The XFLEX HYDRO European Project where Power Vision Engineering Sàrl is involved was officially announced at the COP 25 in Madrid on December 10th, 2019.

Read the XFLEX HYDRO OFFICIAL Press Release.pdf [166 Kb] and visit the official website:

The Hydropower Extending Power System Flexibility (XFLEX HYDRO) project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857832.

Power Vision Engineering had three contribiutions and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2019, October 14-16, 2019, in Porto, Portugal.

• PAPER 1: VERA RODRIGUEZ, J.C., RICHTER, W., DE LA TORRE ABIETAR, L., NICOLET, C., “Design of the tailrace surge tank of Gouvães Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant”.

• PAPER 2: LANDRY, C., NICOLET, C., GOMES, J., AVELLAN, F., “Methodology to determine the parameters of the hydraulic turbine governor for primary control”.

• PAPER 3: MUELLER, A., MUENCH-ALLIGNE, C., NICOLET, C., DENIS, V., AVELLAN, F., “Pushing the envelope: Switzerland’s Approach to unlocking hidden hydropower potential”.

• STAND 175

• The conference was followed by a technical visit of the Gouvães PSPP on the Tamega River in the North of Portugal, see pictures of lower surge tank, upper surge tank and low pressure side manifold under construction.

Power Vision Engineering had three contribiutions at the International Conference the Proc. 8th IAHR International Meeting of the Workgroup on Cavitation and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, October 9-11, 2019, Stuttgart, Germany:

• PAPER 1: VERA RODRIGUEZ, J.C., RICHTER, W., DE LA TORRE ABIETAR, L., NICOLET, C., “Design of the tailrace surge tank of Gouvães Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant”.

• PAPER 2: LANDRY, C., NICOLET, C., GOMES, J., AVELLAN, F., “Methodology to determine the parameters of the hydraulic turbine governor for primary control”.

• PAPER 3: MUELLER, A., MUENCH-ALLIGNE, C., NICOLET, C., DENIS, V., AVELLAN, F., “Pushing the envelope: Switzerland’s Approach to unlocking hidden hydropower potential”.

• The conference was followed by a technical visit of Säckingen PSPP in south of Germany, see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering had 1 presentation SHF – Hydraulic Machinery, Cavitation, , 6-7 November 2019, Sion, Switzerland:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., LANDRY, C., ALLIGNÉ, S., BÉGUIN, A., “Francis Turbine Part Load Resonance Risk Analytical Assessment”.

Power Vision Engineering was co-author of two papers at the 20th International Conference on Hydropower Plants “Celebrating 40 Years of Industry Academic Engagement” VIENNA HYDRO 2018, November 14-16, 2018, in Vienna, Austria.

• PAPER 1: RICHTER, W., ZENZ, G., NICOLET, C., LANDRY, C., VERA RODRIGUEZ, J.C., DE LA TORRE ABIETAR, L., “Hydraulics of the tail race surge tank of Gouvães pumped-storage hydropower”.

• PAPER 2: ARPE, J., NICOLET, C., RODIC, P., REJEC, A., “Experimental investigation of transients in the surge tank physical model of a PSPP”.

Power Vision Engineering had two contribiutions and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2018, October 15-17, 2018, in Gdansk, Poland.

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., DREYER, M., BEGUIN, A., BOLLAERT, E., TORRENT, S., DAYER, J.-D., “Hydraulic Transient Survey at Cleuson-Dixence with Real-Time Hydro-Clone Monitoring System”.

• PAPER 2: LANDRY, C., NICOLET, C., GOMES, J., ANDOLFATTO, L., AVELLAN, F., TODDE, C., “Renovation of hydraulic power plant: how to select the best technical options?”.

• STAND 51

Power Vision Engineering had 1 contribution at the XXIXth IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, September 16-21, 2018, Kyoto, Japan:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., BÉGUIN, A., DAYER, J-D, MICOULET, G., “Hydraulic transient challenges for the upgrade of FMHL+ pumped storage power plant from 240MW to 420MW.”.

Power Vision Engineering held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2017, October 9-11, 2017, in Seville, Spain.

• STAND 112

Power Vision Engineering had 6 contributions at the HYPERBOLE Conference in Porto, Portugal, aiming to present the results of the 3.5 years HYPERBOLE European Research Project N°608’532 led by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, in the framework of European FP7-ENERGY-2013 Program.

