HydroFlex

HydroFlex - Increasing the value of Hydropower through increased Flexibility - is a H2020 project, which aims to meet the challenge of increasing the flexibility of hydropower by performing well-focused research and innovation actions on the key bottlenecks of hydropower plants that restricts their capability to have many start-stops and high ramping rates. More specifically, HydroFlex will consider system dynamics and fatigue loads on the turbine and electrical equipment, and mitigation of the environmental impact with up to 30 start-stop-cycles per day and high ramping rates. The main barriers and factors influencing more flexible operation will be verified, and technical solutions to solve and/or circumvent the challenges will be developed and tested in the laboratory and at a hydropower plant. The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 764011.