Hydropower & Dams

Pumped storage hydropower

With the recent surge in non-dispatchable renewable generation, pumped storage hydropower (PSH) offers tangible benefits to an electrical grid. It can store renewable energy until it is required, and provide the regulation and auxiliary services required for grid stability. These facilities act like massive batteries and can be either completely isolated from natural waterways and operate as a closed system, or can be partly or fully located on rivers, streams, and lakes and function as a combination of energy storage and conventional hydropower generation.

Engineering of a PSH project leverages the same expertise required for conventional, high head hydropower developments, and often involves tunneling and large underground powerhouse complexes. However, the operational specifics influence hydraulic design, layouts, and equipment specifications. Our extensive experience allows us to accommodate in-situ stresses, provide equipment knowledge and specifications, and deliver innovative construction methods, as well as hydraulic modeling with the most advanced digital project delivery tools to deliver modern and cost-effective PSH projects

Greenfield hydroelectric developments

With much of the world’s technical hydropower opportunities not yet developed, there's an abundance of hydropower sources available to be harnessed for power generation. This untapped resource will be critical for meeting baseload dispatchable electricity requirements. When existing infrastructure is not an option, we partner with you to build solutions that ignite your vision.

Many factors contribute to making a new hydroelectric project successful: financing and execution approaches, site selection, stakeholder engagement, sustainable development and permitting, safety standards, and risk and contract management. All these things must be considered, even as you determine the optimal installed capacity and manage operating and capital costs. We work with hydropower developers and operators in both the private and public sectors, providing full engineering design, procurement, and construction management services to minimize project risks and maximize profitability. We look to tailor our service offering to complement those on the owner’s team.

Life extension: Redeveloping and rehabilitating

As hydropower facilities age, owners and operators work to extend their assets' lives and optimize the value of their investment. From performance optimization, program maturity assessments and roadmaps, asset condition assessment campaigns, asset health evaluation, and risk-based data-driven investment planning, we partner with you to develop the best plan forward.

The knowledge and experience of our experts are wide ranging and cover all types of upgrades and refurbishments including automation, protection, and controls. We conduct condition audits and provide full life-extension and enhancement services. Tools like Grow3D used for modeling concrete growth from Alkali Aggregate Reactivity, 7D digital twin, and proprietary software, such as Hatch's HydroVantageTM and VistaDSSTM, can help identify risks to minimize, and capital expenditures to prioritize. When life extension is no longer a viable option, we work with our clients to decommission their assets safely and responsibly.

Repowering and equipment upgrades

Risks and costs must always be weighed against the benefits of upgrading or replacing capital equipment. We've pioneered tools and techniques to measure the efficiency of turbines so you can determine the best plan for your operation based on up-to-date data.

Aging facilities face increased costs, making investment decisions and outcomes more uncertain. Our experts can aid in decision making and provide practical cost-effective solutions to maximize or extend the life of existing assets. If you are seeking to maximize the hydroelectric potential of existing sites, we can help perform a condition assessment and audits, provide recommendations, and engage in a wide range of engineering and project management services for both new and/or life-extension projects.

Gates and penstocks

The importance of your gate equipment and penstocks cannot be overstated. Many of these pressure-retaining structures have aged to the point that both their reliability and structural integrity have been compromised. Hatch’s wealth of expertise in the design, assessment, refurbishment, and replacement of gates and penstocks applies to all types, sizes, and geographical locations. We understand the unique characteristics of each site and the challenges associated with lost energy, dewatering, capital costs, and access.

Dam Safety

Globally, dam owners must make difficult decisions to maintain aging assets. They must balance the need to ensure that their dams are operated and maintained safely against increasingly limited financial and human resources. Essentially, they need to spend wisely but extract the most value from their interventions.

Under these circumstances, it is imperative that a dam owner make well-informed choices in how to best invest their finances and provide the most benefit for their investment. Hatch is at the forefront of dam safety across the world, working with concerned clients and regulators to form a better understanding of the issues and to develop dam safety guidelines and best practices that protect our clients and the public. We have been closely involved in the development of the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) guidelines, several provincial and federal guidelines in Canada, and dam safety guidelines in several other countries.

Hatch is a leader in the field of risk-informed decision making which complements the standards-based guideline assessments of dams. We pride ourselves on working closely with our clients to assist them with these critical decisions and providing key technical advice and guidance to meet dam safety principles, as well as legislative compliance.

Public safety around dams

In the last decade, there have been significant developments in best practices when considering public safety management around dam structures. Particularly, the CDA's guidelines for public safety around dams, which was published as a draft in 2007 and finalized in 2011. Hatch has been at the forefront of these developments, participating in the CDA, the United States Society on Dams (USSD), Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), and International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD) working groups on public safety around dams. As a result of our experience, we are fully conversant with the philosophies and principles expressed in the industry guidelines, thereby ensuring that public safety assessment work is performed efficiently and to an appropriate standard. We provide services from performing site assessments and risk assessments, and developing public safety management plans for individual programs, to developing full portfolio public safety programs and guidance documents. We're leading the charge in public safety control measures, in particularly in the design of multifunction public safety, debris, and ice booms.