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., BRAUN, O., RUCHONNET, N., HELL, J., BÉGUIN, A., AVELLAN, F., “Simulation of pump-turbine prototype fast mode transition for grid stability support”.

• PAPER 2: ALLIGNÉ, S., NICOLET, C., BÉGUIN, A., LANDRY, C., GOMES, J., AVELLAN, F., “Prediction of Francis Turbine Prototype Part Load Pressure and Output Power Fluctuations with Hydroelectric Model”.

• PAPER 3: BÉGUIN, A., NICOLET, C., HELL, J., MOREIRA, C., “Assessment of power step performances of variable speed pump-turbine unit by means of hydro-electrical system simulation”.

• PAPER 4: LANDRY, C., FAVREL, A., MUELLER, A., YAMAMOTO, K., ALLIGNÉ, S., AVELLAN, F., “Experimental investigation of the mass flow gain factor in a draft tube with cavitation vortex rope”.

• PAPER 5: ALLIGNÉ, S., DECAIX, J., MUELLER, A., NICOLET, C., AVELLAN, F., MUNCH, C., “RANS computations for identification of 1-D cavitation model parameters: application to full load cavitation vortex rope”.

• PAPER 6: MOREIRA, C., FULGENCIO, N., SILVA, B., NICOLET, C., BÉGUIN, A., “Identification of Dynamic Simulation Models for Variable Speed Pumped Storage Power Plants”.

Power Vision Engineering had one contribiution and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2016, October 10-12, 2016, in Montreux, Switzerland.

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., BÉGUIN, A., DAYER, J.-D., MICOULET, G., “New surge tank commissioning at the Hongrin-Léman pumped-storage plant by real time simulation monitoring”.

• STAND 65

Power Vision Engineering had 1 contribution at HydroVision International Jul 26 – 29, 2016, Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., BRAUN, O., RUCHONNET, N., BEGUIN, A., AVELLAN, F.,“Full Size Frequency Converter for Fast Francis Pump-Turbine Operating Mode Transition.”.

Power Vision Engineering had 2 contributions at the XXVIIIth IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, July 4-8, 2016, Grenoble, France:

• PAPER: ALLIGNÉ, S., NICOLET, C., BEGUIN, A., LANDRY, C., GOMES, J., AVELLAN, F., “Hydroelectric System Response to Part Load Vortex Rope Excitation.”.

• PAPER: ALLIGNÉ, S., DECAIX, J., MÜLLER, A., NICOLET, C., AVELLAN, F., MÜNCH, C., “RANS computations for identification of 1-D cavitation model parameters: application to full load cavitation vortex rope.”.

Power Vision Engineering launch HYDRO-CLONE: an Innovative Real-Time Simulation Monitoring (RTSM) System for Hydro Power Plant Transients Survey for:

• 1) Water Hammer / Surge Tank Survey

• 2) Real-Time Simulation Monitoring (RTSM)

• 3) Ahead of Time Simulation Monitoring (ATSM)

• 4) Detection of Hydraulic / Electrical Anomalies

• 5) Estimation of Non-Measureable Quantities

• 6) Anticipation Power Plant Damage (fatigue, buckling)

Simulation of a hydro plant by ‘cloning’ makes it possible to detect undesirable phenomena, such as penstock or gallery overpressures, head loss increases, decreases in efficiency, surge tank limits, start-up and shut-down issues, unexpected cavitation and possible water column separations, air intake, and unwanted valve closures. Furthermore, a clone is able to minimize the risk of potential imminent harmful behaviour of the plant, by generating so-called ‘ahead of-time simulation monitoring’ (ATSM) alarms, based on a series of instantaneous simulations of any potential near-future behaviour of the plant. By combining RTSM and ATSM in real-time, it is believed that the newly developed system, known as Hydro-Clone, can be a valuable numerical asset for hydro plant owners to improve powerplant safety.

Hydro-Clone was presented for teh first time at the International Conference Hydro2015 in Bordeaux, France on October 27, 2015, see below, and was also subject to a publication in the International Journal on Hydropower and Dams.

Power Vision Engineering had two contribiutions and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2015, October 26-28, 2015, in Bordeaux, France.

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., BÉGUIN, A., BOLLAERT, E., BOULICAUT, B., GROS, G., “Hydro-Clone: a Real-time simulation monitoring system for hydropower plant transients survey”.

