Expanding the Frontiers of Hydropower Innovation
As power systems evolve, hydropower operators face a complex challenge: delivering greater flexibility, extending operating ranges and modernising ageing assets without increasing technical risk. Meeting these expectations requires reliable data, advanced testing and robust modelling to understand how new designs, refurbished equipment and control strategies will perform under demanding operating conditions.
SuperGrid Institute’s new white paper Expanding the Frontiers of Hydropower Innovation shares practical engineering approaches, industrial case studies and advanced testing methods used to reduce uncertainty and support evidence-based decisions throughout the lifecycle of hydropower assets.
Discover our white paper on Hydropower Innovation
Supporting informed technical and investment decisions
Designed for asset managers, innovation teams, chief engineers and turbine manufacturers, the white paper shows how experimental testing, numerical modelling and system-level analysis can help:
- Reduce technical and investment uncertainty before major decisions
- Unlock additional value from existing hydropower assets
- Validate performance and control strategies before field implementation
- Identify and safely extend operating limits
- Assess refurbishment and hybridisation opportunities
- Improve reliability, operational flexibility and grid-support capabilities
Whether you are developing a new turbine, preparing a refurbishment programme or assessing the flexibility potential of an existing asset, find practical insights into the methods available to reduce risk, validate emerging technologies and support technical and investment decisions.
Download our Whitepaper on Hydropower Innovation
From turbine validation to flexibility assessment
Drawing on industrial applications and R&D projects, the white paper explores several pathways for improving the performance, flexibility and reliability of hydropower plants:
- Turbine design validation through IEC 60193-compliant model testing
- Extension of operating ranges using air injection
- Investigation of extreme hydraulic transients with HydroPHIL
- Hardware-in-the-Loop validation of control strategies
- Bio-inspired riblet surfaces for future efficiency improvements
- Hybrid hydro-storage solutions combining hydropower and Battery Energy Storage Systems
- Mini-PSP concepts using existing hydraulic infrastructure
The document also presents industrial case studies covering turbine model testing for GLOBAL Hydro, water column separation investigations with ANDRITZ, validation of hybrid control strategies within the LOLABAT project and the assessment of hybrid pumped-storage and battery solutions. These examples show how independent testing, simulation and validation can reduce uncertainty before refurbishment, uprating or technology deployment.
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and access industrial case studies and practical engineering insights
