Decision support system for operation, scheduling and optimization of hydro power plant in Jammu and Kashmir region

In operating a complex hydroelectric system in a competitive market the operational as well as the financial risks are high. Decision makers and operators unarmed with rigorous analysis tools and techniques could cause their organization to pay dearly for their decisions. Traditionally the main objective of the system operator was to secure a stable supply of electric power to meet the local system load demand while meeting the system physical and operational constraints. The major driving force in making operating decisions was to ensure the availability of sufficient energy and capacity to meet the system demand while also meeting the non power requirements and operational constraints. This article presents Decision support system (DSS) under Availability Based Tariff Regime for operation, scheduling and optimization of the Sewa Hydro Electric Plant (SHEP) situated in Jammu & Kashmir state of India was developed to assist the SHEP operations engineers in order to improve the operational efficiency of the Sewa hydro system and to make optimal or near optimal operational and trading decisions while meeting the constraints. Use of the software can result in significant improvements to daily energy production and revenues. The hydro power plant historical operation and production is analyzed and baseline methodology of the historical operation is established. Based on the implementation of DSS on actual project site (SHEP), the DSS has demonstrated to be stable and managed to give reliable decisions. The optimal exploitation of the available hydro resources in the State combined with the minimization of the environmental impacts would not only meet the State׳s demand, but will supply power to the Northern grid to boost the overall development of the State. Also, provide support for sustainable development.