Implementation of a hydrological model to optimize the operation of Baba Hydroelectric Power Plant

Abstract

In order to improve the regulation of the reservoir associated with the Baba Hydroelectric Power Plant and optimize the use of the resource for energy production, a hydrological model was developed and was incorporated for the first time as an input for decision making regarding its management.

This paper motivates the choice of the TETIS model and proposes the development of a methodology for its implementation to obtain the forecast of flows in the basin contributing to the reservoir. The proposed methodology is reproducible in other water sheds of Ecuador because it's been developed based on topographic data, land uses and soil types available at national level.

Motivated by the purpose of the model to optimizing energy production in the Baba plant, it has been developed with an 1 hour time scale, considering the origin data and keeping reasonable computing times, the spatial scale chosen is 200 meters cell size. With an efficiency coefficient for calibration of 0.9014 and 0.5538 and 0.6692 for validation, the reliability of the model can be considered as good.

Another functionality of the model will be risk management downstream by avenue, anticipating the arrival of high flows and making possible an earlier alert through its incorporation in Early Warning Systems and Decision Support Systems.