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Hydropower plants have been a vital part of our clean energy mix for well over 100 years and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, especially as its star is once again on the rise. This reliable, flexible renewable power source is responsive to the dynamic needs of the electric grid, able to quickly generate megawatts to meet base or peak demand, at a low cost. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), hydropower accounts for more than 50% of renewable electricity production globally, and produced over 14% of total electricity generation from all sources.

Integrated hybrid energy systems—where renewable and traditional generation, energy conversion and storage technologies are combined—can further help increase grid resiliency and reliability while maintaining a cost-effective, balanced clean electricity supply.

Innovative hybrid hydroelectric plants help drive the power industry’s progress towards net zero targets. Run-of-river hydropower, coupled with battery energy storage systems, further extends the benefits of renewable waterpower, helping global communities meet their climate and sustainability goals while reliably providing clean energy to their citizens. Another hybrid example, adding floating solar panels to hydro reservoirs, creates a virtual battery that delivers solar power during the day while balancing the grid with hydropower during off-peak hours.

Recent real-world projects demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of coupling run-of-river hydro plants with battery energy storage systems.

In spring 2021, Emerson hydropower experts helped lead a test of a run-of-river hydropower plant and battery energy storage system on the Snake River for Idaho Falls Power, in a collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory. A sweeping three-hour blackout in December 2013 brought on by extreme winter weather conditions led Idaho Falls to seek black start capabilities to keep essential local community services operating during larger grid blackouts. A project in the works since 2015, the tests in the spring of 2021 established one of the world’s first water-powered microgrids.

During the tests, automation configurations for two of Idaho Falls Power’s power plants were adjusted. The tests were a success with the power system, including supercapacitor and high-energy power banks, matching demand. Idaho Falls Power has reliably provided its customers with hydropower for nearly a century, and the results of this pilot proved it can continue to serve the city’s most critical infrastructure when disconnected from the power grid.

Similarly, the small remote town of Cordova, Alaska, has coupled Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery energy storage with its hydropower microgrid to recover lost hydro generation while also reducing its use of diesel generators.² Cordova has no connection to the larger, interconnected grid, so it must rely on two run-of-the-river hydropower plants and a backup diesel generation plant. The town’s diesel generation is used when rivers freeze in the winter and to help meet peak demand in the summer with fees that can exceed its hydro generation costs by ten times, making the need to transition even more urgent. Because of the Li-ion storage capacity, Cordova has been able to offset its usage of diesel generation in favor of cleaner, cost-effective hydropower.

Worldwide, battery energy storage systems are supporting other run-of-the-river hydropower microgrids in places like Chile’s Patagonia, also backed up by diesel generators to meet demand that exceeds hydro’s output on any given day. As Chile works to reduce its emissions with cleaner, sustainable power generation, the hydropower microgrid will reduce diesel generator use in the remote region by 75%, avoiding the equivalent of 12 years of diesel emissions (8.8 GWh).

It’s clear the future of renewable energy is hybrid, pairing clean base load generation like hydropower with long-term storage capabilities to both remove dependence on traditional fossil fuel generation and support communities during emergency events by keeping essential services running. An integrated automation platform can play an important role in helping organizations operate microgrids more efficiently and reliably.

Emerson has decades of proven experience automating renewable and thermal power assets. Our industry-leading scalable Ovation™ software and automation technologies integrate battery energy management and hydro plant management into one platform, providing greater visibility through a single, unified view of operations eliminates data siloes, complexity and risk. This translates into enhanced reliability and cost-effective operations while providing a pathway to add innovative software easily and economically for remote operations and data analytics. Emerson continues fueling the power industry’s progress, helping generate a hybrid future through our Ovation platform—a future that’s not far away.

Eliminate the complexities of run-of-river hydropower and battery energy storage systems with Ovation™ automation software, enhancing reliability and providing cost-effective hybrid operations. Emerson’s scalable, Ovation™ software and automation technologies optimize the operation and management of hybrid clean power generation and storage, such as battery energy and hydro microgrid in one platform, regardless of asset type or OEM.

Discover how Emerson’s Ovation™ software and automation technologies can help power generators achieve fewer shutdowns, faster startups and efficient load dispatch for hydropower and beyond.

Learn more here.