Simulation and design of cascade dams' hydro control system : case study, River Nile Cascade System.

Abstract

Hydropower plants utilize mechanical energy provided by water to generate electricity. In Uganda a number of hydro Power Plants have been constructed along the River Nile and even more are yet to be setup along the same valley of the river forming a cascade arrangement. It is because of this arrangement of Dams that the possibilities of hazards resulting from exceedingly excess discharge from one Dam due to either human errors or natural calamity say a Dam break puts these class iii civil structures at danger other than the possibility of Dam breaks which may not be very likely the natural flow regimes of the river can also easily be disrupted from the same causes resulting in interrupted power generation or destruction of the electromechanical and hydro-mechanical equipment. “You can’t make anything perfectly safe when you are dealing with unknown events like “Water, wind, and. earthquakes, “says Howard; a French engineer. (Howard.2015) It is therefore, necessary to design special operation modes for optimum operation of' such Hydropower Plants(HPPs) from the point of view of harnessing of hydropower potential of river Hydro Energetic Systems built upon. The various measures to simulate the operations and optimise the management of cascading (HPPs) have been proposed, including structural and non-structural best management practices (BMPs). Different computer models (software packages) have become useful tools for the analysis, evaluation and design of these BMPs. There has been development of numerical tools for Simulating a wide range of free surface flows and transport phenomena and this one is intended for the specific case in Uganda’s cascade dams. The main objective of this study was to design an improved real time system (tool) that enables the management of water while optimising it for power generation and mitigation of the effects of a calamity especially in upstream Dam(s) with respect to the rest of other Dams in the same cascade system. The literature review discusses the historical background principles of hydropower generation. Components and structures. Of cascade Dams arrangement and their design requirements. It also describes what modelling and simulation entails and their relevance In this designing of the. Management tool. This simulation has brought about economically feasible and efficient real time water Optimisation and risk management tool that has been designed to improve on the utilisation of water of River Nile to generate power and reduce the risk of effects that could result from failure in one Hydropower Plant upon the rest in the same cascade and the environment at large.