CEATI 2017 Industry Event

Maintaining Safe and Reliable Operations of Hydropower Projects while Meeting New Standards and Expectations

Hydropower has been used to provide flexibility and balancing to the power grid for many years. With the evolution of energy markets in response to the demands of non-dispatchable generation sources, the role and importance of hydropower has continued to grow, placing complex demands on the electrical and mechanical equipment and diversion structures. CEATI’s 2017 hydropower conference will bring together experts to discuss key challenges associated with maintaining the safe and reliable operation of projects while meeting new expectations and standards.

Key challenges related to dam safety, power plant operations, planning, and equipment reliability will be discussed, while taking into account today’s reality of new operating requirements. Aging infrastructure, erosion of expertise in the industry, training and knowledge transfer will be covered, as well as the need to make good planning and investment decisions to maximize the use of funds.

Conference Themes:

• Improving operational reliability, maintenance requirements, regulatory compliance and dam safety
• The evaluation of aging dams, equipment and infrastructure with respect to new fitness-for-service expectations
• Successful use/implementation of new predictive technologies
• Flexible modes of operations and impacts on stress and fatigue associated with the reliability of turbines and flow control equipment
• Identifying consequences and costs of integrating renewables

Topics for Discussion:

• New hydro generation strategies – Impacts of flexible operations; market dispatching; integration of renewables – what should hydropower engineering, asset and dam safety managers be thinking about?
• New technologies – equipment, maintenance techniques, instrumentation, monitoring and controls.
• Failure modes – are there new factors to consider which were not seen or thought of in prior analysis including systems effects? How can changes in operation affect the safety of project structures?
• Risk management – what are the biggest risks? How to identify and rank/prioritize day-to-day risks? Examples of owners applying risk informed decision making to their projects.
• Planning – how to get the most out of your projects – how long can you defer investing in assets, and what are the consequences of waiting to invest?
• Rehabilitation and upgrades – best practices, new strategies, new methods and materials.
• Real world examples – events, experiences and solutions.

This information was taken directly from the event website.