Multi-Objective Differential Evolution for Design of Cascade Hydropower Reservoir Systems

After Paris Agreement and obligation made by various countries to decrease greenhouse gases, generation of clean energy with low carbon was taken into consideration. Hydropower plant is considered as a clean, cheap and renewable energy source for generating electrical energy. Through the construction of the multipurpose dams and their optimal planning and management, we may decrease the potential losses sustained by aquatic ecosystem in addition to supplying the energy and fulfilling the industrial, agricultural and drinking water demands. In the present study, a multi-objective optimization model was proposed for determination of design parameters in cascade hydropower multi-purpose reservoir systems. Considering the significant number of constraints and decision variables and non-convex form of the objective functions and constraints, particularly in multi-reservoir systems, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) known as non-dominated sorting differential evolution (NSDE) was developed to solve the problem and reduce the computational costs. Karkheh River basin was selected as a case study in order to make an assessment on the capabilities and strength of the model. This basin is capable of generating hydropower energy and agricultural development with high environmental considerations due to Hurolazim International Wetland. Based on the results, we may supply various demands such as environmental demands of the aquatic ecosystem with high reliability as well as generating firm hydropower energy through optimal design of cascade hydropower reservoirs.