OPTIMAL CO-ORDINATED CONTROL OF HYDROPOWER PLANTS

River hydropower plants must accomplish several tasks. They have to generate electric energy, guarantee the navigation and reduce the extent of a flood if possible. If there is a cascade of hydropower stations in a river, then it is not possible to solve these tasks with a decentralized control strategy optimally. One is faced with a multiple criteria optimization problem. This contribution presents a strategy for the optimal multiple criteria control of cascades of river hydropower plants. For this purpose a simulation and control toolbox was developed for MATLAB/SIMULINK c . The application of this toolbox is shown at the example of the optimal co-ordinated control of four hydropower plants at the Austrian Danube. Copyright c 2005 IFAC