• PAPER 2: DE CESARE, G., ADAM, N., NICOLET, C., BILLETER, P., ANGERMAYR, A., VALLUY, B., “Surge tank geometry modification for power increase”.

• STAND 91

Power Vision Engineering had 1 presentation 6th IAHR International Meeting of the Workgroup on Cavitation and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, September 9-11, 2015, Ljubljana, Slovenia:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., ARPE, J., REJEC, A., “Influence Of The Surge Tank Water Inertia on Pumped Storage Power Plant Transients in Case Of Pump Emergency Shutdown.”.

Power Vision Engineering had 1 presentation SHF – Hydraulic Machinery, Cavitation, , 3-4 June 2015, Nantes, France:

• PAPER: ALLIGNÉ, S., LANDRY, L., NICOLET, C., AVELLAN, F., “Draft tube modelling for prediction of pressure fluctuations on prototype”.

Power Vision Engineering had a presnetation together with ALPIQ Suisse SA at the “Fachtagung Wasserkraft 2014 / Journée d’étude Force hydraulique 2014” on November 19, 2014, at Hotel Arte in Olten, Switzerland.

• Presentation: VUIGNIER, E., NICOLET, C., “Determination des transitoires hydraulique au moyen de la simulation numérique”.

Power Vision Engineering had one contribiution and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2014, October 13-15, 2014, in Cernobbio, Italy.

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., KAWKABANI, B., DROMMI, J.-L., SINGAINY, T., GRILLOT, P., “Assessment of Hydro Unit Grid Code Compliance by Means of Numerical Simulations”.

• STAND 366

Power Vision Engineering had 1 presentation and 2 contributions at the XXVIIth IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, Sept. 22-25, 2014, Montréal, Canada:

• PAPER: ALLIGNE, S., SILVA, P. C. O., BEGUIN, A., KAWKABANI, B., ALLENBACH, P., NICOLET, C., AVELLAN, F., “Forced Response Analysis of Hydroelectric Systems.”.

• PAPER: LANDRY, C., FAVREL, A., MULLER, A., NICOLET, C., YAMAMOTO, K., AVELLAN, F., “Experimental investigation of the local wave speed in a draft tube with cavitation vortex rope.”.

Power Vision Engineering had 1 presentation and 3 contributions at ICEM 2014 the XXIth International Conference on Electrical Machines, Sept. 2-5, 2014, Berlin, Germany:

• PAPER: BEGUIN, A., NICOLET, C., KAWKABANI, B., AVELLAN, F., “Virtual Power Plant with Pumped Storage Power Plant for Renewable Energy Integration.”.

• PAPER: SILVA, P. C. O., ALLIGNE, S., ALLENBACH, P., NICOLET, C., KAWKABANI, B., “A Fully Modular Tool for Small-Signal Stability Analysis of Hydroelectric Systems.”.

• PAPER: HAN, M., BEGUIN, A., NICOLET, C., KAWKABANI, B., “Advanced Condition Monitoring System for Synchronous Machines Based on Real-Time Simulation.”.

Power Vision Engineering was on the EPFL booth and had 1 contribution at HydroVision International Jul 22 – 25, 2014, Music City Center, Nashville, TN, USA:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., BEGUIN, A., KAWKABANI, B., PANNATIER, Y., SCHWERY, A., AVELLAN, F.,“Variable Speed and Ternary Units to Mitigate Wind and Solar Intermittent Production.”.

A pre-conference Tour was organized at Kentucky Dam which includes a ship locks, see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering Sàrl had 1 contribution at the SHF Conference “Enhancing Hydropower plants”, held in Grenoble, France, April 9-10, 2014:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., TAULAN, J.-P., BURNIER, J.-M., BOURRILHON, M., MICOULET, G., JACCARD, A.,“Transient Analysis of FMHL+ Pumped-Storage Power Plance and New Surge Tank Design.”.

Power Vision Engineering developped in collaboration with EPFL and Osaka University a new Francis turbine draft tubre model taking into account divergent and convective terms as well as mass flow gain factors and vortex rope compliance. This new model was published in IAHR Journal of Hydraulic Research:

• PAPER: ALLIGNE, S., NICOLET, C., TSUJIMOTO, Y., AVELLAN, F., “Cavitation surge modelling in Francis turbine draft tube”.

