Optimal sizing of a run-of-river small hydropower plant

2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 2663-2670 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Anagnostopoulos ◽  
Dimitris E. Papantonis
Author(s):  
Badhan Saha ◽  
Mazharul Islam ◽  
Khondoker Nimul Islam ◽  
Jubair Naim ◽  
Md Shahriar Farabi

A small hydropower plant is an environment-friendly renewable energy technology. The run-of-river type gravitational water vortex turbine can be designed to produce electricity at sites with low water heads. In this study, an experimental investigation was undertaken on this type of turbine with a water tank and a runner which is connected to a shaft. At the end of the shaft, a rope brake was attached to measure the output power, torque and overall efficiency of the vortex turbine by varying flow rates. The designed vortex turbine can achieve an overall efficiency of . The experimental results were validated with available data in the literature and theories associated with the turbine. The results also showed that the flow rate plays a vital role in generating power, torque as well as overall efficiency. The project was completed using local resources and technologies. Moreover, as water is used as the input power, this project is eco-friendly which has no adverse effect on the environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 899 (1) ◽  
pp. 012026
Author(s):  
C Skoulikaris ◽  
K Kasimis

Abstract Services and uses arising from surface water‘s availability, such as hydropower production, are bound to be affected by climate change. The object of the research is to evaluate climate change impacts on energy generation produced by run-of-river small hydropower plants with the use of future river discharges derived from two up-to-date Regional Climate Models. For doing so, the hydropower simulation model HEC-ResSim, calibrated and validated over real power data, was used to simulate the generated energy in the two future periods of 2031-2060 and 2071-2100. The future river discharges in the case study area are derived from the hydrological model E-HYPE that uses as forcing the climatic variables of the CSC-REMO2009-MPI-ESM-LR and KNMI-RACMO22E-EC-EARTH climate models under two Representative Concentration Pathways, namely RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The research outputs demonstrate a decrease of the generated energy varying from 2.86% to 25.79% in comparison to the reference period of 1971-2000. However, in most of the simulated scenarios the decrease is less than 10.0%, while increased energy production is projected for one of the scenarios. Overall, it can be concluded that the case study run-of-river small hydropower plant will be marginally affected by climate change when the decrease of the relevant river discharges is up to 10-15%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyu Kyu Thin ◽  
Win Win Zin ◽  
Zin Mar Lar Tin San ◽  
Akiyuki Kawasaki ◽  
Abdul Moiz ◽  
...  

The need for electricity is rapidly increasing, especially in developing countries. There is vast hydropower potential existing globally that has not yet been explored. This could be the only solution to solve future global power shortage. Hydropower is a clean and renewable source of energy because it does not exploit the use of water. However, using the conventional approach to harness hydropower results in several challenges. It is difficult to identify suitable sites and assess site potential during the planning stage of hydropower projects. In this study, run-of-river hydropower potential for the Myitnge River Basin was estimated by intergrating a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Soil & Water Assessement Tool (SWAT) model. A GIS based tool was developed using Python to spot the potential locations of the hydropower plants. The hydrological model (SWAT) was designed in order to obtain the values of monthly discharge for all potential hydropwer sites. The flow duration curves at potential locations were developed and the design discharge for hydropower was identified. Forty-four run-of-river (ROR) type potential hydropower sites were identified by considering only the topographic factors. After simulation with SWAT model, twenty potential sites with a hydropower generation potential of 292 MW were identified. Currently, only one 790 MW Yeywa Hydropower Plant, which is the largest plant in Myanmar, exists in the Myitnge River Basin. The amount of estimated power generated from ROR may increase the existing power system of Myitnge Basin by 36%. This study will assist stakeholders in the energy sector to optimize the available resources to select appropiate sites for small hydropower plants with high power potential.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 266
Author(s):  
Md Rakibuzzaman ◽  
Sang-Ho Suh ◽  
Hyoung-Ho Kim ◽  
Youngtae Ryu ◽  
Kyung Yup Kim

Discharge water from fish farms is a clean, renewable, and abundant energy source that has been used to obtain renewable energy via small hydropower plants. Small hydropower plants may be installed at offshore fish farms where suitable water is obtained throughout the year. It is necessary to meet the challenges of developing small hydropower systems, including sustainability and turbine efficiency. The main objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of constructing a small hydropower plant and develop 100 kW class propeller-type turbines in a fish farm with a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The turbine was optimized using a computer simulation, and an experiment was conducted to obtain performance data. Simulation results were then validated with experimental results. Results revealed that streamlining the designed shape of the guide vane reduced the flow separation and improved the efficiency of the turbine. Optimizing the shape of the runner vane decreased the flow rate, reducing the water power and increasing the efficiency by about 5.57%. Also, results revealed that tubular or cross-flow turbines could be suitable for use in fish farm power plants, and the generator used should be waterproofed to avoid exposure to seawater.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1041
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Sanz-Ronda ◽  
Juan Francisco Fuentes-Pérez ◽  
Ana García-Vega ◽  
Francisco Javier Bravo-Córdoba

Fish need to move upstream and downstream through rivers to complete their life cycles. Despite the fact that fishways are the most commonly applied solution to recover longitudinal connectivity, they are not considered viable for downstream migration. Therefore, alternative facilities are recommended to facilitate downstream migration. However, a few recent studies have disagreed with this general assumption, showing the potential for bidirectional movements. This study advances our understanding of the potential of fishways for downstream migration by studying their efficiency in a run-of-the-river hydropower plant in the Duero River (Spain). To achieve this, downstream movements of the Iberian barbel (n = 299) were monitored in a stepped fishway for two years with passive integrated transponder (PIT)-tag technology, considering the effect of fish origin and release zone. The results showed that 24.9% of barbels descended through the fishway, with the origin and release zone affecting the fishway location. In addition, downstream movements were observed throughout the whole year, except in winter. The study concludes that, under specific scenarios, fishways could act as safe alternative routes for downstream migration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Scotti ◽  
Roberta Bottarin

AbstractThe present dataset contains information about aquatic macroinvertebrates and environmental variables collected before and after the implementation of a small “run-of-river” hydropower plant on the Saldur stream, a glacier-fed stream located in the Italian Central-Eastern Alps. Between 2015 and 2019, with two sampling events per year, we collected and identified 34,836 organisms in 6 sampling sites located within a 6 km stretch of the stream. Given the current boom of the hydropower sector worldwide, and the growing contribution of small hydropower plants to energy production, data here included may represent an important – and long advocated – baseline to assess the effects that these kinds of powerplants have on the riverine ecosystem. Moreover, since the Saldur stream is part of the International Long Term Ecological Research network, this dataset also constitutes part of the data gathered within this research programme. All samples are preserved at Eurac Research facilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-206
Author(s):  
Aleksey Benderev ◽  
Nikolay Stoyanov ◽  
Stefan Dimovski ◽  
Svetlana Bratkova ◽  
Boyka Mihaylova

The presented study is aimed towards determining the reasons for manganese pollution of drinking water extracted from the terrace of Vacha River. The results show that this is due to the seepage of from the artificial lake, formed after the construction of a small hydropower plant. Another possible reason is the natural accumulation in the upper parts of the river terrace of poorly soluble in water manganese compounds that turn into soluble ones as a result of changes in the redox environment, which take place in the conditions of very intensive groundwater extraction.


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