Abstract: Aimed at difficulties in quantifying and distributing the compensation benefit of cascade hydropower stations, this paper presents a new solution to obtain compensation benefits of any hydropower station in the basin, and establishes a benefit distribution mechanism based on the improved technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS), using traditional distribution methods as indicators. This solution is applied to the calculations and distribution of compensation benefits for ten cascade hydropower stations on the Wujiang River mainstream. The results show our solution is featured with a solid theoretical basis and simple calculations and can clarify the compensation relationship among the five giving power stations and the downstream power stations. This improved TOPSIS method gives a weight of each evaluation index that meets our expectation, and its distribution calculations are reasonable, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the interest games among the hydropower stations and helping promote cascade cooperation and maximize the hydropower generation benefits of the basin.

Key words: cascade hydropower stations, benefit givers, cascade joint dispatching, benefit compensation, benefit distribution, index weight