plant assignments

To transfer power from large remote generating stations to the load centers in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

• 500kV
• 230kV

Peace River

Columbia River

• Lower Mainland
• Vancouver Island

• Overall operation of the generation portfolio to meet reliability requirements
• Focus on the "Big 7" generating stations
• operations of the Automatic Generation Control (AGC)

Controlling and operating the majority of generating stations to support the GC.

• Power Supply Operations and Support Engineers
• PSOSE is responsible for BC Hydro generation from an economics point of view.

• The BES is divided into three sectors to make control and operation more manageable by RTO.
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• Grid 1 – Northern, Central and Southern Interior
• Grid 2 – Vancouver Island, North Shore, and Sunshine Coast
• Grid 3 – Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley

• 5
• Peace Region
• Columbia Region
• Lower Mainland
• Coastal
• Vancouver Island

Peace and Columbia River basins

• Independent power Producer
• Private investors that have developed and interconnected generation to serve provincial load.

• Distribution voltage level
• or
• Transmission voltage level

Electricity Purchanse Agreements (EPAs)

3000MW of peak capacity

• The PO is responsible for 7x24 monitoring and control (starting, stopping, and load changes) of BCH generating facilities with the exception of GMS and PCN.
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• The Plant Desk has Operating Responsibility for:
• ·         All water conveyance equipment
• ·         All generation equipment that is covered by WPP safety practices in BCH plants with a generating capacity less than 100MW.
• ·         All dispatchable IPPs
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• Operating Responsibility is always assigned field staff  by the Plant Desk for all generation equipment. (Exception: GMS and PCN which work directly with the GC)
• There is no Operating Authority assigned to the Plant Desk.

• The GC is responsible for the 7x24 monitoring and control of the BC Balancing Authority, specifically Automatic Generation Control.
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• The GC Desk is assigned Operating Responsibility for:
• ·         All generation equipment that is covered by WPP safety practices in BCH plants with a generating capacity equal to or greater than 100MW.
• ·         Any IPP plant with a generating capacity equal to or greater than 100MW in the BCH Balancing Authority area.
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• Operating Responsibility is always assigned field staff .
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• There is no Operating Authority assigned to the Generation Coordinator.

PSOSE develops an operational plan for the next hour looking out one year. The operations plan is the best way to run generation, ensuring reliability, maximizing revenue, and adhering to environmental requirements.

• PSOSE sets base points for the “big seven” Type A power plants.
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• Type B and C plants are dispatched by PSOSE directly through DCM. Type D plants are logged in DCM after the fact.
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• PSOSE establishes the operation of power plants from an economic point of view on an hour by hour basis in an effort to meet load +/- import/export.
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• Grid Operation follows these basepoints as long as reliability can be maintained and follows instructions for Type B and C plants received through DCM. Grid Operations notifies PSOSE of outages to transmission equipment that affect how generating stations can be run usings Reliability Must Runs (RMRs).

Head is the difference in height between the height of the water in the reservoir (top) and tailrace (bottom) for a dam.

• Earth-fill dam
• Concrete dam

F

• Typically has penstock well below surface which allows reservoir levels to fluctuate without power production being affected.
• Typically have a large head.

Allows for little to no water storage so output relies on seasonal river flow or output of upstream plant. Dam may not be able to run during certain times of the year.

Diversion dams are used to change the course of a river or stream, usually forcing it to join the water behind a Run-of-the-River or Storage dam. Example: Puntledge.

The water stored behind a dam.

The area downstream where the water exits.

Power Release Facilities include all the equipment involved in the power generation aspect of a hydro-electric generator.

Non-Power Release Facilities include all the equipment involved in moving water through/past the dam that are not power generation related.

• Intake Gate: where water from the reservoir enters the penstock.
• Located at the top end of the penstock.

• Intake Maintenance Gate: this device is used when the unit is under maintenance and the penstock must be dry.
• Located upstream of the intake gate.

• Trash Rack: Ensures large debris do not enter the penstock.
• Located at the open end of the intake structure in the reservoir forebay.

Penstock: Used to deliver water from the intake structure to the scroll case of the turbine.

• Surge Tower: Ensures the penstock is not affected by water hammering or surging.
• Open to atmosphere at the top of the penstock and above the height of the reservoir.

• Scroll Case: ensures equal pressure of water on all portions of the turbine runner.
• Snail-looking structure at the bottom of the penstock.

• Wicket Gates: Control the flow of water into the turbine.
• Associated with turbine end of the unit.

Turbine: The “runner” that spins as water flows through it converting kinetic energy into mechanical energy.

Draft Tube: where the water exits the bottom of the turbine and returns to the river.

Draft Tube Maintenance Gate: downstream of the runner, this device is used when the draft tube or runner is under maintenance and the draft tube must be dry.