Nationai Power & Energy Conference (PECon) 2004 Proceedings, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

220
Basic Design Aspects of Micro Hydro Power Plant
and Its Potential Development in Malaysia
Mohibullah, Mohd. Amran Mohd. Radzi and Mohd Iqbal Abdul Hakim
Abstract- Hydro power plants convert potential energy or
water into electricity, It is a clean source of energy .The water after
generating electrical power is available for irrigation and other
purposes. The first use of moving water t o produce electricity was
a waterwheel on the Fox River in Wisconsin i n 1882. Hydro power
continued to play a major role in the expansion of electrical service
early in this century around the world. Hydro electric power
plants generate from f ew kW t o thousands of MW. They are
classified as Micro hydro power plants for the generating capacity
less than 100 KW. Hydro electric power plants are much more
reliable and efficient as a renewable and clean source than the
fossil fuel power plants. This resulted i n upgrading of small to
medium sized hydro electric generating stations wherever there
was au adequate supply of moving water and a need for electricity.
As electricity demand soared in the middle of this century and the
efficiency of coal and oil fueled power plants increased, smnH
hydro plants fell out of favor. Mega projects of Hydro power
plants were developed. The majority of ihese power plants
involved large dams which flooded big areas of land to provide
water storage and therefore a constant supply of elcctricity. In
recent years, the environmental impacts of such large hydro
projects are being identified as a cause for concern. 11 is becoming
increasingly difficult for developers i o build new dams because of
opposition from environmentalists and people living on the land to
be Flooded. Therrore the need has arisen to go for the small scale
hydro electric power plants in the range of mini and micro hydro
power plants. There are no Micro Hydro power plants in Malaysia
and the smallest category of hydro power plants in Malaysia is
Mini Hydro with a capacity between 500 kW to 100 kW. This
paper discusses the conceptual design and development of a micro
hydro power plant .The overall estimation and caiculation of a 50
kW power plant bas been carried out. Software is also developed
using MATLAB t o calculate the t ot 31 head, discharge rare, t ype of
turbine for the micro hydro power pbants, once the capaci t y is
known.
Index Terms - Hydro power, Fox River, Saw Mills, Niagars
Fails. Software.
r. INTRODUCTION
Hydro power plants convert potential energy which
contained in falling water into electricity. The basic principle of
hydro power is that if water can be channelised from a higher
level to a lower level, then the resulting potential energy of
water can be used to do work. If the water head is allowed to
move a mechanical component then that movement involves the
conversion of the potential energy of the water into mechanical
energy. Hydro turbines convert water pressure into mechanical
shaft power, which can be used to drive a generator or some
other useful device. Hydro power is a very clean source of
energy and only uses the water, the water after generating
electrical power, is availabte for other purposes. Hydro
power is currently the world's largest renewable source of
electricity, accounting to 6% of worldwide energy supply
or about 15% of the world's electricity. Traditionally i t is a
cheap and clean source of electricity 113.
The use of a falling water as a source of energy i s
known for a long time. In the ancient times water wheels
were used already, but only at the beginning of dic
nineteenth century with the invention of the hydro turbine.
The first recorded use of water power was a clock,
built aromd 250 BC. Since that time, humans have uscd
falling water to provide powcr for saw mills, as well as a
host of other applications. The first of many hydro'clcclric
power plants at Niagara Falls was completed shortly
thereafter. Hydro power continued to phy a major role i i i
the expansion of electrical service early in this century
around the world. Contemporary hydro clectric powcr
plants generate anywhcrc from a few kW, enough for a
single residence, 10 thousands of MW, power enough to
supply a large city.
Early hydro elcctric power plants were niuch niorc
reliable and efficicnt than the fossil fucl. This resultcd i l l
upgrading of small to medium sizcd hydro electric
generating stations distributed whcrever there was an
adequate suppIy of moving water and a need for clectricily.
As electricity deinand soarcd i n the middle years of this
century, and the cfficiency of coal and oil fueled powcr
plants increased, sniall hydro plants fell out of favour. Most
new hydro electric development was focuscd on huge
" mega-projects" .
