Balancing Energy Production and Drought Protection in Prosumer Hydropower Networks under Intense Vaporization

Susceptibility to weather conditions combined with different consumption and energy generation schemes threatens the large-scale adoption of renewable sources of energy. Moreover, the associated price fluctuation lowers economic gain. As a countermeasure, one may consider energy depots, although not in the form of bulky industrial installations that impose substantial costs themselves. This work proposes to involve a system of connected prosumer hydro plants with ponds acting as energy reservoirs to create the desirable buffer. For that purpose, a dynamic model of a hydro multi-cascade is constructed, and a cost-optimal control law is established via a formal analytical procedure. In addition to economic benefits, the proposed control policy counteracts droughts in periods of high vaporization, e.g., during sunny summer days or in arid climates. The prosumers are estimated to increase their revenue by as much as 5%, whereas the operators gain from reduced load variation on the grid.