In this paper, an optimisation problem for calculating the best energy bids of a set of hydro power plants in a basin is proposed. The model is applied to a real Spanish basin for the short-term (24-hour) planning of the operation. The algorithm considers the ecological flows and social consumptions required for the actual operation. One of the hydro plants is fluent, without direct-control abilities. The results show that the fluent plant can be adequately controlled by using the storage capacities of the other plants. In the simulations, the costs related to the social consumptions are more significant than those due to the ecological requirements. An estimate of the cost of providing water for social uses is per-formed in the study.
Keywords: hydro power plants; hydro generation; optimisation; short-term planning; social resources
