Hydroelectric production is normally scheduled with respect to the demand in the power network at any time.  Many Run-Of-River (ROR) plants store water during periods when the demand is low and release water through the turbines when the demand is high.  The US Army Corps of Engineers Hydraulic Engineering Center in Davis, CA produce software for optimizing the performance of hydroelectric power stations and other kinds of reservoirs.

http://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ressim/

If we talk about hydro power production it include net head, water discharge or debit and overall efficiency of turbine, generator and transformer. In order to optimize power production, the possible ways are by optimizing those parameters/factors. For example, build the reservoir and dam to have an optimal debit, select the topography that give the maximum head and use high efficiency of turbine, generator and transformer.

This is a good summary of ROR plants:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-of-the-river_hydroelectricity

I think PSO technique can be used

In addition to reservoir and dam, an optimal debit might also consider a flow duration curve (FDC). By using FDC an optimum debit at the hydro power plant can properly be selected.

Dear Alban,

As in any optimization problem, you have to start by defining your objective function and the constraints under which your problem is intended to operate.

My suggestion is to use a Life-Cycle-Cost Analysis (LCCA) in which you consider not only the energy generation, but also, as my colleague mentioned before, the demand and the possibility to access to incentives to the production of electricity by hydropower means (FIT, for example). Consider, also, what is the alternative you are competing against. For example, if it´s a rural community, probably you are competing against a Diesel plant.

In the problem, you have to consider the Flow Duration Curve, the head, the existence or not of dam, connection to grid, etc. In general, you´ll have to assess initial costs and operating and maintenance costs and compare in a LCCA to costs of using conventional sources. Then, once you have the model to perform NPV, IRR, B-C ratio, etc., you can focus on running the optimization algorithm on input variables to find the optimal combination to obtain the largest benefit from your investment (you may focus for example on NPV if this is yor Objective Function).

Besides the recommendations given by previous colleagues, I suggest to pay attention to software like RETScreen (free at: www.retscreen.net) or HOMER (Legacy version is free).

If you use RETScreen, you´ll need to run the optimization algorithm on the MS-Excel platform it´s embedded within or extract the data to another tool. RETScreen calculates the advantage or disadvantage of a proposed mini-hydro system vs. the conventional supply unit. It allows you also to perform sensitivity and risk analyses on the selected option. 

To have an idea on how RETScreen can help you in setting up mini-hydro projects (as the base for the optimization analysis), you can take a look at these two case studies prepared by my former master students:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277310867_Technical-Economic_Prefeasibility_Assessment_of_an_off-grid_Mini-Hydro_Power_Plant_for_an_Agribusiness_Resort_in_Kaduna_Nigeria

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277310810_Technical_and_economic_prefeasibility_study_of_mini-hydro_power_plants_in_Venezuela._Case_study_El_Valle_River

I hope it helps to develop your project.

Best regards,

Luis

Conference Paper Technical-Economic Prefeasibility Assessment of an off-grid ...

Conference Paper Technical and economic prefeasibility study of mini-hydro po...

Dear Alban,

1) Small hydropower:

I would recommend you a) SIMAHPP5 of HydroXpert (www.hydroXpert.com) . b) for prefeasibility study MPC-4 of Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU (try to contact Prof. Anund Killingtveit (developer), http://www.ntnu.edu/employees/anund.killingtveit. c) check Dr. Arturo Leon's work at Oregon state University, http://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~leona/Codes.html for discharge and penstock diameter optimization, a MATLAB script.

2) Large hydropower

Generally a) HEC_Resim, as recommended above. b) I used to work with nMAG. nMAG is an optimization software developed by Prof. Anund Killingtveit dedicated for hydropower. The problem with this software is that it is still a DOS version. c) check matlab script, "HydroelectricDamOptimization", by Mathworks. Visit www.mathworks.com. 

3) Luis's recommendation is also pretty fine.

Best regards,

Betemariam

http://didattica.uniroma2.it/assets/uploads/corsi/144713/hydro.pdf

https://www.ems.psu.edu/~elsworth/courses/cause2003/finalprojects/vikingpaper.pdf

Many thanks Hamit!

Optimizing any engineering project have to be started by collectio data to design the decesion variables, then formulate the optimzation model according to the problem objective,

Regards,