Optimal Peak Shaving Operation of Hydroelectric Power Station in Bangladesh and its Impact on the Reduction of Severe Load Shedding

Abstract

Bangladesh Power System (BPS) is facing an acute Power crisis round the clock, especially in the summer season. The crisis turned in to a sever condition during peak hours and results in intolerable load shedding. This paper investigates this load shedding problem in the peak load hours under the consideration of available generation capacity of BPS and presents an analysis to minimize the load shedding through the optimal operation of existing hydro power station in BPS. Moreover, it exposed different mode of utilization of hydro resource with promising results. The investigation of this paper shows that the installed capacity of the existing Hydro power station can be increased as the available hydro potential becomes higher than the installed capacity for nearly 35% time of a year. The proposed different mode of operation of hydro power plant would create a feeling among the system planner for planned maintenance & overhauling of the hydro generating units.