TVA-EPRI RIVER RESOURCE AID (TERRA) - RESERVOIR AND POWER OPERATIONS DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Electric Power Research I nstitute (EPRI) have developed software to assist utilities in coordin ating power and reservoir operations while balancing multiple objectiv es. The INTEGRAL project consists of a Decision Support System (DSS) a nd a Power and Reservoir System Scheduling Model (PRSYM). The DSS, as tailored to the TVA power and reservoir system, is the TVA-EPRI River Resource Aid (TERRA). TERRA is a decision support system that integrat es tracking, display, and modeling tools. TERRA provides historical, c urrent, and forecast data to users at several locations to help resolv e problems in operation, forecasting, and planning. Graphical displays are featured for individual power plants and reservoirs and on a syst em-wide basis. TERRA tracks constraints that affect operations and fla gs non-compliance. Constraints consist of flow, dissolved oxygen, and temperature limits for regulatory compliance, recreation, lake improve ment, and special operations. Numerical models may be run from TERRA t o predict water temperatures and flows at selected power plants to aid in reservoir operations to comply with thermal limits and minimum flo w requirements. TERRA uses a geographic information system (GIS) backg round map of the Tennessee River Valley. The TERRA software is adaptab le to other reservoir systems by changing the GIS background map and r econfiguring other system features.