Operational Planning. Under Hourly Coordination, the system’s federal and non-federal hydroelectric projects cooperate to efficiently manage Grand Coulee dam flow releases in order to meet the hourly demands of power load peaking while maintaining reservoir levels as stable and full as possible. The operating strategy under Hourly Coordination includes specific algorithms related to reservoirs for power production, spill prevention, and downstream reservoir refill. In general, spill is avoided unless necessary for fish survival, since it wastes energy. To prevent spill, the total system of projects attempts to meet load by drafting from the projects on the system which have some ava ilable storage. Each dam on the system generates the most power when a release from Grand Coulee moves into its reservoir. The dam receiving the flow of water moving through the system generates as much power as possible, regardless of whether that particular project’s customers are making the request at that time. All power requests and non-power requirements are collected and tracked by a computer at Grant PUD’s headquarters (Ephrata, Washington) which serves as "Central" to the operation. This comp uter optimizes movement of water to maximize generation while keeping the reservoirs as full as possible. Participants in Hourly Coordination make requests for power from the central system in real time. The computer assigns each project a desired generation level so that all load requests are satisfied in a manner that optimizes the combined operational efficiency of all of the participating projects. This means that a power purchaser with an agreement with Rocky Reach Hydroelectric Project may actually be receiving power generated at Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project at a certain time of the day; the situation may be reversed when it is more efficient to a Grant County PUD’s customer to receive power generated at the Rocky Reach dam. The programming for the computer has evolved through many years of refinements and is intended to achieve the highest overall level of efficiency for the participating projects. While the MCHC allows participants to take advantage of these resource efficiencies in real time, it also ensures that each participant receives such power benefits in accordance with its rights to the generating assets. The computer keeps accounting records that recognize the varying generation obligations of each participating project. The computer’s accounting 7 1997 Agreement for the Hourly Coordination of Projects on the Mid-Columbia River. programming permits the shifting in time of actual generation from one project to another by means of "coordinated exchange." As a result, each project generates when and at the level that is most efficient, and the contractual obligations of each project are met in the most cost-efficient manner possible. A paper account tracks when a project is generating less or more power than it needs to fill its obligations. In any 24-hour period, each project will have generated more than its customers require at certain times of the day and less than its customers require at other times of the day. Over approximately a 24-hour period, there is essentially no discrepancy between a single project’s actual generation under Hourly Coordination and the customer demand it has worked to fulfill. In many ways, Hourly Coordination has been used not only to maximize the efficiency of power production, but also to manage flows and reservoir levels for protection of fisheries resources. Without the efficient dispatch of the water to minimize reservoir fluctuations, many more issues of stranding of both resident and anadromous fish would result. More stable reservoirs and stable and predictable flows allow the Mid-Columbia projects to better meet the needs of all competing uses of the reservoir in a more efficient manner. The leveling out of river fluctuations in particular has helped make possible the protection of spawning and incubating Chinook salmon in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, which is affected by flow releases from the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project (see Hanford Reach Fall Chinook Protection Program below).
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