Abstract
The safe and stable operation of hydropower units, as core equipment in clean energy systems, is crucial for power system security. However, anomaly detection under complex operating conditions remains a technical challenge in this field. This paper proposes a hydropower unit anomaly detection method based on K-means seeded quadratic discriminant clustering and an adaptive density-aware ensemble anomaly detection algorithm (KSQDC-ADEAD). The method first employs the KSQDC algorithm to identify different operating conditions of hydropower units. By combining K-means clustering's initial partitioning capability with quadratic discriminant analysis's nonlinear decision boundary construction ability, it achieves the high-precision identification of complex nonlinear condition boundaries. Then, an ADEAD algorithm is designed, which incorporates local density information and improves anomaly detection accuracy and stability through multi-model ensemble and density-adaptive strategies. Validation experiments using 14-month actual operational data from a 550 MW unit at a hydropower station in Southwest China show that the KSQDC algorithm achieves a silhouette coefficient of 0.64 in condition recognition, significantly outperforming traditional methods, and the KSQDC-ADEAD algorithm achieves comprehensive scores of 0.30, 0.34, and 0.23 for anomaly detection at three key monitoring points, effectively improving the accuracy and reliability of anomaly detection. This method provides a systematic technical solution for hydropower unit condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.