Simulation and optimisation modelling approach for operation of the Hoa Binh reservoir, Vietnam

SummaryHoa Binh, the largest reservoir in Vietnam, plays an important role in flood control for the Red River delta and hydropower generation. Due to its multi-purpose character, conflicts and disputes in operating the reservoir have been ongoing since its construction, particularly in the flood season. This paper proposes to optimise the control strategies for the Hoa Binh reservoir operation by applying a combination of simulation and optimisation models. The control strategies are set up in the MIKE 11 simulation model to guide the releases of the reservoir system according to the current storage level, the hydro-meteorological conditions, and the time of the year. A heuristic global optimisation tool, the shuffled complex evolution (SCE) algorithm, is adopted for optimising the reservoir operation. The optimisation puts focus on the trade-off between flood control and hydropower generation for the Hoa Binh reservoir operation in the flood season and the reservoir level at the beginning of the dry season. The results demonstrate that an optimised regulation can be found that compared to the present regulations both reduces downstream flood peaks and maintains a high reservoir level for increasing the hydropower production in the flood season and in the following dry season. The results also show that the SCE algorithm is an efficient tool for optimising complex systems.