Feasibility Study Of Hydro Power Plant
A pre-feasibility study is carried out to determine whether the site is worth further investigation. This study could involve visiting a site to measure head and flow rate, or it could simply be a map study.
If the site looks promising, the next step is to carry out a full-scale, detailed feasibility study. Information collected by this study should be of the highest quality and should be accurate enough to permit a full technical design of the project without a further visit.
A feasibility study includes a site survey and investigation, a hydrological assessment, an environmental assessment, the project design, a detailed cost estimate and the final report. The depth of study will depend largely on the size and complexity of the system.
For a small system such as a battery-based system, the feasibility study can be less rigorous than for a larger system. Carrying out a feasibility study is highly technical.
Unless you have a strong background and experience in the area, it is best left to professional consultants or energy experts. Such expertise may be expensive, but the project could become much more expensive without professional help.
If a consultant prevents only one serious mistake in the project, that person will have earned his or
her fee many times over. If you are going to call a consultant or manufacturer, make sure that you
have at least a rough estimate of the head (vertical drop), length of pipe needed for the head and an
approximate flow rate of your micro-hydropower site.
These are the first things that you will be asked. The feasibility study should answer as many of the following questions as possible:
• How much head is available?
• How long does the canal/pipeline have to be in order to reach the head?
• What are the minimum and maximum flow rates, and when do these occur?
• How much power can be generated with the available flow rates?
• Who owns the land?
• Where are the nearest electricity power lines?
• What would the environmental effects of installing a micro-hydropower system be?
• What is the approval process to install the micro-hydropower system?
• What financial incentives are available that encourage renewable energy, and how can you apply for them?
• How much will it cost to develop the microhydropower system?
Finding answers to as many questions as possible will enable you to identify any major problems before you invest a lot of time and money in the project.
During the feasibility study, all relevant technical and non-technical information needs to be collected. This includes the location of the intake, forebay tank and powerhouse; the length of the diversion canal/pipeline; the penstock; and the transmission/distribution network.
The feasibility report should contain detailed technical information.
Design of the system includes civil works, the penstock, generating equipment and an estimate for the total cost of the system. It is helpful to keep in mind that the cost per kilowatt increases for low-head systems, low-flow systems and for systems where a great deal of civil works components need to be constructed.
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