Hydroelectric Generation – Development, Operation and Maintenance
Course Description
Course length: 2-3 day
This 2 to 3 day orientation program is designed for operating and maintenance engineers, managers, and senior technicians working in the hydro generation portion of the company. This custom program reviews power system life cycle costs, system design, energy and water supply considerations, operations, maintenance, testing and evaluation. It is designed to help a utility operation become more effective and efficient.
Each course will be specifically customized to take into consideration the client's needs as well as their generation facilities and the local utility business environment. A recent 3 day program developed and presented by EITI contained the following components.
Target Audience
Operating and maintenance engineers and managers. This is a custom program for clients with a significant component of hydroelectric generation and would be delivered at the client's site.
Expand the sections below for further detail:
Critical first decisions for power system lifecycle costs
This component looked at today's designs and specifications and the reality of high customer expectations (products and services are always available and reliable). It introduced the concept of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) which is used to continually improve the design, commission, maintenance of equipment and the process.
Hydropower plant design using client facilities as examples
A detailed look at available water supply and head, storage, minimum flow requirements, hydrology and energy analysis, selection of turbine type and the number of turbine/generator units.
System considerations, speed and voltage regulation
An examination of the function and development of electric governors and exciters and an in-depth look at voltage and speed regulation, speed rise following load reduction, speed drop following load increase and speed droop. This segment included an introduction to grid operations and how the system responds to disturbances and a look at the benefits of hydroelectric generators to the system.
Water hammer in penstocks, the dangers and solutions & Pumped Storage
An introduction to pumped storage facilities, including technical characteristics and storage as well as the benefits to the electric system and market considerations.
Hydropower operations and its application to the client's facilities
The optimization of the operation of hydro resources with their limited water supply is essential for maximizing the value the company receives from these investments. This component looked at this question in detail, including, reliability and availability considerations; the value of hydroelectric energy and storage; regulation of reservoirs; forecasting water supply and energy availability; and the optimization of hydro resources.
Maintenance using clients facilities as examples
The question of how much maintenance should be done for all the equipments components in a generating plant or substation is critical to efficient use of critical equipment. This segment is an in-depth look at Reliable Centered Maintenance (RCM), “doing the right work at the right time,” including failure modes and effects analysis.
Unit commission and testing - looking at the testing done by client
An overview of the testing requirements and consideration including, pre-start-up tests, start-up tests, speed no-load tests, machine characteristics, sudden short circuit tests, on line tests, intake water passage tests and efficiency tests.
Requests for Proposals (RFP) compared to client practices
This is a two part session, the first part provides an overview of the key information in an RFP or Tender, typical RFP templates, technical information, request for options and warranty (what it means). The second part covers the evaluation of submitted contract documents, awarding short or long term agreements (life cycle costs), working with the selected ‘supplier’, and warranty agreements.
Critical first decisions for power system lifecycle costs
This component looked at today's designs and specifications and the reality of high customer expectations (products and services are always available and reliable). It introduced the concept of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) which is used to continually improve the design, commission, maintenance of equipment and the process.