OPTIMAL OPERATION OF RESERVOIRS

Abstract

Reservoir operation is a very important aspect of surface water planning and management. Once a reservoir is developed the most common goals are the satisfaction of the water users and users of other services, and the attenuation of the flood peaks of the reservoir. Since some of these objectives are conflicting, the solution to the problem will be a set of efficient operating rules for storing. and, discharging water. Operation policy optimization must consider the complex interaction of hydrologic and economic variables under an uncertain environment_ The use of mathematical techniques to analyze various problems related to reservoirs is quite challenging. The problem of operation of a reservoir to improve power generation with emphasis on'the influence of hydrologic risk has been examined in this dissertation. The idea is to find-a way to incorporate uncertainty in project design. To consider explicitly the variability of streamflow, a mathematical model using a stochastic sequential approach developed by Thomas and Watermeyer is applied to the Rihand Reservoir system to determine an optimal operating policy for reservoir regulation. The use of probabilities to describe the relationships of inflows, storage and draft as well as benefit-loss functions for evaluating the system performance at a particular- level of development, are used to generate an optimal policy with linear programming algorithm as the optimizing technique. The results of this analysis show that the application of the model is feasible and it show some important aspects which needs further examination in succesfully applying stochastic optimization techniques in reservoir operation studies at the planning stage.