Dynamic and configurable mathematical modelling of a hydropower plant research in progress paper

Switzerland, among many other countries in Europe, are transitioning their energy economy away from nuclear power to renew- able energies. One common, but key technology to make this transition possible is hydropower plants, of which there are 604 plants producing around 56% of Switzerland’s energy production. To facilitate this transi- tion we must modify the current operation of hydropower to compensate for recent developments in the energy market that have appeared due to increased use of other renewable energies. Mathematical modelling is a common method for planning the operation of a hydropower plant. How- ever, mathematical models are know to be problem specific and static and therefore they are expensive to modify. In this paper we approach this problem through a modular configurable and dynamic design for the commonly used mathematical models and show how it can be imple- mented using the GAMS modelling language. We discuss an interactive configuration process and our research approach to automating it