Concept

Low-head hydro power

Publications associées (20)

Expanding Hydropower Capabilities Using Hydrokinetic Turbines in Tailrace Channels: Feasibility, Site Optimization, and System Implications

Hydropower is a mature and cost-competitive renewable energy source and plays a central role in the European electricity system by providing flexibility, reserves, and grid stability. However, expanding hydropower generation capacity and operational capabilities is increasingly constrained by environmental regulations, competing water uses, and limited opportunities for new infrastructure development. This study explores the feasibility of deploying hydrokinetic turbines within tailrace channels downstream

2026

Full-scale validation gaps and opportunities for low-head hydropower: a review and perspective

Hydropower is undergoing technological innovation as future development increasingly targets low-head sites (

Elsevier BV2026

Impact of surge motion on wake characteristics, power performance and fatigue loads of two tandem floating wind turbines

Xiao-Yu Hu

Understanding how platform surge motion influences wake dynamics, downstream power production, and structural loads of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) is essential for improving array-level energy efficiency. This study performs high-fidelity large-eddy simulations coupled with a validated elastic actuator line model to investigate two tandem FOWTs, both subjected to surge motions, operating in an atmospheric boundary layer. Surge motions with two nondimensional amplitudes and three reduced frequenc

Elsevier BV2026

Antarctic Wind Atlas: Gradient-Boosting based Quantile Mapping on 15 years of Climatological Reanalysis

The Antarctic Wind Atlas provides a high-resolution assessment of wind resource statistics across Antarctica. As climate concerns and the logistic costs of fuel in Antarctica rise, many research stations are looking to expand their renewable energy portfolios. Wind energy is a particularly promising option, with tens of wind turbines already operating on the continent. However, identifying suitable locations for these projects remains difficult due to the lack of reliable wind statistics. Utilizing 15 years

American Meteorological Society2026

The Alpine Battery: Sustaining Europe’s Renewable Integration - Assessing and Optimizing Switzerland’s Hydropower Infrastructure for Future Challenges

Hydropower, historically a cornerstone of Switzerland’s energy infrastructure, plays a vital role in balancing the intermittency of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Situated at the nexus of Europe’s energy system, Switzerland’s hydro dams act as colossal batteries, ensuring energy stability and flexibility for both national and European grids. However, climate change introduces significant challenges, including altered precipitation patterns, glacier retreats, and shifts in natural inflow se

Mines Paris PSL University2025

Multi-rotor Wind Farm Layout Optimization

Multi-rotor wind turbines have shown a faster wake recovery than equivalent single-rotor turbines. In this work the potential benefit of a wind farm with multi-rotor turbines is assessed through the optimization of the turbine positions using the CEGA wind farm optimization algorithm, for different power densities. The EPFL analytical wake model is used to compute the power output at each turbine. The wake growth rate in this model depends on the incoming turbulence intensity. However, added turbulence inte

2020

Hill chart modelling using the Hermite polynomial chaos expansion for the performance prediction of pumps running as turbines

François Avellan, Loïc Andolfatto, João Nuno Gomes Borga Delgado

Pumps running as turbines are suitable hydraulic machines for micro hydropower applications. The selection of the proper pumps to install in a given site still remains a major challenge, as pump manufacturers do not provide the characteristic curves data i ...

Elsevier2019

Balancing hydropeaking mitigation and hydropower production

Giovanni De Cesare, Pedro Filipe De Almeida Manso

Around 60% of Switzerland’s power production is provided by hydropower. Despite its numerous advantages, the high fluctuations in turbined discharges cause hydropeaking at downstream rivers. Due to the environmental impacts of hydropeaking on fauna and flora, the Swiss Federal Act on the Protection of Waters requires dam operators to put in place remediation measures for hydropeaking effects before the end of 2030. At the same time, the Energy Strategy 2050 and the decision on the progressive withdrawal fro

2019

Prediction of hydro-acoustic resonances in hydropower plants by a new approach based on the concept of swirl number

François Avellan, Christophe Nicolet, Arthur Tristan Favrel, Christian Landry, Sébastien Alligné, Loïc Andolfatto, Joao Gomes Pereira Junior

Hydropower plant units operating in off-design conditions are subject to cavitation flow instabilities, potentially inducing hydro-acoustic resonances under certain conditions. They can be predicted by using one-dimensional numerical models of hydropower p ...

