Abstract Hydropower sector is undergoing a transformation of replacing old analog control systems and leveraging the effect of digitalization to increase operational flexibility, production and safety using digital elements like sensors, wireless platforms, real time monitoring, predictive maintenance and decision support systems etc.. Implementation of digitalization to hydropower plants has a potential of 42 TWh increase in annual production worldwide, hence creates a potential for USD 5 billion annual operational cost savings and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. One of the critical and common applications of digitalization in hydropower sector is unmanned/remote operated hydropower plants, of which there are several examples of in the Water-Energy nexus projects. In Water Distribution Networks (WDN), Pressure Reduction Valves (PRV) are the most common tools to manage excessive pressure due to the topography, resulting in energy waste. To harvest this waste energy, micro hydropower plants can be used for pressure reduction and the harvested energy can be used in remote areas lacking grid connectivity or directly supplied to the local grid. Digitalization has potential advantages on both micro, mini and small sized hydropower plants installed in water networks such as optimal control of water pressure using digital twins of the WDNs, autonomous operation of the plants and proactive or predictive maintenance to ensure trouble-free operation. In this paper, we present the insights from a technical point of view from a practical Water-Energy nexus project and from a short term scientific mission study conducted with a COST action PEN@Hydropower member institute. This research aims to reveal main challenges to be encountered during implementation of digital control and monitoring solutions in a small hydropower plant, including hands on observations during erection, commissioning and operation phases. Review on data collection and storage issues from critical equipment, cleaning out the collected data for analysis and machine learning applications, cyber security issues brought by digital transformation along with the convenience in installation and operation it brings is presented as a guide for future research.
Bütüner et al. (Wed,) studied this question.