There are many ways to program a hydro site for automated run-of-river operation. One more ubiquitous method is use of a proportional-integral-derivative control (PID) loop within a programmable logic controller (PLC). With realtime sensing inputs and site-specific hydrological data, a PLC's mathematical capabilities can be used to provide a flow control regime in which net flow in the river is periodically determined and turbine outputs are regulated to consume that flow at maximum head and minimal spillage.
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