Engineer Innovation Podcast | Boosting Norwegian Hydropower using Executable Digital Twin

In the battle to decarbonise our electricity supply hydropower is a key weapon (in those places where geography permits). It can be either a source of green energy (as rain fills up mountain reservoirs) or, in the case of pumped hydro, a partially “self-recharging battery”, storing excessive green energy for later use. Dialling hydro power up and down in response to demand has its own challenges though, due to the massive scale of these plants and the consequence of forces generated by millions of litres of water cascading from a great height. In the latest episode of the Engineer Innovation podcast, I talk to Flow Design Bureau’s Morten Kjeldsen about using engineering simulation to create “virtual sensors” that allow operators to understand how a hydro power station is performing in real time. “We have tens of kilometres of piping and tunnels filled with water running through a penstock which takes water for a high level to the turbine - it can be anything from 200 to 1200 metres of head. You have all this inertia when you change your operating conditions, which can generate massive oscillations. If you’re not very careful, bad things can happen…” Morten Kjeldsen, Flow Design Bureau • The challenges of running a demand responsive hydro power plant • The consequences of getting your flow control one • Building virtual sensors using simulation an edge computing • The digital twin from the plant operators perspective • Using legacy equipment outside of its original design parameters This episode of the Engineer Innovation podcast is brought to you by Siemens Digital Industries Software — bringing electronics, engineering and manufacturing together to build a better digital future. For more unique insights on all kinds of cutting-edge topics, tune into https://sie.ag/6VC98R. ▶️ About Simcenter: Engineering departments today must develop smart products that integrate mechanical functions with electronics and controls. They should utilize new materials and manufacturing methods and deliver new designs within ever shorter design cycles. This requires current engineering practices for product performance verification to evolve into a Digital Twin approach, which enables us to follow a more predictive process for systems-driven product development. Simcenter™ software uniquely combines system simulation, 3D CAE and tests, to help predict performance across all critical attributes, early and throughout the entire product lifecycle. By combining physics-based simulations with insights gained from data analytics, Simcenter helps you optimize design, and deliver innovations faster and with greater confidence.