Di-Hydro

Digital Maintenance for Sustainable and Flexible Operation of Hydropower Plant

Start date: 01/10/2023

Duration: 36 months

Topic: HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-03-08

Total budget: EUR 4 498 761.00

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Di-Hydro contributes towards harnessing the full potential of hydro-power (HP) plants and clusters in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement, by development of tailored, optimized digital and smart decision-making tools for use in such plants, at scale. Indeed, Di-Hydro will develop smart devices and pro-active intelligent algorithms that utilize data acquired from static, dynamic, and alternative sources (e.g., satellites) so as to predict the operational and maintenance-related behavior of standalone HP plants and clusters, and we will then incorporate such algorithms in digital twins that can fully interrelate with such HP plants/clusters, yielding, eventually, an intelligent, fully-replicable decision-making tool for optimal coordination of environmentally mindful power generation from such plants/clusters (based on the foreseen market needs and the intended commercial strategy of their owners).

Notably, a wide variety of previous plant digitization levels, weather and water flow conditions, biodiversity, environmental and societal issues pertinent to such HP clusters are incorporated in the integrated practical solution developed here, mainly by leveraging innovative sensor technologies, cutting-edge digital adaption for energy production, and optimized operation and maintenance practices based on nextgen information technology.

The consortium is comprised of 13 partners, 3 of which are RTOs, 7 SMEs, and 3 large power enterprises (represented here by their hydro-power branches).

Di-Hydro AT A GLANCE

Develop innovative sensors and data technology for HP plants
Digitize maintenance and operation of HP plants for sustainability
Reliable and robust HP data solutions as confidential/transparent as needed
Support Decision-Making on O&M of HP plants and clusters in modern power markets
Assess the socio-economic and environmental impact of HP sector digital transition

OUR ROLE

In Di-Hydro, InoSens will develop novel sensing device for biodiversity and environmental monitoring.
To enable real-time monitoring of the water quality parameters most relevant for the development of the environmental and the socio-economic models, three novel SoA sensors will be developed, that measure the most relevant water pollutants from anthropogenic sources: i) a fluorescence-based sensor that measures a critical concentration of blue-green algae as a causer of cyanotoxins, ii) electrochemical sensor with the ion-selective membrane to measure the concentration of ammonia in water, and iii) low-cost electrochemical aptamer-based biosensor for quantitative determination of Escherichia coli bacteria concentration in water. In addition, a novel sensing device will be developed to enable realtime measurements of Cyanobacteria and ammonia, together with Dissolved Oxygen (range 0~20 mg/L), water EC (0500us/cm, 05000us/cm,010000us/cm,0200000us/cm), pH value (0~14), oxidation reduction (0 ~ ±1500mV) and water temperature (0 ~ 100 ºC). The gateway will provide additional RS485 ports for the implementation of additional sensors (if needed). The communication module of the sensing device will rely on 4G/Ethernet, while the system will also enable visualization of measurements.