Power Vision Engineering Sàrl will contribute to tasks related to the modelling and simulation of hydraulic and hydroelectric systems including hydraulic circuit, hydraulic Francis turbine and pump-turbine, electrical machines, control structures and interaction with the power system. Moreover, Power Vision Engineering Sàrl will develop and implement new hydro-acoustic models into the simulation software SIMSEN.

The project duration is 3 years.

More information avilable on: https://hyperbole.epfl.ch

Power Vision Engineering held the stand 223 together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2013, October 7-9, 2013, in Innsbruck, Austria.

Power Vision Engineering had 2 contributions at the 5^th IAHR International Meeting of the Workgroup on Cavitation and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems September 9-11, 2013, in Lausanne, Switzerland.:

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., BUTTICAZ, H., CHAPUIS, L., VAUCHER, J.-P., “Transient Analysis of Hauterive-Rossens Power Plant”.

• PAPER 2: ALLIGNE, S., NICOLET, C., TSUJIMOTO, Y., AVELLAN, F., “Cavitation Surge Modelling in Francis Turbine Draft Tube”.

The conference was followed by a post conference tour to visit the Hydroelectric complex of Grande Dixence in Canton Valais, Switzerland, comprising the Fionnay and Nendaz Power Plants with respetively 288MW and 384MW both with 6 Pelton turbines operated in cascade under maximum gross head of respectively 874mWC and 1008mWC, and the Bieudron power house with 1’269MW installed capacity with 3x423MW Pelton turbines with world record gross head of 1883mWC. Then the visit was folllwed by the excursion to the Grande-Dixence dam, with reservoir maximum water level of 2’364masl, see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering was on the EPFL booth HydroVision International Jul 23 – 26, 2013, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO USA:

A pre-conference Tour was organized in Rocky Mountains to visit small Hydro Power Plants such as Robert V. Trout Power plant 2×1.4MW Francis turbines, Boulder (old Pelton turbines from 1910 not running anymore) and Gross Canyon Hydro (Francis turbines), see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering had 1 contribution at the SHF Conference on Hydraulic Machines and Cavitation / Air in Water Pipes, held at ENSE3, Grenoble INP, France, June 5-6, 2013:

• PAPER:NICOLET, C. ARPE, J.,“Risk of Low Pressure at Penstock Top of Pumped Storage Power Plant in Pumping Mode.”.

Power Vision Engineering had one contribiution and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2012, October 29-31, 2012, in Bilbao, Spain.

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., BEGUIN, A., KAWKABANI, B., LANDRY, C., AVELLAN, F., “Contribution of Pumped Storage Units to Mixed Islanded Power Network Stability”.

• STAND 16: see picture.

The conference was followed by Study Tour B to visit the Mequenenza power plant (4x81MW) and then to La Muela I pumped storage power plant (3x212MW) and Cortes II power plant (2x140MW) scheme where new capacity of La Muela II pumped storage power plant (4x210MW) is about to be completed.

Power Vision Engineering had 2 contributions at the 11th International Conference on Pressure Surges, Lisbon, Portugal, October 24-26, 2012:

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., VULLIOUD, G., WEISS, E., BOCHERENS, E., DAYER, J.-D., CHÈNE, O.,“Transient analysis of Cleuson-Dixence power plant and injector closure in the reflection time”.

• PAPER 2: BERGANT, A., ANDERSON, A., NICOLET, C., KARADZIC, U., MAZIJ, J., “Issues related to fluid transients in refurbished and upgraded hydropower schemes”.

Power Vision Engineering presented two papers at the 26^th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, August 19-23, 2012, in Beijing, China.

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., ALLIGNE, S., BERGANT, A., AVELLAN, F., “Simulation of Water Column Separation in Francis Pump-Turbine Draft Tube”.

• PAPER 2: LANDRY, C., NICOLET, C., BERGANT, A., MUELLER, A., AVELLAN, F., “Modeling of Unsteady Friction and Viscoelastic Damping in Piping Systems”.

The conference was followed by a post conference tour to visit the 3 Gorges Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Yangtze River, with a total installed capacity of 22.4GW comprising the Left Bank Powerhouse with 14x700MW, the Right Bank Powerhouse with 12x700MW and the Underground Powerhouse with 6x700MW, see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering had 2 contributions at the SHF SIMHYDRO2012 Conference, Sophia Antipolis – Nice, France, September 12-14, 2012:

• PAPER 1: ALLIGNE, S., NICOLET, C., ARPE, J., RODIC, P., MLACNIK, J.,“Determination of Surge Tank Diaphragm Head Losses by CFD Simulations”.

