A New Optimal Selection Method with Seasonal Flow and Irrigation Variability for Hydro Turbine Type and Size

Kiattisak Sakulphan and Erik L. J. Bohez
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Kiattisak Sakulphan: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, School of Engineering of Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Erik L. J. Bohez: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, School of Engineering of Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: A micro hydropower plant of the run-of-river type is considered to be the most cost-effective investment in developing counties. This paper presents a novel methodology to improve flow estimation, without using the flow direction curve (FDC) method, to determine the turbine type and size to operate consistently. A higher precision is obtained through the use of seasonal flow occurrence data, irrigation variability, and fitting the best probability distribution function (PDF) using flow data. Flow data are grouped in classes based on the flow rate range. This method will need a larger dataset but it is reduced to a tractable amount by using the PDF. In the first part of the algorithm, the average flow of each range is used to select the turbine type. The second part of the algorithm determines the optimal size of the turbine type in a more accurate way, based on minimum and maximum flow rates in each class range instead of the average flow rate. A newly developed micro hydropower plant was installed and used for validation at Baan Khun Pae, Chiang Mai Province. It was found, over four years of observation from 2014–2018, that the plant capacity factor was 82%.

Keywords: run-of-river; turbine type and size; streamflow distribution; flow duration curve; hydro turbine; potential energy estimation; irrigation demand; energy efficiency (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: 2018
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