Recovery of flow conditions for optimum electricity generation through micro hydro turbines

Generation of electricity from existing canals through micro projects have become practical and alternate solution to large scale hydro projects. Run-of-the-River (ROR) is a hydroelectric generation scheme with limited or no water storage requirements, as the turbines use kinetic energy of flowing water streams, canals, or rivers for power generation. In this research, a micro hydropower generation system has been studied for its utilization in existing canal of Pakistan. The work comprises verification of operation of selected water turbine in water flow conditions of Pakistan through computational analysis. Ghazi Barotha Canal with concrete bed and flowing round the year flowing is taken as a test case for analysis. The process followed includes the modeling of turbine geometry and CFD (Computation Fluid Dynamics) analysis for validation of flow potential recovery in selected canal. CFD analysis of the turbine geometry with different configurations of debris protectors is carried out to evaluate the optimal recouping of flow properties for maximum electricity generation. Moreover, it also determines whether the flow properties are recovered within the selected distance downstream, which is ten times the turbine length.