PyPSA / PyPSA/powerplantmatching
UK hydro plants incorrectly labeled as "Run-Of-River" despite being reservoir or pumped storage
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Description
Description
In the UK portion of the powerplant dataset used in powerplantmatching, several hydroelectric power stations are classified with:
component(orSet) ="store"(indicating dispatchable hydro), andtechnology="Run-Of-River"
This classification is inconsistent. Run-of-river (RoR) hydro plants do not have meaningful storage capacity and should not be modeled as dispatchable store components. Many of these stations are in fact reservoir-based or pumped-storage (PHS) hydro plants and should be reclassified accordingly. This problem also exists in the data of other countires.
Affected entries
Public data sources
- Dinorwig: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station
- Ffestiniog: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ffestiniog_Power_Station
- Sloy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Sloy_Hydro-Electric_Scheme
- Foyers: https://www.sserenewables.com/hydro/foyers/
- Glendoe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendoe_Hydro_Scheme
- Errochty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummel_hydro-electric_power_scheme
Suggested fix
- Update the
technologyfield to"Pumped Storage"or"Reservoir"where appropriate in manual_correction.csv - Optionally implement a preprocessing check to catch inconsistencies where
component == "store"buttechnology == "Run-Of-River"
Why this matters
Incorrect classification leads to incorrect assumptions about generator and storage capacity in PyPSA-Eur. These misclassified hydro plants may distort model outcomes, particularly in scenarios involving high renewable penetration and reliance on dispatchable resources.
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First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Inspect the affected UK entries in manual_correction.csv and compare their technology and component/Set values with the listed public sources for Dinorwig, Ffestiniog, Sloy, Foyers, Glendoe, and Errochty. Reclassify reservoir and pumped-storage plants consistently, then check whether a preprocessing validation is appropriate for store components labeled Run-Of-River.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- data-engineering
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 42/100