This category depends on selecting either Plant Power Coefficient or Plant Efficiency Curve in the Power category. The methods in this category can be used to account for power reserve requirements in the optimization policy. There is no analogous simulation method associated with this category.

This is the default, no action method. No new slots will be added, and no new variables or constraints will be added to the optimization problem.

This method introduces a set of duplicate variables that represent the value of standard variables assuming full deployment of either upward or downward reserves. In the RPL Optimization Goal Set, users can then write parallel constraints using the duplicate reserve variables for any constraint that cannot be violated while deploying reserves. The purpose of the new variables and their parallel constraints is so that the only reserves that are credited to a hydropower project are those that can actually be reasonably deployed. In other words, it will not count reserves that could not be deployed without violating specified constraints. The new method also introduces new variables for upward and downward reserves, which allow the user to write policy on the reserves themselves, for example, project minimum reserve requirements or total system reserve requirements.

One significant assumption is made that the deployment of these reserves are temporary and only meant to cover a single timestep. It is assumed that in the event reserves are deployed in actual operations, adjustments would be made for later time periods, including reestablishing reserves. With this assumption, the consequences of deploying reserves at a reservoir are limited to that reservoir and that timestep; constraints on downstream reservoirs and later timesteps are not considered when calculating the reserves that can be credited at a given timestep.

The deployment variables are constrained similarly to the original variables with two exceptions. First, the mass balance constraints with other reservoirs or intermediate reaches are omitted (within RiverWare). Second, if there are any constraints that can be violated during deployment then these constraints can also be omitted (within the Optimization Goal Set). The deployment variables will typically use the same linear approximations as the original variables. For example, Pool Elevation with Up Reserve will be approximated using the Pool Elevation LP Param table slot.