Power Plants

A Power Plant is a type of controlled outlet that has the additional capability of computing hydropower generation. A Power Plant can be added to a Dam, Diverted Outlet, or Outlet Group. To edit data for a Power Plant, select the Power Plant in the Reservoir Tree. The Power Plant pane will display in the edit panel.

The Reservoir Editor's Power Plant pane ("Figure: Power Plant - Outlet Tab") has five tabs that allow you to edit data for Outlet Capacity, Generating Capacity, Efficiency, Station Use, and Hydraulic Losses, as described in the following sections.

Note: Tailwater Elevation must be specified at or above a power plant in the Reservoir Tree in order for the plant to properly calculate energy production.

Power Plant Outputs – Capacity and Capability

ResSim uses the term Capacity to indicate a max limit to the power that can be produced by the powerplant.  It is calculated using the Name Plate Capacity entered by the user.

ResSim uses the term Capability to indicate how much power can be produced, given the energy equation, and limited by the Capacity. 

where 

$//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}P_{capability}\end{array} //]]>$ = power generated (kW)
$//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}C\end{array} //]]>$= conversion factor = 0.0847 for U.S. units = 9.81 for SI units
$//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}Q\end{array} //]]>$ = reservoir release (cfs or cms)
$//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}h\end{array} //]]>$ = net head (ft or m) --- hydraulic losses are subtracted from the head, see Hyd. Losses tab)
$//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}e\end{array} //]]>$ = efficiency (%) — see Efficiency tab

The constant $//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}C\end{array} //]]>$ represents the specific weight of water $//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}\gamma\end{array} //]]>$ (9.81 kN/m3 for SI units), and for the equation used with U.S. units (62.43 lbf/ft3), it includes a factor to convert lbf-ft/s to kW (1.356 kW/lbf-ft/s).