A Missouri S&T researcher is developing artificial intelligence and computational methods to help hydropower plant operators manage water and energy resources more efficiently and potentially pass on savings to consumers, with a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
“Hydropower is a flexible energy source that allows plant operators to make adjustments based on real-time factors, such as water availability and power demand,” says Dr. Rui Bo, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri S&T. “This project will help operators better take advantage of that flexibility and manage uncertainties, which should ultimately reduce system total production costs, make energy more affordable for consumers and increase the amount of clean, renewable energy on the power grid.”
For the two-year project, Bo will collaborate with researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, as well as industry partners from Southwestern Power Administration and Western Area Power Administration.
The project will examine all types of hydropower systems, including run-of-river systems that generate power from the flow of rivers, pumped storage systems that generate energy by moving water between reservoirs and conventional systems that release water from dams.
For each of these systems, plant operators must consider multiple variables that could affect energy production and transmission to the grid. This is where Bo’s research team comes in.
“The AI forecasting models we are developing could be invaluable for plant operators when predicting and planning for extreme weather events, such as floods or droughts,” Bo says. “By integrating these predictions with real-time water and energy management, operators can make more informed decisions and see improvements in their overall efficiency.”
This project follows others Bo has completed in the field of hydropower. In 2023, he led a team of researchers that earned second place in the Hydropower Operations Optimization (H2Os) Prize challenge sponsored by DOE. In 2020, DOE awarded him a $1 million grant to evaluate and improve the efficacy of pumped storage hydropower in wholesale electricity markets.
Bo says he will consider the current project a success if industry partners and other hydropower plant operators decide to integrate the tools his team is developing into their operations.
“This is research with clear practical applications that could have a positive impact on society,” he says. “Seeing that it theoretically works is one thing, but we want to see it deliver real benefits in the real world.”
