Technological context integration of decision support components into SCADA Operative System for the management of Cascaded Hydropower Plants

Current hydropower plants management techniques involve efficient strategy to maximize the power production of the generating units, to improve the reliability of technological process and reduce the maintenance costs. Hydropower plant management systems take into account the electrical energy production schedule imposed by the National Dispatching Authority, the plant´s operational requirements, involving different activities (water management, hydro dam´s parameter supervision, equipment status forecast, power plants status diagnosis, environmental policies). The SCADA Operative System for the Management of Cascaded Hydropower Plants assists the plant floor operators as well as the dispatching unit operator during different operating situations (standard operation of the cascade, flood and drought circumstances) The decision support system (DSS) facilitates the supervisor to develop and exploit the acquired (HDB) datasets based on their experience/knowledge related to the process of constraint decision-making commands. The decision support system, designed to meet different flexibility criteria, enables the incorporation of priority mechanism for different objectives in developing optimal operating policies. The authors´ efforts were concentrated towards designing a decision support system for multipurpose operation of cascaded hydro-power plants. The mathematical models in the system are expressed for short-term/long-term operation of hydropower plants reservoir.