Taylor & Francis Ltd2019

Integrated sediment management of alpine rivers

Giovanni De Cesare

Sediment management of alpine rivers is crucial to ensure sustainable hydropower production. Dams inhibit not only biological consistency but also drastically restrain natural sediment dynamics. Upstream of the dam, coarse material is accumulated, leading to a progressive sedimentation of the reservoir. This causes a reduction in the effective water head and can even lead to the blockage of lowerlying operation organs. Downstream of the dam, reduced flow velocities promote the settling of suspended sediment

2019

Étude géotechnique des ouvrages souterrains de l'extension de la centrale hydroélectrique de Lavey

The run-of-river hydro power plant of Lavey, situated in the Western part of Switzerland, is an important source of renewable energy for the city of Lausanne. With its annual production of roughly 400 GWh it covers approximately a third of its consumptions per year. Even given the relatively short distance of 4 km between its water intake and power plant, the total head of the hydroelectric development is still roughly 40 meters and with the design flow given at 200m3/s, the installed power is considerable.

2018

RANS computations of a confined cavitating tip-leakage vortex

Mohamed Farhat, Matthieu Dreyer

Cavitating tip-leakage vortices appear in several hydrodynamic flows such as marine propellers or Kaplan turbines. Cavitating computations are a challenging topic since several keys issues are an ongoing work such as the definition of a universal mass sour ...

2018

Experimental Hydro-Mechanical Characterization of Full Load Pressure Surge in Francis Turbines

François Avellan, Arthur Tristan Favrel, Christian Landry, Andres Müller, Keita Yamamoto

Full load pressure surge limits the operating range of hydro-electric generating units by causing significant power output swings and by compromising the safety of the plant. It appears during the off-design operation of hydraulic machines, which is increa ...

2017

Dynamics of the precessing vortex rope and its interaction with the system at Francis turbines part load operating conditions

François Avellan, Arthur Tristan Favrel, Christian Landry, Andres Müller, Keita Yamamoto, Joao Gomes Pereira Junior

At part load conditions, Francis turbines experience the formation of a cavitation vortex rope at the runner outlet whose precession acts as a pressure excitation source for the hydraulic circuit. This can lead to hydro-acoustic resonances characterized by ...

2017

RANS computations for identification of 1-D cavitation model parameters: application to full load cavitation vortex rope

François Avellan, Christophe Nicolet, Andres Müller, Sébastien Alligné

Due to the massive penetration of alternative renewable energies, hydropower is a key energy conversion technology for stabilizing the electrical power network by using hydraulic machines at off design operating conditions. At full load, the axisymmetric c ...

2017

Optimization of low-head hydropower recovery in water supply networks

Water supply networks in cities with sloping topography may have a considerable potential for the installation of micro hydropower plants. Since these water supply networks are complex systems with many constraints, the identification of the best locations for such micro hydropower installations is a difficult task. With her research project, Dr. Irene Samora made a significant contribution for answering the question how the available low-head hydropower can be recovered in an optimized way in such complex

EPFL-LCH2016

Numerical and experimental evidence of the inter-blade cavitation vortex development at deep part load operation of a Francis turbine

François Avellan, Arthur Tristan Favrel, Christian Landry, Andres Müller, Keita Yamamoto

Francis turbines are subject to various types of the cavitation flow depending on the operating condition s. In order to compensate for the stochastic nature of renewable energy sources, it is more and more required to extend the operating range of the gen ...

International Association For Hydraulic Research2016

New Renewable Energy Promotion Approach for Rural Electrification in Cameroon

Rural electrification in Cameroon was in the past planned by the Government through the Ministry of Water and Energy. This issue was addressed through grid extension using three-phase medium voltage, a single wire earth return solution, or off-grid thermal plants for remote localities. Because the architecture of the electricity grid is radial isolated, this leads to many technical problems and a limited rate of electrification, especially in remote areas. The country learned a lot from failures and realize

Springer International Publishing2016

Experimental investigation of the local wave speed in a draft tube with cavitation vortex rope

François Avellan, Christophe Nicolet, Arthur Tristan Favrel, Christian Landry, Andres Müller, Keita Yamamoto

Hydraulic machines operating in a wider range are subjected to cavitation developments inducing undesirable pressure pulsations which could lead to potential instability of the power plant. The occurrence of pulsating cavitation volumes in the runner and t ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2014

Hysteresis phenomena in hydraulic measurement

Mohamed Farhat

Hysteresis phenomena demonstrate the lag between the generation and the removal of some physical phenomena. This paper studies the hysteresis phenomena of the head-drop in a scaled model pump turbine using experiment test and CFD methods. These lag is indu ...

IOP Publishing2013

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