HydroPHIL: real-time & transient testing

Enhance your hydro turbine’s dynamics & efficiency

The HydroPHIL platform is a unique test rig that can replicate the behaviour of various aspects of your hydro power plant in real time.

Our platform enables you to validate the control, supervision, system architecture, integration and hydraulic performance of your projects in a relevant environment.

It is the perfect tool for optimising and hybridising your pumped storage power plants.

Transient hydraulic phenomena

When planning a new project or refurbishing a power plant, it is essential to anticipate transient phenomena such as turbine rewatering, water column separation, cavitation, water hammer, etc.

Thanks to our unique test rig we can confirm numerical simulation by relevant experiments.

Investigate water column separation for Andritz

We worked with Andritz to study water column separation, a key challenge in hydropower plant modernisation.

This occurs when a valve closes too quickly, creating a vacuum in the pipe. The water then crashes back together, causing a water hammer, a sudden and powerful pressure surge. Our client wanted to improve their understanding of this phenomena and update their Computational Fluid Dynamics data.

Investigate Transient hydraulic phenomenons thanks to SuperGrid Institute's HydroPHIL test rig
As part of the European XFLEX Hydro project, GE Vernova aimed to study and validate the use of speed variation in turbine mode, with the aim of extending its turbine’s operating range in this mode.

How HydroPHIL helps our client

As part of the European XFLEX Hydro project, GE Vernova aimed to study and validate the use of speed variation in turbine mode, with the goal of extending the turbine’s operating range under this mode.

As a member of the XFLEX Hydro consortium, SuperGrid Institute assessed the feasibility and relevance of these new operating sequences on our real-time HydroPHIL platform. We defined the test plan and configured the platform to match the characteristics of the test site, taking into account everything from the turbine itself to its connection with the power grid.

Safer integration of flexible solutions

Increasing the flexibility of your assets sometimes requires new technologies such as variable speed, hybridisation and advanced control strategies. These solutions can improve response times and increase the operating range or the system’s life expectancy.

Our innovative HydroPHIL test platform helps you to mitigate the risks of implementing new flexibility solutions. It performs real-time simulations of these emerging hydro power storage technologies, the first of its kind.

Focus on the advantages of variable speed

To integrate more wind and solar power into the grid, it is essential to harness the flexibility of hydraulic assets. One way to achieve this is to vary pump power by controlling turbine rotation speed, which is made possible by installing a variable frequency drive.

Variable speed technology is not new. It has already been successfully adopted by several companies around the world — for example at Linthal and Nant de Drance in Switzerland, as well as in Germany, China, and India.

So, what are the benefits? Variable speed improves operational flexibility, particularly for pumping, and helps to prevent cavitation issues that can arise in extreme hydraulic conditions. This not only enhances overall performance but also contributes to the long-term reliability of hydroelectric systems.

At SuperGrid Institute, we have designed an innovative test platform capable of performing real-time simulations for these emerging hydro power storage technologies, the first of its kind.

Our references

Understanding
water column separation

Our client wanted to gain a better understanding of the phenomena and update Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) data.

xflex-hydro-reference-supergrid

Improving
hydropower flexibility

SuperGrid Institute played an important role in this action, by mobilising our HydroPHIL test platform to test a new hydro technology, deep partial load variable speed transitions, with the aim of extending the turbine’s operating range within conventional pumped storage power plants.

We assessed the feasibility and relevance of these new operating sequences, defined the test plan, and configured our platform according to the characteristics of the test site. This included taking into account the turbine itself and its connection with the power grid.

Our tests allowed us to validate the control algorithms of the tested turbine and suggest improvements to its supervision within this extended operating range.

As group leader of work package 11, we led the work on flexibility revenues and future markets, performing an in-depth analysis of the cost-benefits opportunity associated with the implementation of flexibility technologies in existing hydropower plants and analysing the evolution of existing ancillary services markets.

We looked at the costs of hydro flexibility as well as the outlook of future reserve markets as a means of renumerating these investments. We estimated the demand and the price of the reserve services in the long term and modelled the long-term revenue of XFLEX HYDRO flexible technologies, assessing their profitability.

We observed a fierce competition for flexible hydro technologies within the reserves market coming from batteries, provoking reflections on outsourcing elements of the supply chain outside of Europe.

Our analysis also highlighted that the European short-term markets for energy and services, although very efficient in providing optimal dispatch of energy at an attractive price, do not provide sufficient visibility for long-term investments. It seems appropriate to pursue the implementation of long-term contracts in the European electricity markets, for sustainable flexibility.

lolabat-reference-supergrid

New generations
of batteries

SuperGrid Institute is leading the work to demonstrate the potential of this technology across different applications and to show how it can increase network flexibility. We are also involved in the hybridisation of a hydraulic power plant, where we will validate the battery technology through simulation and testing on a reduced-scale model.

hydrophil-replicate-hydroelectric-unit
Camille Prud'Homme - Business Development Manager

Contact our expert

Camille Prud’Homme, Business Development Manager

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Pumped storage plants (PSP) are considered the most mature and reliable technology for storing energy in bulk. While they are widely recognised for their ability to store energy in large quantities, R&D efforts are now focused on increasing flexibility to facilitate the integration of renewable energies into the grid.

Emerging technologies such as variable speed, hybridisation and advanced control strategies, improve the PSP’s flexibility, thereby improving response times,
increasing the operation range or increasing the system’s life expectancy.

At SuperGrid Institute, we have designed an innovative test platform capable of performing real-time simulations for these emerging hydro power storage technologies, the first of its kind.

We help our customers mitigate the risks of implementing new solutions, at a reasonable price.

The HydroPHIL platform is a unique test rig that replicates various aspects of a PSP’s behaviour in real time.

Our platform enables you to validate the control, supervision, system architecture, integration, and hydraulics (non IEC 60193) of your projects in a relevant environment.

Our one-of-a-kind installation includes an embedded hydraulic circuit emulator that replicates the head oscillations at the turbine inlet and outlet, while an embedded grid emulator allows you to study grid code compliancy along with the production unit’s contribution to frequency & voltage reserves.