trevor L. 2019-08-23T20:36:05Z 2019-08-23T20:36:05Z 2021-08-24T09:15:24Z 2019-04-22 2019-05 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. Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2021-05-01 The student, Trevor Auth, accepted the attached license on 2019-04-19 at 17:04. The student, Trevor Auth, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2019-04-19 at 17:11. This Thesis was approved for publication on 2019-04-22 at 16:27. DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #13795 on 2019-08-22 at 15:07:35 Made available in DSpace on 2019-08-23T20:36:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 AUTH-THESIS-2019.pdf: 4928113 bytes, checksum: 5607561ed5f7181acff3cb7c7d2fb6a9 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4208 bytes, checksum: f30c100a8f0b95b112ebf1a3032c529b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-04-22 Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 112185 Lift date: 2021-08-23T20:36:18Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system U of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 112185 on 2021-08-24T09:15:24Z. application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105066 en Copyright 2019 Trevor Auth Low-Head Hydropower Small Hydropower Renewable Energy Low-head hydropower as a reserve power source for wind power text text Civil & Environmental Eng Civil Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Thesis M.S.