Real-Time Hourly Reservoir Operation

An hourly optimization model is developed for on-line use in the operation of the Central Valley Project (CVP) in California. The hourly model is supplemental to monthly and daily optimization models previously developed for the CVP, and maximizes a weighted summation of generated power over a 24-hr period subject to specified plant releases obtained from a daily model, a desired hourly power schedule, and appropriate system and equipment constraints. The procedure has been developed in two phases. Phase I involves a determination of a good feasible policy (a set of releases) through an iterated linear programming and adjust process. Phase II uses this feasible policy as a starting policy in an incremental dynamic programming, successive approximations process to derive an optimal policy. CVP operational records of some typical days are compared with the model outputs for these days, and significant improvements are observed.