• PAPER 2: LANDRY, C., NICOLET, C., GIACOMINI, S., AVELLAN, F., “Influence of The Hydraulic System Layout on The Stability of a Mixed Islanded Power Network”.

Power Vision Engineering had a presentation at the the ANSYS Conference & 9th Forum CADFEM, EPFL, 12 September 2012:

• PAPER: ALLIGNE, S., NICOLET, C., ARPE, J., RODIC, P., MLACNIK, J.,“Détermination des pertes de charge d’un diaphragme de cheminée d’équilibre par simulations numérique”.

Power Vision Engineering had 1 contribution at the SHF Conference «Pumped storage Powerplants», Lyon, 23-24 November 2011:

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., ALLIGNE, S., BERGANT, A., AVELLAN, F.,“Parametric study of Water column Separation in Francis Pump-turbine draft tube”.

A visit of the Grand Maison Pumped storage power plant with 8x155MW multi-stage Francis pump-turbines and 4x157MW Pelton turbines was organized before the conference, see picture.

Power Vision Engineering had 2 contributions at the 4^th IAHR International Meeting of the Workgroup on Cavitation and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems October 26-28, 2011, in Belgrade, Serbia.:

• PAPER 1: NICOLET, C., KAELBEL, T., ALLIGNE, S., RUCHONNET, N., ALLENBACH, P., BERGANT, A., AVELLAN, F., “Simulation of Water Hammer Induced Column Separation through Electrical Analogy”.

• PAPER 2: ALLIGNE, S., NICOLET, C., AVELLAN, F., “Identification by CFD Simulation of the Mechanism Inducing Upper Part Load Resonance Phenomenon”.

The conference was followed by a post conference tour to visit the Hydroelectric complex of Bajina Basta on the Drina river in Serbia, comprising a conventional hydroelectric power plant of 4x106MW Francis turbines and a pumped-storage power plant of 2x307MW Francis pump-turbines, see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering had two contribiutions and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2011, October 17-19, 2011, in Prague, Czech Republic.

• PAPER: NICOLET, C., PANNATIER, Y., KAWKABANI, B., SIMOND, J.-J., AVELLAN, F., “Hydroelectric Interactions with Variable Speed and Fixed Speed Machines in Pumping Mode of Operation”.

• PAPER: ZOBEIRI, A., NICOLET, C., VUADENS, E., “Risk analysis of the transient phenomena in a hydropower plant installation”.

• STAND 62: see picture.

Power Vision Engineering co-author at HydroVision International July 19-22, 2011, in Sacramento, CA, USA:

• PAPER: KOUTNIK, J., BRUNS, M., MEIER, L., NICOLET, C., “Pumped Storage – Grid Requirements For Behavior of Large Motorgenerators and Confirmation Of Compliance Through Simulation”.

Power Vision Engineering presented a paper and held a stand together with the EPFL-LMH and AquaVision Engineering at the International Conference HYDRO 2010, September 27-29, 2010, in Lisbon, Portugal.

• PAPER: C. NICOLET, R. BERTHOD, N. RUCHONNET, F. AVELLAN, “Evaluation of Possible Penstock Fatigue Resulting from Secondary Control for the Grid”.

• STAND 703: see picture.

The conference was followed by Study Tour A to visit the Alqueva I pumped storage power plant (2x130MW) where new capacity of Alqueva II is under construction (2x128MW).

Power Vision Engineering presented two papers at the 25^th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, September 20-24, 2010, in Timisoara, Romania.

• PAPER 1: C. NICOLET, A. ZOBEIRI, P. MARUZEWSKI, F. AVELLAN “On the Upper Part Load Vortex Rope in Francis Turbine: Experimental Investigation”.

• PAPER 2: C. NICOLET, N. RUCHONNET, S. ALLIGNE, J. KOUTNIK, F. AVELLAN “Hydroacoustic Simulation of Rotor-Stator Interaction in Resonance Conditions in Francis Pump-Turbine”.

Power Vision Engineering had 1 contribution at HydroVision International July 27-30, 2010, in Charlotte, NC, USA:

• PAPER: KOUTNIK, J., FOUST, J., NICOLET, C., SAIJU, R., KAWKABANI, B., “Pump-Storage Integration with Renewables – Meeting the Needs Using Various Concepts”.

