Within the framework of the activities of the D-HYDROFELX project, CARTIF and EnergyLab researchers visited the Touro hydropower plant, which is operated by TASGA, to learn in detail about its operation, control and available digitalized information. This knowledge will serve as a basis for the development of AI models and algorithms planned for the project tasks, which will reduce maintenance costs, minimize production deviation from the planned schedule, and optimize the production of green hydrogen.
European Commission-funded project D-HYDROFLEX – Digital solutions for improving the sustainability performance and FLEXibility potential of HYDROpower, launched on the 1st of September 2023 to tackle the challenges posed by European Green Deal and the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 for Europe. The project aims to advance excellence in research on digital technology for hydropower paving the way towards more efficient, more sustainable, and more competitive hydropower plants in modern power markets.
To this end, D-HYDROFLEX will develop a toolkit for digitally ‘renovating’ the existing hydroelectric power plants based on sensors, digital twins, AI algorithms, hybridization modelling (power-to-hydrogen), cloud-edge computing and image processing. The core pillars of the project are:
- Digitalization, (i.e., digital twins for hydro dams and machinery, weather and flow forecasts, cyber resilience tools),
- Flexibility, (i.e., coordination with hydrogen, storage and VPP operation) and
- Sustainability, (i.e., biodiversity and environmental indicators monitoring).
Validation will take place in 7 hydro plants operated by EDF (France), Tauron Ekoenergia (Poland), PPC (Greece), TASGA (Spain) and INTEX (Romania), covering different geographical areas of Europe.
The project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Action under the topic HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-03-08/Development of digital solutions for existing hydropower operation and maintenance and responds to the Call HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-03/Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the CINEA can be held responsible for them.
