TVA Hydro Scheduling Model: Practical Aspects

Computer programs and mathematical methods have been developed to model long term week-to-week variations in water level, discharge and electrical generation for the 42 reservoirs operated by TVA. The model has an interactive structure with CRT graphics for easy use by TVA reservoir management personnel to evaluate the impact of new operating requirements on established objectives, check reservoir system status to warn of possible future problems, forecast reservoir systems operation and develop new long range operation guides. Notable features of the model include: (1) the observation of important system operating constraints and priorities, (2) extreme event analysis capability, (3) a special linear programming structure that provides the flexibility to modify operating objectives and experiment with new types of long range efficiency guides, and (4) interactive CRT graphical output analysis.