Power Vision Engineering had 3 contributions at the 3^rd IAHR International Meeting of the Workgroup on Cavitation and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems October 14-16, 2009, in Brno, Czech Republic.:

• PAPER 1: C. NICOLET, S. ALLIGNÉ, B. KAWKABANI, J. KOUTNIK, J.-J. SIMOND, F. AVELLAN, “Stability Study of Francis Pump-Turbine at Runaway”.

• PAPER 2: S. ALLIGNÉ, C. NICOLET, N. RUCHONNET, V. HASMATUCHI, P. MARUZEWSKI, F. AVELLAN, “Numerical Simulation of Non-linear Self-oscillations of a Full Load Vortex Rope”.

• PAPER 3: N. RUCHONNET, C. NICOLET, S. ALLIGNÉ, F. AVELLAN, “Experimental investigation of Cavitation Influence on Hydroacoustic Resonance in Pipe”.

During the post conference tour, we visited the pumped-storage power plant of Dalesice in Czech Republic of 4x120MW, see pictures.

Power Vision Engineering presented a paper and held a stand at the International Conference HYDRO 2009, October 26-28, 2009, in Lyon, France.

• PAPER: C. NICOLET, Y. PANNATIER, B. KAWKABANI, A. SCHWERY, F. AVELLAN, J.-J. SIMOND, “Benefits of Variable Speed Pumped Storage Units in Mixed Islanded Power Network during Transient Operation”.

• STAND 041: see picture.

Power Vision Engineering had 4 contributions at the 24^th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, October 27-31, 2008, in Foz Iguassu, Brazil:

• PAPER 1: C. NICOLET, S. ALLIGNÉ, B. KAWKABANI, J.-J. SIMOND, F. AVELLAN, “Unstable Operation of Francis Pump-Turbine at Runaway: Rigid and Elastic Water Column Oscillation Modes”.

• PAPER 2: Y. PANNATIER, C. NICOLET, B. KAWKABANI, J.-L. DENIAU, A. SCHWERY, F. AVELLAN, J.-J. SIMOND, “Transient Behavior of Variable Speed Pump-Turbine Units”.

• PAPER 3: S. ALLIGNÉ, C. NICOLET, P. ALLENBACH, B. KAWKABANI, J.-J. SIMOND, F. AVELLAN, “Influence of the Vortex Rope Location of a Francis Turbine on the Hydraulic System Stability”.

• PAPER 4: C. CHEN, C. NICOLET, K. YONEZAWA, M. FARHAT, F. AVELLAN, Y. TSUJIMOTO, Y., “One-Dimensional Analysis of Full Load Draft Tube Surge Considering the Finite Sound Velocity in the Penstock”.

Power Vision Engineering presented a paper and held a stand at the International Conference HYDRO 2008, October 6-9, 2008, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

• PAPER: C. NICOLET, Y. VAILLANT, B. KAWKABANI, P. ALLENBACH, J.-J. SIMOND, F. AVELLAN, “Pumped Storage Units to Stabilize Mixed Islanded Power Network: a Transient Analysis”.

• STAND 218: see picture.

Power Vision Engineering launches OptiPower, a custom designed software to optimize the energy production of a power plant. OptiPower is divided in two parts:

• 1) OptiPower Calculator: to select the best operating set points of a hydroelectric power plant according to operating constrains;

• 2) OptiPower Forecast: to optimize power generation strategy over 24/48/72 hours.

The demo version of SIMSEN-Hydro is now available and includes the following models:

• Kaplan turbine
• Pelton turbine
• Francis pump-turbine
• Cavitation compliance
• Surge tanks, surge shaft
• Air vessel, surge vessel
• Pressure sources
• Valves
• Pipe, viscoelastic pipes
• all the electrotechnical modules
• etc

Power Vision Engineering presented a paper at the 2^nd IAHR International Meeting of the Workgroup on Cavitation and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems October 24-26, 2007, in Timisoara, Romania.

During the post conference tour, the visit of the Iron Gates I power plant, equipped with Kaplan turbine with total power of 2’200 MW shared between Serbia and Romania was organized; see picture of the spillway.

Power Vision Engineering was present at the LMH desk at HYDRO 2007 October 15-17, 2007, in Granada, Spain; see picture of the stand.