Hydro-Québec

About: Hydro-Québec is a government organization based out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Electric power system & Dielectric. The organization has 2596 authors who have published 4433 publications receiving 100878 citations.

Benchmark Models for the Analysis and Control of Small-Signal Oscillatory Dynamics in Power Systems

Abstract: This paper summarizes a set of six benchmark systems for the analysis and control of electromechanical oscillations in power systems, recommended by the IEEE Task Force on Benchmark Systems for Stability Controls of the Power System Dynamic Performance Committee. The benchmark systems were chosen for their tutorial value and particular characteristics leading to control the system design problems relevant to the research community. For each benchmark, the modeling guidelines are provided, along with eigenvalues and time-domain results produced with at least two simulation softwares, and one possible control approach is provided for each system as well. Researchers and practicing engineers are encouraged to use these benchmark systems when assessing new oscillation damping control strategies.

Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the generation of wind and hydro power

Abstract: This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the life cycle GHG emissions from wind and hydro power generation, based on relevant published studies. Comparisons with conventional fossil, nuclear and other renewable generation systems are also presented, in order to put the GHG emissions of wind and hydro power in perspective. Studies on GHG emissions from wind and hydro power show large variations in GHG emissions, varying from 0.2 to 152 g CO 2 -equivalents per kW h. The main parameters affecting GHG emissions are also discussed in this article, in relation to these variations. The wide ranging results indicate a need for stricter standardised rules and requirements for life-cycle assessments (LCAs), in order to differentiate between variations due to methodological disparities and those due to real differences in performance of the plants. Since LCAs are resource- and time-intensive, development of generic GHG results for each technology could be an alternative to developing specific data for each plant. This would require the definition of typical parameters for each technology, for example a typical capacity factor for wind power. Such generic data would be useful in documenting GHG emissions from electricity generation for electricity trading purposes.

On the need for bias correction in regional climate scenarios to assess climate change impacts on river runoff

Abstract: . In climate change impact research, the assessment of future river runoff as well as the catchment-scale water balance is impeded by different sources of modeling uncertainty. Some research has already been done in order to quantify the uncertainty of climate projections originating from the climate models and the downscaling techniques, as well as from the internal variability evaluated from climate model member ensembles. Yet, the use of hydrological models adds another layer of uncertainty. Within the QBic3 project (Quebec–Bavarian International Collaboration on Climate Change), the relative contributions to the overall uncertainty from the whole model chain (from global climate models to water management models) are investigated using an ensemble of multiple climate and hydrological models. Although there are many options to downscale global climate projections to the regional scale, recent impact studies tend to use regional climate models (RCMs). One reason for that is that the physical coherence between atmospheric and land-surface variables is preserved. The coherence between temperature and precipitation is of particular interest in hydrology. However, the regional climate model outputs often are biased compared to the observed climatology of a given region. Therefore, biases in those outputs are often corrected to facilitate the reproduction of historic runoff conditions when used in hydrological models, even if those corrections alter the relationship between temperature and precipitation. So, as bias correction may affect the consistency between RCM output variables, the use of correction techniques and even the use of (biased) climate model data itself is sometimes disputed among scientists. For these reasons, the effect of bias correction on simulated runoff regimes and the relative change in selected runoff indicators is explored. If it affects the conclusion of climate change analysis in hydrology, we should consider it as a source of uncertainty. If not, the application of bias correction methods is either unnecessary to obtain the change signal in hydro-climatic projections, or safe to use for the production of present and future river runoff scenarios as it does not alter the change signal. The results of the present paper highlight the analysis of daily runoff simulated with four different hydrological models in two natural-flow catchments, driven by different regional climate models for a reference and a future period. As expected, bias correction of climate model outputs is important for the reproduction of the runoff regime of the past, regardless of the hydrological model used. Then again, its impact on the relative change of flow indicators between reference and future periods is weak for most indicators, with the exception of the timing of the spring flood peak. Still, our results indicate that the impact of bias correction on runoff indicators increases with bias in the climate simulations.

A review on hexacyanoferrate-based materials for energy storage and smart windows: challenges and perspectives

Abstract: Well-known since the 18th century and widely used in painting and later in photography, hexacyanoferrate, or “Prussian blue”, is currently getting its “second life” as a promising material in several of the most advanced fields of the present technological sectors. This is mostly due to the rapid development of the energy storage market, which requires advanced, reliable, but also cost-effective materials for large-scale applications in load-levelling of renewable energy power sources. Non-Li technologies are considered as one of the most fertile R&D directions in this field, and Prussian blue demonstrates extremely promising characteristics for this kind of application. The unique features of this material are due to peculiarities of its atomic structure and ionic and electronic properties. In this article we review and discuss current research efforts in this field employing different hexacyanoferrate-based compounds as potential electrochemical storage and electrochromic devices. After a brief review of its history, we analyze the peculiarities of the atomic structure of these types of systems. We further summarize and analyze the most important and interesting experimental electrochemical data in this field, linking the particular atomic structure of the studied compounds with their observed electrochemical behaviour. This provides us with a snapshot of the current experimental state in this field and allows us to make certain predictions for its future development.

Fast adaptive schemes for tracking voltage phasor and local frequency in power transmission and distribution systems

Abstract: Devices specifically dedicated to highly accurate measurement of frequency have been described for specific applications like power system stabilizers. However, in most situations the digital estimate of the frequency deviation is needed concurrently with other decision quantities. Therefore, its value is usually obtained as a by-product of a more general-purpose algorithm, based, for instance, on the extended Kalman filtering or the recursive least error squares techniques. Unfortunately, a common problem with these Kalman filters is the high computational requirements, due to transcendental functions evaluation in real-time. Therefore, the need still exists for more clever implementations of the various real-time algorithms, which could alleviate the computational burden and enhance the adaptation speed during transients. To fulfil this need to some extent, two new methods suitable for fast adaptive estimation of voltage phasor and frequency deviation are outlined. >