Optimization of Multiple Reservoir System

Abstract

A method is developed to determine the optimal design of any system of reservoirs with series and parallel connections. The original problem is decomposed by successive approximations into a series of subproblems in such a way that the sequence of optimizations over the subproblems converges back to the original one. The optimal design is obtained by maximizing the net benefits. Incremental dynamic programming is used to find the optimal operating policy. The theories developed are applied to a real system, i.e., the Eel River Ultimate Project in northern California.