The use of AI in hydropower plants is creating new challenges
As the world’s largest source of renewable energy, hydropower plays an important role in stabilizing the grid. While solar power relies on the sun to shine and wind turbines need the wind to blow, hydropower turbines can be (mostly) turned on or off at will. Hydropower is extensively used for electrical energy storage on a large scale, so-called pumped storage, meaning it can compensate for the fluctuation of wind and solar energy in the grid.
Its value in the race to net-zero is proven, but aging infrastructures, unpredictable weather patterns and ever-changing regulatory requirements are just some of the challenges it faces. Digitalization and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are helping to solve some of these issues, through the automation of functions, gathering and analyzing valuable data and enabling optimal scheduling of power production and maintenance.
The rise of AI in hydropower
The use of AI in the energy sector is undoubtedly on the rise, with one study estimating it could be worth up to $13 billion. When it comes to hydropower, AI is showing promise with two of the most important tasks: water management and maintenance. Until now, managing water resources to meet energy demands has mostly been based on combining historical weather patterns, such as rainfall and snow melting, with the forecasting of future ones. Maintenance is generally run on cycles, meaning unexpected breakdowns or inefficient equipment pose risks to regular power production.
Digitalization is changing this by transforming hydropower plants from reactive to proactive, able to anticipate any problems before they arrive and optimize operations to improve efficiency, generating more power from the available water. A smart hydroelectric plant, then, is one that uses innovations such as AI, virtual reality, the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data to improve the functioning and safety of the plant power. It uses intelligent electronic devices and intelligent equipment for automation, analysis, decision-making, information sharing and integration with other intelligent applications.
Smart technologies can also take into account ever-changing regulatory requirements and help ensure their environmental impact is minimized. For example, when it comes to the availability of water, AI can use large amounts of data about historical weather patterns and reservoir levels to make more accurate predictions about future water flow, thereby avoiding unnecessary water spillage. The information can be applied to ensure that water is distributed across the hydropower plant in the most power-efficient way.
Advanced sensor tech on water turbines provides real-time monitoring of their status; this data can then be fed into AI algorithms to help predict malfunctions in advance, thus reducing the risk of outages. The data can also be combined with information about market prices for power or feed-in tariffs to optimize the timing of maintenance so as to reduce any potential losses.
Another benefit of AI is that it can be used to create predictive flow models that are able to estimate the amount of energy a hydropower plant can generate, enabling more efficient scheduling of turbines and production planning over the long term. What’s more, AI in hydropower plants can help mitigate the potentially damaging effects of extreme weather events by improving the management of water flows and preventing overflowing.
Wolfgang Hofbauer, an expert in the area and a convenor of an IEC working group that develops standards for hydro turbines, says AI can help in several ways, such as being able to identify potential threats to the power supply. “Through being able to collect and analyze data, AI systems can help to identify where figures might be deviating, such as temperature changes, which enables targeted, predictive maintenance, rather than just reacting when something breaks down. What’s more, it can calculate real-time power output and perform simulations to determine the best water levels and parameters to use the turbines most effectively.”
However, the use of AI in automation in hydropower plants is not yet widespread, he says, because the market is treading cautiously for fears things might go wrong and there are disruptions to the network. Cyber security is also a concern. “Hydropower plants can be seen as vulnerable targets in the infrastructure of a country, and thus be attractive to hackers,” he adds. “So, it is important to strengthen the security of the hardware and systems using firewalls or other advanced cyber security measures.”
The rise of cyber attacks
The integration of IoT devices and sensors increases the cyber vulnerability of hydro plants simply because there are more ways to attack – every device is another opportunity. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), cyber attacks on utilities have been growing rapidly since 2018 and spiked dramatically in 2022 following Russia’s deployment of forces into Ukraine's territory.
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