The majority of these power plants involved largc
dams which flooded big areas of land to provide watcr
storage and therefore a constant supply of electricity as
shown in Fig. 1. In recent years, the environmental impacls
of such large hydro projects are being identified as a cause
for concern. I t is becoming increasingly difficult for
developers to build new darns because of opposition from
environmentalists and people living on the land to be
flooded [I ].
Mohibullah, Mohd. Amran Mohd. Radzi and Mohd lqbal Abdul Hakim are
wi th Depariment of Electncal and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor. Darul
Ehsan,Malaysia (email: mohibl9S,~.enl?.iinm.ed~i.my)
0-7803-8724-4/041$20.00 02004 IEEE.
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Fig. I . Damp and Penstock
TABLE I
CLASSI FI CATI ON OF HYDRO PLANTS [2,3]
i- I i
1 Large 1 Al l installations with an installed capacity of more than ~
I
r-----I i
1 Small
I I Mini
I ! i
1 1000 kW
I All installations in the range between 500 to 1000 kW.
i
i
!
! I
r
I I
i Capacity between I00 to 500 kW
I Micro !
I i
Hydro power installations with a power output less
1 than IOOkW I
11. METHODOLOGY
To deveiop a micro hydropower plant, there are a lot of
considerarions to be taken which are [4]:
I ) Hydroiogy and site survey
2 ) . Measurement of head
3) Measurement of flow
4) Civil Work Components
a) weir and intake
b) Channels
c) Settling Basin
d) Spillways
e ) Forebay tank
f ) Penstock
5 ) Selection of Turbines
a) Impulse turbines
b) Reaction rurbines
6 ) Drive Systems
7) Electrical Power
HI. CALCULATIONS
.d. Power From Water
P =e x P x Q x g x h (1)
Where, p =1000
E. Plarit Factor
=energy used / energy available
Assumed PusDd =30 kW ;
t =12 hours
Therefore,
L
PF =(30 kW x 12 hrs) / (50 kW x 24 hrs)
=0. 3
PF full =(50 kW x 12 hrs) / (50 kW x 24 hrs)
=0.5
Primary Load PF
=( 8 hrs x 25 kW milline f ( 6 hrs x 50 kW liphrine )
50 kW x 24 hrs
=500 / I200
=0.42
Assumed storage cooking +battery charging =6.15 kW;
Wet season =9 mths
Secondary Load; PF
=0.42 f 6. 25 kW x 9 mths
50 kW x 12 mths
=0.42 +0.094
=0.514
Assumed only 1 month for operation and maintenance (0 T
M ) down time,
PF =0.5 14 x ( I 1 1 12 )
Pn, , =0. 5x 1 . 0 ~ 1 0 0 0 ~9 . 8 ~ 10
=0.47
=49kW
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222
Gross head
Overall efficiency
Net Power
IV. RESULTS
10 m
0.5
50 kW
Energy used in I2 hours
Energy supplied
Load Factor
TABLE 111
PLANT FACTOR
60 Kw
120k w ,
0 5
Used Power
Insballed Power
Time Estimation 12 hours
Plant Factor for 30 kW
Piam Factor for 50 kW
Primarv Loads Plant Factor ' 0.42
0.5 I4
Plant Factor 0.47
. TABLEI V '
' LOAD FACTOR
Annual Average Daily Flow (ADF)
Volume now per year
Rainfall
Runoff
Catchment Area
Pressure
I .o " /s
3 I .536 * IO* "/!car
1880mdyear~ .
