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Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy / Volume 2 / Issue 5 / REGULAR ARTICLES

J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 2, 053104 (2010); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3501336 (11 pages)

Use of an autonomous sensor to evaluate the biological performance of the advanced turbine at Wanapum Dam

Zhiqun Deng, Thomas J. Carlson, Joanne P. Duncan, Marshall C. Richmond, and Dennis D. Dauble

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, Washington 99352, USA

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(Received 21 May 2010; accepted 13 September 2010; published online 13 October 2010)

Hydropower is the largest renewable energy resource in the United States and the world. However, hydropower dams have adverse ecological impacts because migrating fish may be injured or killed when they pass through hydroturbines. In the Columbia and Snake River basins, dam operators and engineers are required to make those hydroelectric facilities more fish-friendly through changes in hydroturbine design and operation after fish population declines and the subsequent listing of several species of Pacific salmon under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington, requested authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to replace the ten turbines at Wanapum Dam with advanced hydropower turbines designed to improve survival for fish passing through the turbines while improving operation efficiency and increasing power generation. As an additional measure to the primary metric of direct injury and mortality rates of juvenile Chinook salmon using balloon tag-recapture methodology, this study used an autonomous sensor device—the Sensor Fish—to provide insight into the specific hydraulic conditions and physical stresses experienced by the fish as well as the specific causes of fish biological response. We found that the new hydroturbine blade shape and the corresponding reduction of turbulence in the advanced hydropower turbine were effective in meeting the objectives of improving fish survival while enhancing operational efficiency of the dam. The frequency of severe events based on Sensor Fish pressure and acceleration measurements showed trends similar to those of fish survival determined by the balloon tag-recapture methodology. In addition, the new turbine provided a better pressure and rate of pressure change environment for fish passage. Overall, the Sensor Fish data indicated that the advanced hydroturbine design improved passage of juvenile salmon at Wanapum Dam.

© 2010 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. METHODS
    1. Test site
    2. Sensor Fish device
    3. Study design
    4. Data analysis
  3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
    1. Exposure events
    2. Pressure
    3. Comparison of Sensor Fish device data with live fish data
  4. CONCLUSION

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

aquaculture, biosensors, blades, dams, ecology, hydraulic turbines, hydroelectric power

PACS

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3501336

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1941-7012 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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