News articlesbyCarina Belusa

Installation of Monitoring Systems in Valeira

As part of our project, our partner Voith designed and installed a cavitation monitoring system at our demonstration site Valeira in Portugal. The new system contributes to improved real-time monitoring and operational efficiency.

Two cavitation sensors per unit were installed to measure and monitor cavitation conditions in real time. The system also features a data acquisition system which processes and records data from the sensors, ensuring efficient storage and analysis of information. Additionally, it acquires five additional analogue signals from each unit: active power, speed, gate opening, blade opening and net head. Finally, the system includes a dedicated monitoring PC for data collection and analysis, meaning all monitoring can be done locally. The cavitation status results are stored in the Cloud, where they are available and visualized for remote access and analysis.

News articles Press ReleasesbyCarina Belusa

Virtual Powerplants for Monitoring and Control – A digital twin for Røldal-Suldal Kraftverkene

The launch of a real-time Virtual Powerplant for our demonstration site Røldal-Suldal Kraftverkene in Norway powered by live data marks a key milestone on ReHydro’s digitalization journey. The system consists of two digital twins that operate in parallel. One is mirroring the power plant in real time, providing additional output such as total plant efficiency, flow, and head loss. The other twin operates on manual inputs to create “what if” scenarios so personnel working on the power plant can train and be prepared for potential emergency situations without a real emergency being present. Later in the project, two or three additional twins might be added for environmental analysis and predictions.

What distinguishes this setup from others is that, due to certain practicalities at Røldal-Suldal, the communication between the physical power plant and its twins is handled via Azure database instead of direct industrial Input/Output. Azure collects and stores data from a large array of datapoints in all plants within the Røldal-Suldal system, which results in an extremely detailed overview of current situations. The drawback to this wide-spread data network is that it introduces a slight latency, however, no more than 15-60 seconds. While this is a challenge, it will give us valuable experience and insights into working with databases like Azure rather than industrial standards like Profibus and its advantages and disadvantages.

One major aspect in favour of Azure that we are benefitting from is that it enables more virtualisation. The entire system can be installed anywhere, preferably on a server in the Cloud, but also on personal PCs. When active control output is not needed, these aspects are very interesting for monitoring, analysis and everyday operation of one or several plants.

News articles Press ReleasesbyCarina Belusa

External Modernization Survey and Workshop offer Insights into Hydropower Plant Operator’s Needs

For the past months, our partners working on the “Market Uptake” section of our project have conceptualized and conducted a survey amongst hydropower professionals. Aim of the survey was to inquire about modernization projects in European hydropower companies to learn what the hydropower sector is focusing on- and what they may want support and guidance for.

The survey was rolled out in three phases: Phase one focused on internal surveying among the ReHydro project partners, phase two gathered data from a number of select hydropower operators, phase three opened the survey up to the public and any relevant hydropower plant personnel that would help us close any remaining gaps in knowledge.

All three phases have been completed within the first quarter of 2025. On April 11th, a workshop was held with the survey’s participants to discuss and finalize conclusions. Viewing the results within specific contexts was also made possible through the direct dialogue with participants.

Overall, we consider the survey a success. We were able to reach 47% of the European hydropower fleet and gathered information from 34 individual companies, which gives us a solid database to align our research focus with the hydropower sector’s needs. Our next step will bring the gathered data about which modernization projects are being worked on, what challenges operators are facing and where ReHydro can support them to the public.

News articlesbyCarina Belusa

Installation of monitoring system in Brattlandsdalsåi

Sustainable Hydropower starts with better data!

ReHydro partner Intoto just installed an online monitoring system in the river Brattlandsdalsåi, Norway- helping bridge the gap between physical rivers and digital insights.

Brattlandsdalsåi is part of Røldal-Suldal Kraftverkene (RSK), one of our demonstration sites that is owned by our partner Lyse. The monitoring system installed by Intoto provides real-time information about the water level and flow in the river.

This work is one of ReHydro’s activities to discover and develop new standards for sharing a river’s status with society and relevant stakeholders, and maximizing services without compromising or conflicting hydropower production. They will also bridge gaps between the physical and digital relationship between hydropower and rivers as sustainable shared environments and resources. This effort is part of work package 1 and will progress further in summer of 2025.

We can’t wait to share it with you!

Press ReleasesbyCarina Belusa

Monitoring technology for more efficient hydropower plants

In Europe, around 11% of electricity is generated from hydropower every year, but 35% of the potential output is not utilised. As part of the ReHydro research project, Munich University of Applied Sciences is developing new methods for the early methods for the early detection of cavitation, one of the main causes of turbine damage.

Cavitation is a hydrodynamic effect in which vapour bubbles created by a drop in pressure collapse in liquids. If this happens near solid surfaces, such as turbine blades, extreme localised pressures are created that catapult out material like a volcano, leading to material damage. Up to now, cavitation can only be recognised through cost-intensive inspections, during which the turbine has to be completely emptied. If cavitation is detected, the only option left is to limit the damage by increasing the pressures or reducing the flow rate.

To avoid this, operators run the turbines at a large safety distance from critical operating areas where the pressure could drop. However, this limits the operation of the turbine and generates less electrical power than would be possible.

Efficiency and cavitation monitoring are supposed to extend the service life of hydropower plants (Image: Elisa Schuster)
Detecting cavitation at an early stage with the help of AI

As part of the ReHydro project, funded by the EU, Prof. Busboom is working with Voith Hydro and Energias de Portugal (edp) to develop innovative measurement solutions and AI monitoring systems to reliably detect cavitation during operation and reduce expensive inspections. For example, they use ultrasonic sensors that detect the high frequencies generated during the cavitation process.

The technology is being implemented at the Valeira hydropower plant in Portugal and is intended to demonstrate how modern sensor technology and data analysis can optimise the efficiency of hydropower plants. This not only increases the flexibility of the plants, but also supports the stability of the electricity grids by extending the availability and service life of the hydropower plants. ReHydro thus makes a decisive contribution to the ecological and economic optimisation of the European hydropower industry.