BlueGrid links every flow, spill and reservoir decision to its effect on fish survival — live and in scenario — so hydropower operators can defend their operations in relicensing, optimise generation, and enter the next regulatory cycle with a continuous evidentiary record instead of a once-a-year snapshot.
Every dam reshapes the river it sits on. Changes to flow, water temperature, TDG and the timing of fish passage are each direct drivers of salmon mortality. Yet licences increasingly hinge on demonstrating, with evidence, exactly how operations affect fish survival — and most operators cannot provide that evidence.
Survival is still assessed through sparse, manual, retrospective field studies that arrive months after the operating decisions they describe. They cannot resolve how a specific spill pattern or ramping rate changed survival on a given week — so operators cannot defend their decisions, optimise them, or anticipate the next regulatory ask.
Precautionary operating restrictions imposed when evidence is weak can cost $4–50M+ per year in foregone generation at a single facility.
Operators who cannot produce quantified, auditable survival evidence face costly delays and mitigation obligations negotiated from weakness.
The Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act create real, prosecutable liability. Prior convictions in BC have established the precedent.
A single operational view of predicted survival, updated continuously from SCADA, temperature and TDG sensors, and acoustic telemetry. Automatic flags when conditions enter a high-mortality window — before a decision is made, not after a field study reports.
Compare flow, spill and ramping strategies side by side. Quantify the generation-vs-survival trade-off for any time window. Identify the cheapest operating adjustment that meets the survival target — before you commit water to the regulator.
Water Use Plan and licence-compliance outputs generated automatically with a full audit trail. Meets the documentary standards of the Comptroller of Water Rights and DFO. Replaces the biannual-committee-plus-spreadsheet process with a living digital record.
BlueGrid connects directly to your existing SCADA, flow and spill control systems, and acoustic-telemetry feeds. Insight reaches the control room — not just the environmental team — in real time, without manual data entry.
A 320 MW facility approached WUP renewal with a 93% juvenile-salmon survival requirement. Evidence rested on a single annual telemetry study; two consecutive years came in just below target. The regulator signalled it would impose a spring spill restriction costing an estimated $4.2M/year in lost generation.
The twin revealed that most mortality was concentrated in a handful of warm, low-flow evening windows during smolt outmigration when TDG spiked below the spillway. The scenario engine identified a targeted nighttime ramping adjustment and modest re-shaping of spill timing over roughly three weeks — not a blanket seasonal restriction.
Note: illustrative scenario. Names and figures are invented.
Book a demo. We'll walk through a deployment scenario specific to your facility's operating context, target species and regulatory obligations.
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