WATER VALUE AS AN ECONOMIC CRITERION FOR RESERVOIR OPERATION IN HYDROPOWER ENTERPRISES

This paper proposes an economic criterion for allocating reservoir water between power generation, irrigation and spills. In contrast to conventional dispatching based on water levels and technical limits, the proposed "Intelligent Water Balance" model uses the opportunity cost of a cubic metre of water and treats spills as an economic loss equal to the value of the electricity that could have been produced. Calculations for a reservoir with conditional parameters show that in an average water year the model raises output by 6.4% and reduces spills about fivefold. A targeted winter premium is proposed instead of a uniform seasonal tariff.