Small or run-of-river hydro

Developing or rehabilitating small run-of river hydroelectric projects requires the same technical expertise as large hydro; however, it often requires additional creativity, ingenuity, and “out of the box” thinking.

New, small, run-of-river hydro developments are particularly sensitive to costs, and achieving the economic hurdle requires a focus on the fundamentals while incorporating innovation. This includes the use of modular powerhouses, off-site installation of balance of plant components, smaller powerhouse construction without the use of cranes, and simplified dam and spillway arrangements. The rehabilitation of small hydro comes with a set of unique challenges as you seek to construct within the confines of an old or heritage structure. Addressing and navigating the challenges of the building modifications, permit applications, cofferdams, fire protection, and modern life safety guidelines while staying focused on economic development requires an experienced team. Our team has the expertise to develop solutions that are customized for your site, whether it's a greenfield development, rehabilitation, or retrofit.

Independent engineering

Independent engineering is the collective term provided to engineering services that are undertaken to support a financial transaction, acquisition, or to provide independent advisory services to a lender during a loan period. Hatch’s deep experience with design, development, construction, operational support, and equipment knowledge of hydropower facilities is leveraged to provide our clients with objective opinions for the various aspects of the project. These assessments typically include red flag and design reviews, review of construction and equipment supply contracts; CAPEX and OPEX review or development; energy generation modeling; schedule, cost and cashflow monitoring and forecasting; construction site inspections; review of environmental and regulatory requirements; and review of the financial models developed for the project. The scope is always customized to complement our client’s needs and tailored to mitigate project or transaction risk.

Digital assets and digital twins

Digital information management brings value across the entire life cycle of an asset. From engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, handover, and eventually, operations and maintenance. As the project progresses through engineering to handover, a complete digital asset is developed with the quality and maturity of the data continually improving. As the digital asset matures during delivery and into operations, it is progressively handed over until a complete digital representation of the asset is created, known as a digital twin.

The digital twin can drive further operational value through connections to sensor networks and operational/asset management systems, and can be employed to generate simulation, analytical, and optimization capabilities, which provide easy access to trusted data and improved decision making throughout the asset’s life cycle. By focusing on information management and the integration of engineered information into the design, development, and operation of plants and facilities, we provide the experience, consultation, and support services to help owners and operators set up, maintain and re-use engineered information throughout the plant life cycle.

Performance testing

Accurate information as it pertains to the performance characteristics of your generating equipment is critical to the operation and management of these valuable assets. Hatch’s capabilities in turbine field performance testing include absolute efficiency testing using several different methods of flow measurement (dye dilution, acoustic, pressure time, intake current meter, etc.). Additionally, we can undertake index testing and load rejection testing to ensure that your equipment is properly tuned, and its performance data is available to the operators, maintenance personnel, and decision makers.

Alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR)

We are industry leaders in modeling and managing concrete growth in dams and powerhouses.

Through the successful execution of multiple assignments, our industry-leading teams have developed proactive approaches to deal with the effects of concrete expansion due to AAR. This provides confidence to safely operate affected dams and powerhouses. Our practical long-term experience combined with efficient numerical tools like GROW3D provide a perfect combination to deal with AAR-affected structures. We have developed unique methods to address AAR-induced deformations, which affect overall dam safety, gate operation issues, and turbine/generator clearances, etc.

Rock mechanics and underground structures

Over the past 95 years, Hatch’s geotechnical engineering experience has encompassed a wide range of rock engineering projects throughout the world. Notable among these achievements are precedent-setting underground powerhouse caverns, tunnels foundations for concrete and earth-fill dams, water conveyance structures, and large surface excavations. Hatch has experience in layout, design, and construction supervision of a wide variety of underground structures. Projects include prefeasibility TBM excavated tunnels of up to 14.5m diameter and underground powerhouses of 5,000-, and 2,000-, and 1,800-MW capacity.

Operational support studies

Operating a waterpower facility at optimum capacity is a delicate balance. We work alongside owners and operators, managing safety, equipment reliability, and output. Our Vista decision support software helps you derive the most value from your generating assets with superior forecasting, planning, scheduling, and dispatching.

Regulatory support, permitting, and approvals

We go where our clients are, and where we're needed. That's all over the world. We're familiar with a host of different regulatory requirements and can help you navigate the often difficult laws, regulations, and permitting processes in almost any jurisdiction. Development of an effective regulatory strategy can avoid costly project delays. Our environmental professionals bring together scientific expertise and strategic advice based on our thorough understanding of regulatory requirements and legal precedents to increase certainty in project costs and schedule. Our global regulatory team has broad experience in environmental and social impact assessments, as well as permitting, which includes environmental study execution, Indigenous engagement, and other stakeholder consultation.