Hydrological Information System - Key Component for Effective Management of Hydropower Resources: Ukrainian Experience

The development and operational of fit-for-purpose hydrological information system which includes information about current and predicted hydrological regime is the key issue of effective management of hydropower resources. The importance of this issue increases for transboundary river basins.

The paper presents the Ukrainian experience in developing and operating of contemporary hydrological information system that has been developed by the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute (principal scientific organization in the area of meteorological and hydrological researches) and the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Centre (principal operational organization of the Hydrometeorological Service) to meet the needs of management of hydropower resources and to provide neighboring countries with operational hydrological information, forecasts and warnings on transboundry rivers.

The goals of system are: a) integration of all relevant hydrological (water levels and discharges, ice situation on rivers and reservoirs) and meteorological (precipitation, air and water temperatures) data; b) development of technological and organizational approaches for distribution of data to all interested users to make of optimal decisions related to management of hydropower plants and reservoirs in various situations; c) making the optimum solutions for the integrated river basin management.

The system is based on using the integrated approach "from sensors to end-users" and includes two principal components: the technological part and management one. The technological part consists of following elements: a) collection of data from all sources of measurements (points of meteorological and hydrological observations, radar’s and satellite’s data); b) hydrometeorological forecasts and warnings for temporal scale from 15-30 min up to 3-5 days; c) transferring information, forecasts and warnings to central database of centre of hydropower plants management of the Ministry of Energy on the national level and to the hydropower plants (on a demand) on local levels. The hydrometeorological information, forecasts and warnings are also transmitted to relevant institutions of the Republic of Moldova for subsequent use of these data for management of Moldovan hydropower plants on the Dniester river. The modern technologies (IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing) are used for receiving, managing and providing data to users. The management part includes: a) planning and coordinating works and communication between the Hydrometeorological Service and users; b) education and training programs for staff of different agencies involved in providing of work of this system.