Design of 15 kW Micro Hydro Power Plant for Rural Electrification at Valara

There is a fast depletion of renewable sources that was used in the past for the generation of electricity and the difficulty in reachability of the grid supply to the remote villages was a big challenge faced. The best possible remedial measure in this scenario is to make use of the natural resources available to generate electricity. In an endeavourance towards this end, the paper has been formulated for the electrification of valara village in Idukki district of Kerala, India. Valara is a kind of locality in which there is a tribal settlement of about 120 families that do not have privilege of electrical energy supply. The present work focus on the preliminary studies carried out at the site for the development of a complete micro hydro power plant which focuses on three main folds such as technical as well as economical feasibility studies, design of civil works and selection of electro mechanical components. The results of the study reveal that there is a huge potential at the site to develop a micro hydro power plant which would meet the energy demand of the tribal settlement and thereby improving their living condition.