Impact of the Minimum Head on Low-Head Hydropower Plants Energy Production and Profitability

Bartosz Ceran, Jakub Jurasz, Robert Wróblewski, Adam Guderski, Daria Złotecka and Łukasz Kaźmierczak
Additional contact information
Bartosz Ceran: Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 3A, 60-965 Poznan, Poland
Jakub Jurasz: Department of Engineering Management, Faculty of Management, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Robert Wróblewski: Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 3A, 60-965 Poznan, Poland
Adam Guderski: Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 3A, 60-965 Poznan, Poland
Daria Złotecka: Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 3A, 60-965 Poznan, Poland
Łukasz Kaźmierczak: Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 3A, 60-965 Poznan, Poland

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: In Poland, existing barrages are characterized by relatively high flow and low head, which is challenging for the effective utilization of theoretical watercourse power. The paper presents the impact of the minimum head of the hydro sets on the annual electricity production of small hydropower plants at low-head locations for two types of water turbines: Archimedes and Kaplan turbines. A developed mathematical model was used to simulate energy yield from Archimedes and Kaplan turbines for a given value of the minimum technical head, depending on the number of installed hydro sets. For economic analysis purposes, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and net present value (NPV) indicators were calculated. The conducted research allowed for comparing Archimedes and Kaplan’s turbine operating conditions and how the minimum head parameter influences their electricity production and utilization time. As concluded in the results, the influence of minimum head in energy production is more distinct for the Archimedes screw technology than for the Kaplan turbine. The research shows that the decrease in energy production associated with the hydro unit’s minimum head parameter is from 0% to 30% for Kaplan, and it is 6% to 52% for Archimedes turbines.

Keywords: small-scale hydropower; Archimedes turbine; Kaplan turbine; minimum head; energy yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6728/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6728/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:24:p:6728-:d:465392

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().