Perda de capacidade de geração em centrais hidrelétricas por efeito da evolução temporal da rugosidade do circuito hidráulico da instalação

Abstract

Brazil has been on the spotlight since it is a country investing more and more in terms of generating electric energy by renewable sources. Building a Hydroelectric Power Plants of small medium and big capacities using the water movements is one of the most effective way of generating clean electric power. Then, it is possible to estimate future and past electric generation gain and losses correlating both data from the water critical periods and power plant installations. This paper presents a study of the reduction of hydroelectric energy generation for some Hydropower Generating Plants, due to the aging of forced pipes lead by the increase of the roughness of these pipes. This reduction is calculated using physical data from the plant, when compared to a generation scenario within the critical hydrological period of the system. An increase of the load loss and consequent reduction of the system power capacity was calculated from the pipes roughness temporal and internal evolution. Then, this study shows the effects of the phenomenon described above in terms of system performance throughout the years.