Sustainable upgrading and expansion of the hydropower system
Project overview
Research Prog'm: Sustainable upgrading and expansion of the hydropower system
Project acronym: RenewHydro RP2.2
Type: Research program
Finance: Research Council of Norway
TRL: 1 - 8
Start: 01 January 2025
End: 31 December 2032
Project ID: 0123456789
Project cost: 6+ Million Euro
Coordinator: Tonje Aronsen, NINA
Partners: NTNU (EPT, IBM, IEL and IGP), NINA, SINTEF, USN, NMBU and NORCE
Work packages: RP2.2
Website: https://www.ntnu.no/renewhydro
Email: tonje.aronsen@nina.no
RenewHydro is the largest research project (research center) in the Waterpower laboratory, where the research activities span over eight years. Research program 2.2 is the largest research program among others, and the Waterpower laboratory has key role with two PhD students with dedicated focus on "Develop and investigate concepts for increasing capacity and storage from hydropower". The research activities focus on reversible pump-turbine at TRL 3 - 6 in the laboratory. The research objective of the work is "Develop innovative concepts and solutions for pumped-storage hydropower suited for the Norwegian system". The research program will strongly collaborate with the other on-going project such as store2hydro. We aim to develop technology that allow more flexibility and optimal solution for upgrading the reversible pump-turbine with minimum CAPEX and minimal changes in the existing infrastructure at the power plant. The scientific focus will be at two fronts (1) flexible storage and (2) reduction in cavitation. In order to head start, the final outcome of store2hydro will be included in the on-going research activities and will be carried forward. The Waterpower laboratory aims to recruit two PhD students during the project period, the research work will start from TRL 3 and will be taken to TRL 6, depending on available resources. Furthermore, all activities in the laboratory will strongly collaborate with the other partners within RP2.2 to obtain state-of-the-art knowledge related to other connected components of the turbine, e.g., generator, environment, dam and energy market. Input from the other partners will be valuable for the suitable design and development of the thruster technology for reversible pump-turbine.
Project team
Chirag Trivedi is leading the all activities related to RP2.2 project in NTNU and Waterpower laboratory. Chirag Trivedi has more than 15 years of experience on Francis turbine and reversible pump-turbines. In addition coordinating the activities and supervising the students, he is also involved in both numerical and experimental work as well as developing the test rig for this project.
Progress
KICK OFF
The FME RenewHydro is officially started with the kick off meetings. It was organized for two days, the first day focused on generic activities and the second days was focused on more scientific work specific to the research programs.