Intelligent Asset Management Platform for Hydropower operation and maintenance

The pledge to triple the global renewables power capacity to 2030 has been included in the final text at COP28. 130 countries have committed to increasing to at least 11,000 GW and doubling energy efficiency improvement rates by 2030. This goal cannot be delivered without sustainable hydropower, which provides the flexibility and storage for variable technologies like wind and solar.
This ambitious goal needs to be achieved and the world actually has the technologies to do so. Hydropower will play a pivotal role in the future energy world; an energy world which is undergoing a fundamental change with the increase of digitalisation. As a result, power systems are more deeply monitored, and artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are implemented in daily operations.
Hydropower represents one sixth of global electricity generation and provides a significant contribution to grid flexibility and security, as it can modulate generation very rapidly and be stopped and restarted smoothly.

However, the current hydro fleet in the EU is aged, and it is estimated that 50% of the fleet will require upgrade actions by 2030. In particular, modernisation actions related to digitalisation are required in the short to medium term, in order to offer enhanced services, increase grid flexibility, environmental and socio-economic sustainability and to foster the green and digital transitions in Europe.

The iAMP-Hydro project will improve the operations of existing hydropower stations through the development of new digital sensors and services, which will collectively form iAMP: a novel intelligent Asset Management Platform encompassing secure, open and transparent data-sharing protocols and three novel digital solutions. These include new condition monitoring and predictive maintenance tools for hydropower turbines, the ecological water status monitoring and improved weather and flow forecasting.