Design Considerations of Micro-hydro-electric Power Plant

Micro-hydro-electric power is both an efficient and reliable form of clean source of renewable energy. It can be an excellent method of harnessing renewable energy from small rivers and streams. The micro-hydro project designed to be a run -of-river type, because it requires very little or no reservoir in order to power the turbine. The water ill run straight through the turbine and back into the river or stream to use it for the other purposes. This has a minimal environmental impact on the local ecosystem.The design procedure of micro-hydro power plant was implemented by a Matlab Simulink computer program to calculate all the design parameters. The choice of the turbine type depending mainly on the sit head and flow rate. The turbine power and speed were directly proportional with the site head, but there were specific points for maximum turbine power and speed with the variation of the site water flow rate. The head losses in the penstock could range from 5 to 10 percent of the gross head, depending on the length of the penstock, quantity of water flow rate and its velocity. The turbine efficiency could range from 80 to 95 percent depending on the turbine type, and the generator efficiency about 90 percent.The design study showed that construction of micro-hydro-electric project was feasible in the project site and there were no major problems apparent at the design and implementation stages of the micro-hydro-electric power plant.