The transition towards a “carbon-free” energy system will involve an increasingly massive use of generation from non-dispatchable renewable sources, which presents balancing and regulation challenges. In this context, pumped hydro storage plants can play a significant role due to their high storage capacity and rapid response time, especially when hybridized with ultra-fast technologies.
This report presents the user manuals for both the executable and source code related to a customizable simulation and optimization model designed to analyze the regulation capabilities of a hybrid pumping plant and identify the economically optimal configuration (in terms of control strategy parameters and the technology and size of hybrid components). The model is capable of simulating dispatch services such as primary and secondary frequency regulation; economic evaluations can also consider the potential provision of ultra-fast primary regulation (using Terna’s Fast Reserve pilot project as a reference).
As a case study, a potential reversible marine pumped hydro power plant (PSHP) located in Foxi Murdegu (NU), Sardinia, is considered. This plant is hybridized with electrochemical storage systems (Battery Energy Storage System – BESS) and flywheels (Flywheel Energy Storage System – FESS).
The model for the dynamic simulation of the hybrid plant, partially developed in the past, is completed with generalized characteristic curves for the pump-turbine and two control strategies: Frequency Split and Hydro Recharge. It also includes various configurations: in addition to the standalone PSHP, simulations are possible for PSHP+FESS, PSHP+BESS, and PSHP+BESS+FESS.
Starting from a list of candidate hybridization configurations, a two-level optimization procedure was developed and implemented:

i) optimization of the control parameters for each candidate hybrid configuration using a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, and

ii) selection of the hybrid configuration that maximizes the Net Present Value (NPV).

From this code, two executables were produced: one, called “Simulazione.exe,” simulates the plant with or without hybridization (and with/without integration into a network model), while the second, called “Ottimizzazione.exe,” performs the optimization procedure.