IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v18y2026i13p6805-d1983268.html

Electricity Price-Driven Optimization of Pumped-Storage Hydropower Plant Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Andraž Roger

    (Faculty of Energy Technology, University of Maribor, Hočevarjev trg 1, SI-8270 Krško, Slovenia)

  • Matej Fike

    (Faculty of Energy Technology, University of Maribor, Hočevarjev trg 1, SI-8270 Krško, Slovenia)

Abstract

Pumped hydro storage remains one of the most established technologies for balancing supply and demand in electricity markets with high shares of renewable energy. This paper investigates the short-term economic optimization of a pumped hydro storage plant operating under real day-ahead market conditions. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model is used to optimize hourly dispatch decisions based on actual day-ahead electricity prices in Slovenia for the year 2024. The model accounts for technical constraints, including turbine and pump capacities, round-trip efficiency, energy storage limits, and restricted startup frequencies. The simulation results show that pumped hydro storage can achieve a positive market-based operating result by responding effectively to price volatility and frequent negative pricing events. Seasonal variations reveal higher revenues during summer months due to solar overproduction. The findings confirm the potential of pumped hydro storage to enhance grid flexibility and support the implementation of national energy transition objectives. By linking large-scale energy storage operations with renewable energy integration, grid flexibility, and market-based dispatch, the study also contributes to the technical and economic dimensions of sustainable energy system development.

Suggested Citation

  • Andraž Roger & Matej Fike, 2026. "Electricity Price-Driven Optimization of Pumped-Storage Hydropower Plant Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-17, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:18:y:2026:i:13:p:6805-:d:1983268
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/13/6805/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/13/6805/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:18:y:2026:i:13:p:6805-:d:1983268. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.