Session B3: Evaluation of Potential Retrofit of the Alden Fish-Friendly Turbine
Location
Groningen, The Netherlands
Event Website
http://fishpassage.umass.edu/
Start Date
22-6-2015 4:45 PM
End Date
22-6-2015 5:00 PM
Description
Abstract:
The Alden turbine was developed through industry-U.S. Department of Energy collaborative funding to provide safe turbine passage for fish at hydropower projects. The turbine was designed to minimize the probability and consequence of blade strike and keep pressure changes and shear forces within limits tolerable by fish. Suitability for retrofit was not a design criterion, and application of the Alden fish friendly turbine has historically focused on new powerhouse development in order to provide flexibility in arranging the larger Alden unit. After evaluating typical Francis and Kaplan turbine geometries and completing a basic Alden turbine retrofit study, it was found that matching the pin circle diameter of the Alden turbine distributor to that of the existing turbine will lead to minimal physical reconstruction but a relatively low power output.
Increasing the size of the Alden turbine will provide an improvement to the power output but also increase the needed physical reconstruction between the existing and proposed systems. An evaluation of energy generation was completed for a hypothetical, site-specific retrofit. Energy generation given the existing Alden unit design without a fish bypass flow was 1.6% less than the base case including a fish bypass flow. A re-designed Alden unit more suitable for the site head was predicted to yield a generation loss of only 0.7%. Improvements to fish passage survival with the Alden turbine retrofit are length dependent, yielding a predicted 23% improvement (i.e., an increase from 79% to 97% predicted survival) for 300mm fish.
Session B3: Evaluation of Potential Retrofit of the Alden Fish-Friendly Turbine
Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract:
The Alden turbine was developed through industry-U.S. Department of Energy collaborative funding to provide safe turbine passage for fish at hydropower projects. The turbine was designed to minimize the probability and consequence of blade strike and keep pressure changes and shear forces within limits tolerable by fish. Suitability for retrofit was not a design criterion, and application of the Alden fish friendly turbine has historically focused on new powerhouse development in order to provide flexibility in arranging the larger Alden unit. After evaluating typical Francis and Kaplan turbine geometries and completing a basic Alden turbine retrofit study, it was found that matching the pin circle diameter of the Alden turbine distributor to that of the existing turbine will lead to minimal physical reconstruction but a relatively low power output.
Increasing the size of the Alden turbine will provide an improvement to the power output but also increase the needed physical reconstruction between the existing and proposed systems. An evaluation of energy generation was completed for a hypothetical, site-specific retrofit. Energy generation given the existing Alden unit design without a fish bypass flow was 1.6% less than the base case including a fish bypass flow. A re-designed Alden unit more suitable for the site head was predicted to yield a generation loss of only 0.7%. Improvements to fish passage survival with the Alden turbine retrofit are length dependent, yielding a predicted 23% improvement (i.e., an increase from 79% to 97% predicted survival) for 300mm fish.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2015/June22/78
Comments
Presenting Author Bio: Dr. Jacobson is a Senior Technical Leader in EPRI’s Waterpower Program, which encompasses conventional hydropower as well as marine and hydrokinetic technologies. His professional work over the past 25 years has focused on environmental assessment in aquatic ecosystems. Prior to joining EPRI in September, 2009, he worked in the environmental consulting arena, most recently for 13 years as the founder and principal scientist of Langhei Ecology, LLC. Dr. Jacobson’s specialty is design, analysis, and interpretation of monitoring and assessment programs to support environmental decision-making. Since 1998, Dr. Jacobson has been a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins University, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, where he teaches a graduate course on ecological assessment. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in oceanography and limnology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.A. degree in biology from Cornell University.