A novel map for deciding on the type of a hydro power plant

摘要

The advantages of adding a pumping facility to a simple hydro power plant have been discussed in the literature. However, there has been no presentation of a general pattern on the basis of which one can decide between the installations of a simple hydro power plant and a pump-assisted one. This paper, using the dynamic programming optimisation method, presents a novel map comparing these types of hydro power plant in terms of different economic criteria including annual benefit from electricity sales, net present value, benefit-cost ratio, payback time and internal rate of return. This map can be modified for any desired set of economic parameters. Moreover, the paper includes a detailed analysis and comparison of the performance strategies of the two types of plant under different levels of 'electricity price variability' and 'natural inflow rate'. The paper ends with a sensitivity analysis of the results to some major economic parameters.