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Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant

Includes bibliographical references.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kippie, Mu'azzam
Other Authors: Fuls, Wim
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Mechanical Engineering 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kippie, Mu'azzam
author2 Fuls, Wim
author_browse Fuls, Wim
Kippie, Mu'azzam
author_facet Fuls, Wim
Kippie, Mu'azzam
author_sort Kippie, Mu'azzam
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13124
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:03.909Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher Department of Mechanical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Mechanical Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13124 Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant Kippie, Mu'azzam Fuls, Wim Mechanical Engineering Includes bibliographical references. The South African grid has been experiencing small reserve margins from 2008 and this will continue until the new power stations are integrated onto the grid. This is a time where the frequency control performance has become an important indicator to see how the power plants are able to deal with the restoration of frequency specifically during peak times. A study was done to identify the systems/aspects which at the time contribute a considerable amount to frequency control or could affect frequency in the medium to long term. From this, the co-ordination of the guide vanes at pumped storage plants was selected. Pumped storage units exhibit a non-minimum phase characteristic which can negatively affect the frequency response on the grid. Attempts were made to improve this system’s contribution to frequency control. To achieve this, the main waterway, including surge tank and guide vanes of a pumped storage station were modelled in a thermal-hydraulic simulation environment. With the model it was possible to realise the reverse power phenomenon inherent in pumped storage plants. The model was validated with similar studies in the literature and pumped storage plant data. A selection of scenarios with various guide vane operation techniques were proposed to improve the performance of two connected units during load changes. Some of the techniques produced improvement in the reverse power characteristic while others produced deterioration in the performance due to coupling of the unit using a common penstock but enjoyed an improvement in the plant net output. The study showed that it is possible to reproduce the non-minimum phase characteristic of a pumped storage plant using thermal-hydraulic models, and that various control schemes can be tested using the model. This paves the way for more elaborate control scheme evaluations, including those that look at coordination of all the pumped storage plants on a network. 2015-06-26T11:21:30Z 2015-06-26T11:21:30Z 2014 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13124 eng application/pdf Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering
Kippie, Mu'azzam
Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
title_full Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
title_fullStr Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
title_full_unstemmed Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
title_short Improvements to a key contributor of frequency control : the co-ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
title_sort improvements to a key contributor of frequency control the co ordination of guide vane operation in a pumped storage plant
topic Mechanical Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13124
work_keys_str_mv AT kippiemuazzam improvementstoakeycontributoroffrequencycontrolthecoordinationofguidevaneoperationinapumpedstorageplant