Dispatching Pumped Storage Hydro

While the economic factors associated with the planning and design of a pumped storage hydro project must include system operation concepts, the day to day operation of a given pumped hydro project presents a different set of economic decisions. In this connection, the array of data or information that must be presented to the dispatcher is, of necessity, different in form from that presented to the planner. Therefore, the scope of discussion is limited to the problem of day to day and minute to minute scheduling and dispatching pumped storage hydro in combination with steam generating capacity in an optimum manner. The example used for discussion is the Smith Mountain pumped storage project.