Influence of the elevation-storage curve in the optimization of hydroplants

EUITI, Department of Mathematics, University of Oviedo, Campus of Viesques, 33203 Gijón, Spain

Corresponding author: bayon@uniovi.es

Received: 12 May 2008
Accepted: 5 September 2008

Abstract

One of the most important physical characteristics of a reservoir is the elevation-storage curve. In most cases, linear simplification is applied to this curve, which is approximated as a linear relationship. However, this simplification can produce serious errors in the optimal solution. In this paper we consider a non-linear elevation-storage curve to be applied to the reservoir and therefore consider a non-linear problem. To obtain the optimal solution, the problem is formulated within the framework of optimal control theory using Pontryagin's Maximum Principle. The advantage of this technique with respect to previous methods lies in the possibility of obtaining theoretical results whose implementation (and computational complexity) is feasible regardless of the non-linear characteristics of the problem. Results of the application of the method to a numerical example are presented and we show the differences between the two approaches.