I .63 &year
19.35 I Ob m'
0.1 bar ($1.45 psi
TABLE V
UNI T ENERGY COST
Type
Output power
Efficiency
kWh consumed 1 21900 kWh/year
Uni l Energy Cost ] %0.053/Kwh
Induction generator
50 Kw
0.8
TABLE VI
HYDROLOGY AND SITE SURVEY
1 Power factor r 0.8
I 1560rpm
b
Synchronous speed (Ns)
Rotor speed (N)
Slip
TABLE VI1
GENERATOR
1500 rpm
I560 rpm
- 4 %
TABLE Vlll
ESTIMATION COST OF A MICRO HY DRO POWER PLANT
Components
Ci vi l Works
Weir and intake
Spil I way
Silt basin
Channel
Forebay tank
Penstock
Turbine
Generator
Electrical System
Transformers
Power House Crane
Power house
Total cost
Cost (RM)
100,000.00
125,000.00
I50,OOO.OO
300,000.00
175.000.00
150,000.00
325.000.00
325,000.00
I50,OOO.OO
I5.000.00
100.000.00
V. DISCUSSIONS
1,915,000.00
In this paper, the design process basically involves
overall estimation of a micro hydro power plant. To build a
real one, it begin with making a survey on the si t c and
collect all the information of all aspect of hydrology at the
site for at least 20 years back. From there, [lie dcsign of an
intake, weir, penstock, channel, spillways, the power house,
the electrical parts and many more can be done.
A software is developed using Matlab to calculate the basic
needs of micro hydro power such as the power. hcad, flow
and type of turbines can be used.
The problems faced during the implcincntation of this
project:
Difficulty obtaining reference - reference material
especially books on micro hydro powcr design is
difficult to get. The books avaiiable are niore on hydro
power plant. Due to this, the design is not a perrcct onc
which have all the criteria to develop a micro hydro
power plant. Basically the design is more on basic
parts of a micro hydro power.
Difficulty to get data - lot ofdatas have to be assumed
because of there isno real site to survey, lo niakc the
calculations on site and to collect all the data needed
and many more. The data on, the turbincs, generator,
transformer, type of transmission lines are also
difficult to get, and substituted it by making a logic
assumption on all the datas.
Difficulty on software - Matlab software can be used
to calculate the basic thing of a niicro hydro power
plant such as the power, head and flow but the difficult
part is to develop a programming that can decide what
type of turbines can be used based on the parameters
given. The datas on each turbine always overlap on
each other, then the best turbine can be used must be
decide manually. From the programming, the results
always give more than one turbine, then i t is up to
choose the best and suitable turbine bascd on the
informations collected.
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VI. COXCLUSIONS
This paper deals the potentials of micro hydro power i n
Malaysia. The design of 50 kW micro hydro power and a
simple programming using hlatlab software to calculate the
basic components of a hydro power like its head, power
produced, t'row of the river and type of the turbines.also had
been given. A simple hardware of a basic hydro power plant
also had been developed.
The main objective of this paper i s to focus on the
potenrial of micro hydro power development and to understand
rhe designing procedure o f a micro hydro with a simple
calculations and programming using Matlab software.
VII. REFERENCES
223
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[3] Adam Harvey. Andy Brown. Priyantha Hemsfachi and Allcn lniwsiii.
"Micro Hydro Design Manual" /nlrrnrrdiutr T~clrrroiug~.
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[4] Peter Fraenkel. Oliver Paish, Adam Harvey. Andrew Bmyn. Rod
Edwards and Vans. Bokalders, '' Micro Hydro Power" /Mcmiidiute
Te c h n o l u ~ Pi(bliruriom u i ~ d Sioukkoim EI I L ~ ~ ~ OI I I I I L . , ~ ~ /m?zt ul c.
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[SI Al l en R. Invenin. "Micro Hydropower Sourcebook" n'REC.4
lrrlernafioi~ul Foroidaiioir. Uiiiied Siaier. 1986.
[ti] Prof, Or. -In&. J oachim Raabe, "Hydro Power" ~ Kl /-l ' er /ug
GirlbH.Gerriinny, 1985.
[7] BlomF Dahlen. "Hydro Power in Mal aysi a" Ttr.rtugu ~Vusional Bc.rhad.
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[SI hrtn://www.ereeninstitute.org
[9] htto:ilwww.sn3rc.iieI.a~s
[ I O] hrro:/lwww.ascanenerqv.orS
[I I] ht r D: / l \ ~i v w. eev e. ei i ~r ~v eov
I .
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