Hydro Alps

In the initial phase, the focus will be on projects in the field of monitoring and on the improvement of Alpine high-pressure and run-of-river power plants. The partnership will focus on the three following topics: 

• Condition Monitoring and analysis of the rate of wear of the various components of a power plant in order to better predict maintenance requirements (analysis of equipment ageing laws, development of an adapted data acquisition and processing chain)  
• Digital clones to optimise the operating modes of hydraulic machines through digital simulations that are validated by laboratory measurements and on-site measurements
• Digitalisation and using machine learning tools to improve plant performance. 

The laboratory is co-managed by Cécile Münch-Alligné, Professor in the field of hydraulic energy at the School of Engineering, and Samuel Rey-Mermet, Professor in the field of materials at the School of Engineering. They work closely with experts from each of the laboratory partners to ensure that projects progress well. A steering committee made up of decision-makers from HYDRO Exploitation, FMV, Alpiq and the School of Engineering is responsible for defining the laboratory’s strategy, selecting the projects and ensuring that they are implemented efficiently.

Each of the laboratory partners have made equal contributions to the financing of this laboratory, and additional funding obtained in the context of specific projects came from other, third-party funds (SFOE, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, SNSF, Innosuisse, etc.). The duration of the cooperation agreement is 5 years and it involves a minimum financial commitment of CHF 2 million.

Institute of Systems Engineering bachelor projects