NISKAYUNA, NY - The technology development arm has been awarded a 30-month, $4.3 million project to improve both the operating capacity and flexibility of hydropower assets.

GE has announced that with a focus on enhancing hydropower's role as a grid stabilizer to support other renewables assets coming online, GE Research, the technology development arm for the General Electric Company has been awarded a 30-month, $4.3 million project through the US Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office to improve both the operating capacity and flexibility of hydropower assets.

According to GE, a multi-disciplinary team of engineers from GE Research will work with GE Renewable Energy's Hydro business, and two hydro plant operators to outfit three plants with minimal sensors and other tools to enhance the existing operational flexibility by more effectively ramping electricity generation up or down with their hydro assets.

Arvind Tiwari, Advanced Technology Platform leader in the Electrical Systems group at GE Research and Principal Investigator on the project, says the pioneering approach will allow hydro plant operators to unlock previously untapped flexibility to help address the transition to a more renewables-intensive grid.

Tiwari said, "Hydropower today already is the most flexible and dispatchable renewable resource, but the growth of other variable renewables, such as wind and solar, will require it to become even more flexible and keep the grid in balance, especially as other traditional forms of baseload generation come offline or retire.  We believe this can be accomplished at minimal cost and disruption by outfitting hydro plants with sensors and other tools that allow hydro units to expand their capabilities."

Source: GE