How to Develop a Small Hydro Site 1-127.Pdf
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A handbook prepared under contract for the Commission of the European Communities, Directorate-General for Energy by European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA) ADDRESS WHERE TO GET FURTHER INFORMATION The drawing on the cover, published by courtesy of INIC (Instituto Nacional de Investigaçao Cientifica), Portugal it is based on a photography appeared in the book, "Sistemas de Muagem", written by Fernando Gallano, Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira and Benjamin Pereira. DG XVII European Commision 200 rue de la Loi B-1049 Bruselas Bélgica Fax: +32-2-295 0150 E-Mail : [email protected] World Wide Web http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg17/dg17home.htm Published books DG XVII - 97/010. LEGAL NOTICE: Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information AUTHOR D I R E CCC T O R A T EET GENERAL F O R E N E R G YYY (DG XVII) Celso Penche Dr Ingeniero de Minas (U.Politécnica de Madrid) LAYMAN'S HANDBOOK ON HOW TO DEVELOP A SMALL HYDRO SITE (Second Edition) June 1998 E U R O P E A N C O M MMM I S I OOO NNN Introduction This handbook, an updated version of the original Laymans Handbook on how to develop a Small Hydro Site, published by the Commission in 1993, has been written, in the frame of the ALTENER programme, under contract with the Commission of the European Communities (Directorate General for Energy, DG XVII). It has not been designed to replace professional expertise but it is hoped it is comprehensive enough to advise laymen on all necessary procedures that should be followed to develop a site. However its content includes enough technical information, so a non-specialist engineer would be able to produce a primary feasibility report. Hydraulic engineering is based on the principles of fluid mechanics. However until now there does not exist, and probably never will, a general methodology for the mathematical analysis of the movement of the fluids. Based on the large amount of accumulated experience there exists many empirical relationships to achieve practical engineering solutions with the movement of the water, the fluid that concerns hydroelectricity. Chapter 2, based on part of the original chapter 5 written by Eric Wilson - is devoted to this subject. All hydroelectric generation depends on falling water. The first step to develop a site must address the availability of an adequate water supply. Chapter 3 is entirely devoted to this subject, and particularly to comment on the European Atlas of Small Scale Hydropower Potential, developed by the Institute of Hydrology in the UK, on behalf of ESHA and with the financial aid of the DG XVII. Experience shows that many small hydro plants have failed because they were poorly designed, built or operated. Most of these failures seepage under the weir, open channel slides occurred through a lack of proper geological studies of the site. Chapter 4 incorporates guidelines on such studies. Hydraulic structures and ancillaries represent almost fifty per cent of the investment cost. If poorly designed they will require such high maintenance costs that the investment will become unprofitable. Chapter 5 is devoted to these structures. Turbines transform the potential energy of water to mechanical rotational energy, which in turn is transformed into electrical energy in the generators. Chapter 6 is devoted to the study of turbines and generators and to the devices employed to control them. Although since the publication of the first edition of the Laymans Handbook many sites have been developed in the E.U, the installed capacity would be greater if the administrative procedures to authorise the use of water had been simpler. Many hundreds of authorisation requests are pending approval, mainly because of supposed conflict with the environment. Chapter 7, Environmental impact and its mitigation, intends to provide a few guidelines to help the designer to propose mitigating measures that can be easily agreed with the licensing authorities. The various papers presented to HIDROENERGIA and more specifically to the European Workshop on THERMIE Strategies to overcome the environmental burden of small hydro and wind energies that was held at Vitoria in October 1996, constitute the basis of this chapter. An investor decides to develop a small hydro site in order to obtain a reasonable profit. To do that his decision should be based on sound economic principles. Chapter 8 shows how the financial mathematics can help to calculate the cost of the kWh produced annually, and to compare different possible alternatives for the scheme. Chapter 9 reviews the administrative procedures and buy-back tariffs nowadays in force. Unfortunately the trend toward deregulation of the electricity market makes the situation very volatile, preventing accurate reporting of the market from an institutional viewpoint. x Manual de pequeña hidráulica Acknowledgements Table of Contents 1.Introduction 1.0 A free fuel resource potentially everlasting. ................................................................................................ 15 1.1 Definition of small hydropower.................................................................................................................... 16 Although based on the original version, the handbook has been entirely rewritten. The original chapter 5 has 1.2 Site configurations ...................................................................................................................................... 16 been split in two: chapter 2, a fundamental treatment of engineering hydraulics, and chapter 3 devoted 1.2.1 Run-of-river schemes .......................................................................................................................... 17 1.2.2 Schemes with the powerhouse at the base of a dam .......................................................................... 19 exclusively to the water resource and to the possibilities offered by the European Atlas of Small Scale Hydropower Potential. The Institute of Hydrology (IH) in the UK, on behalf of ESHA, has developed this 1.2.3 Schemes integrated with an irrigation canal ........................................................................................ 20 computer program, with the financial aid of the DG XVII, as a tool to enable potential investors to define the 1.2.4 Schemes integrated in a water abstraction system ............................................................................. 21 hydrological potential, for any ungauged site within the European Union. We acknowledge the co-operation of 1.3 Planning a small hydropower scheme ......................................................................................................... 22 IH, and more specifically of Gwyn Rees and Karen Kroker, by allowing us to reproduce entire paragraphs of the Technical Reference and User Guide of the Atlas. 2. Fundamentals of Hydraulic Engineering 2.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.1 Water flow in pipes ...................................................................................................................................... 25 . 2.1.1 Los of head due to friction ................................................................................................................... 27 Two well known experts, Bryan Leyland from Australia and Freddy Isambert from France, presented to 2.1.2 Loss of head due to turbulence ........................................................................................................... 36 HIDROENERGIA 95 two papers, dealing with the topic lessons from failures, describing several schemes 2.1.2.1 Trash rack (or screen) losses ......................................................................................................... 36 that, due to a lack of adequate geological studies, failed outrageously during its operation. On the base of 2.1.2.2 Loss of head by sudden contraction or expansion ......................................................................... 37 these experiences a new chapter, Chapter 4, devoted to the technologies employed to study the site in depth, 2.1.2.3 Loss of head in bends .................................................................................................................... 39 was introduced. This chapter has been almost entirely written by Alberto Foyo, Professor of Ground Engineer- 2.1.2.4 Loss of head through valves .......................................................................................................... 40 ing at the E. T. S. I. C. C. P, Polytechnic Cantabria University. 2.1.3 Transient flow ...................................................................................................................................... 41 2.2 Water flow in open channels ....................................................................................................................... 44 2.2.1 Clasification of open channel flows ..................................................................................................... 44 Other sources of inspiration in the composition of the handbook were Micro Hydropower Source by R. 2.3.2 Uniform flow in open channels ........................................................................................................... 45 Inversin (NRCA 1986), the volume 4 of the Engineering Guidelines for