HYDRO-INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND MANAGEMENT OF HYDROPOWER RESOURCES IN SERBIA
D. Divac, N. Grujović, N. Milivojević, Z. Stojanović, Z. Simić
Abstract
This paper presents an overview and synthesis of a large number of issues related to the
contemporary development of hydro-information systems that are developed in the Institute for
Development of Water Resources “Jaroslav Černi” in order to meet the needs of management of
the hydropower potential of Serbia. Hydro-information systems are designed to provide support
to decision-making processes so they can provide significant information on different processes
within a catchment on scenarios of future development with multiple variants, as well as on the
system utilization in real-time. The most important goals of the development and application of
such systems are the following: integration of all relevant hydrologic, meteorological,
hydrogeologic, hydropower and other data, as well as the creation of the conditions for their
availability to a wide circle of interested users, making of the best possible decisions related to
operational management of hydropower plants in various situations, as well as making of the
best possible strategic decisions in order to make the optimum choice of the solution for the
integral basin management. This paper is based on such a concept so that the original
contributions related to the subject topic are presented within a broader framework. At the
beginning are presented certain general considerations related to planning and management of
water resources, as well as the general role of hydropower plants within an integral electricity
generation and transmission system. Further on, the reader is introduced to the application of
information technologies in exploitation of water resources, with a particular stress on the role
of simulation and optimization software in the management of hydropower systems. After this
overview that describes broadly, but precisely, the main notions, the paper presents the role and
importance of hydropower plants within the electricity generation and transmission system of
Serbia, including a short overview of the possible further development of electricity generation
capacities. The central part of the paper presents the concepts and structures of hydroinformation
systems (which consist of the following sub-systems: central server, acquisition
servers and user sub-systems, which include the user server and specialized HIS applications).
Three main hydro-information systems in Serbia are specifically outlined and described in
detail; they are being continuously developed in all aspects in accordance with the presented
concepts and structures. These systems are: “Iron Gate” Hydro-Information System (related to
the system of hydropower plants built on the common Serbian-Romanian section of River
Danube; Serbian and Romanian hydropower plant “Iron Gate 1”, with the total installed
discharge of 9800 m3/s and the total installed power of 2165 MW, and Serbian and Romanian
hydropower plant “Iron Gate 2”, with the total installed discharge of 8500 m3/s and total
installed power of 540 MW), “Drina” Hydro-Information System (which relates to the whole
river Drina basin with an area of 19570 km2, which is shared between the three neighboring
states, so that 30.5% of its area belongs to Serbia, 31.5% to Montenegro, and 37% to Bosniaand-
Herzegovina; the system of 9 hydropower plants was built in the River Drina catchment
and these plants have the total installed power of 1932 MW and average annual electricity
generation of 6350 GWh; in this catchment it is possible to develop significant new hydropower
capacities, which would allow for additional annual electricity generation higher than
7000 GWh), and “Vlasina” Hydro-Information System (which is related to the system of
“Vlasinske HPPs” that has a relatively low power of 125.9 MW and the mean annual electricity
generation of 295 GWH, but which represents a very important electricity generation plant
within the system of EPS (Electric Power Industry of Serbia), because it is used for generation
of peak-load electricity and as the cold or spinning reserve of the system). The presented hydroinformation
systems are actually the systems for the support to decision-making on all levels,
i.e., local, regional, state and trans-boundary. These systems create possibilities for the optimum
management in real time as well as harmonization of various interested parties (electric power
industries, situated in different states, with different interests that operate under the
circumstances of the evident lack of uniformity regarding natural inflows and consumption
needs). In a long run the conditions are created for the further development on the catchment
(new development projects, additional generation capacities etc.) in order to achieve the
optimum exploitation of hydropower potential, as well as the multi-purpose use of water.
