Hydro Power

Hydro power represents local small scale hydro power plants that contribute mostly to the local electricity mix. An approach by Wild et al. (2024) is used to define which hydro power plants are regarded as being local hydro power plants and which ones are assumed to contribute directly to the national grid.

For hydro power, there is a defined production profile. For Swiss municipalities, local hydro availability is determined using the data about electricity production plants obtained from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (2022).

Attribute

Description

Standard value

Unit

Data type

deployment

If set to ‘true’, the technology will be

considered in the energy system model

(this does not necessarily mean it will

be used). Only relevant for

optimisation.

True

—

bool

kWp_max

Kilowatt Peak: Maximum power output of

hydro power plants.

inf

kW

float

existing_decentralised

True

bool

co2_intensity

Carbon-dioxide intensity of technology

output (annual average value).

0

kg CO2/kWh

float

lifetime

Expected lifetime of technology before

replacement is required.

25

years

int

capex

CAPEX cost of technology per unit of

capacity.

0

CHF/kWp

float

maintenance_cost

OPEX cost of technology.

130

CHF/kWp/year

float

interest_rate

Interest rate for computing levelised

costs (if required).

—

float

virtual_export_tariff

virtual export tarriff to prefer

internal usage of the electricity

0

CHF/kWh

float

export_subsidy

subsidy to make export more likely (and

prevent cycling of storages to curtail

energy)

0

CHF/kWh

float

The symbols and names of the flows are

v_e_hydro_exp

Exported Electricity

v_e_hydro

Outflow Electricity

References

Wild, M., Stocker, N., & Rohrer, J. (2024, May). Techno-economic realization of energy balancing with batteries, power-to-X, and demand-side management (SWEET Call 1-2020: EDGE, Deliverable Report 2.4). Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). https://www.aramis.admin.ch/Texte/?ProjectID=49138.

Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). (2022). Dokumentation «minimales Geodatenmodell»: Elektrizitätsproduktionsanlagen (Version 1.0rev, Geobasisdatensatz Nr. 221.1). Eidgenössisches Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation. https://www.bfe.admin.ch/bfe/en/home/supply/digitalization-and-geoinformation/geoinformation/geodata/production-plants/electricity-production-plants.html