New analytical approach for long-term optimal operation of a parallel multireservoir power system based on functional analysis

Functional analysis and the minimum norm formulation are applied to maximize the total benefits from a parallel multireservoir power system, which may contain run-of-river downstream reservoirs. The hydroelectric power generation is a highly nonlinear function of the storage and the discharge. The method takes into account the water head variation (conversion factor variation) and the stochasticity of the river flows. The proposed method is computationally efficient compared to previous techniques. Numerical results are presented for a real system in operation consisting of three rivers. The first river has two series controllable reservoirs; the second river has two series reservoirs, the upstream reservoir is a controllable reservoir and the downstream reservoir is a run-of-river reservoir; and the third river has two series controllable reservoirs.