This dataset was developed to be used in the CenSierraPywr model, created for the project "Optimizing Hydropower Operations While Sustaining Ecosystem Functions in a Changing Climate", for the California Energy Commission. The model that includes hydroeconomic optimization for hydropower production in the Stanislaus and Upper San Joaquin River basins in the Central Sierra Nevada, California. The two basins have high elevation reservoirs that are typically operated to maximize revenue from hydropower production. Therefore, to better represent real-world operations, the hydroeconomic optimization component incorporates wholesale electricity prices from the day-ahead market. Wholesale hourly electricity prices in the day ahead market drive much of the decision-making process in releasing water from reservoirs for hydropower production. These are hourly energy prices used to develop piecewise linear price curves that are used by the CenSierraPywr routine.

Electricity prices were derived from the energy pricing prediction output produced by an independent energy model (Holistic Grid Resource Integration and Deployment - HiGRID), developed by Tarroja et al. (2016; 2019). HiGRID is an hourly-resolved electric resource dispatch model that determines the response of electric grid resources to satisfy the temporal electric load demand profile and ancillary service requirements while maximizing the uptake of renewable and zero-carbon resources over an entire year (Tarroja and Hittinger, 2021).

Tarroja, Brian, Amir AghaKouchak, and Scott Samuelsen. 2016. “Quantifying Climate Change Impacts on Hydropower Generation and Implications on Electric Grid Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Operation.” Energy 111. Elsevier Ltd: 295–305. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2016.05.131.

Tarroja, Brian, Kate Forrest, Felicia Chiang, Amir AghaKouchak, and Scott Samuelsen. 2019. “Implications of Hydropower Variability from Climate Change for a Future, Highly-Renewable Electric Grid in California.” Applied Energy 237 (December 2018). Elsevier: 353–66. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.079.

Tarroja, B., & Hittinger, E. 2021. The value of consumer acceptance of controlled electric vehicle charging in a decarbonizing grid: The case of California. Energy, 229, 120691. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2021.120691.