POWER AND ENERGY POTENTIAL

STUDY

P RE S EN T E D B Y: S H A R MA SW ETA S H A K YA
N I S H A CH I MA RI YA RO SH A N WA I BA U TS AV G .C.
P H U LE SH W O R S U BO D H O J H A

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CONTENTS
•Gross and net head and estimation

•Methods of fixing installed capacity of a hydropower plant

•Estimation of power and energy potential

•Reservoirs and their regulation, need for flow regulation, source of sediment,
sediment yields in rivers, sediment handing in reservoirs, life of the reservoirs

•Mean and peak load, load curve, load factor, utilization and diversity factors

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Gross and Net head and Estimation
Gross head (Hg): difference between the water level in headrace and the tailrace.

Storage
ROR Difference in water
level in the point of type Difference in water
diversion and point
level in reservoir and
where water is
tailrace
returned back into
the river

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PELTON TURBINE(Impulse turbine)
For hydropower project with pelton turbine,
Gross head(Hg) =
Net head(Hnet):
elevation difference between gross head and
all hydraulic losses(friction, exit, expansion,
contraction losses etc.) except those chargeable
to the turbine.
Head available for doing work on the turbine.
Hnet = Hg

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FRANCIS TURBINE(Reaction turbine)
For hydropower project with francis turbine,
Gross head(Hg) =
Net head(Hnet):
 Hnet = Hg

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• Maximum head: gross head without spillway discharge.
• Minimum head: net head with all turbines operating at full gate.
• Design head:
o net head under which the turbine reaches peak efficiency at synchronous speed.
o head difference between normal water level and minimum tail water level.
• Power(P): The power generated from hydro plant is a function of head and discharge.
• Power(P) =η
Where,
η = overall efficiency of the system
specific weight of water, 9.81kn/m3
Q = available discharge in m3/s
H = head in metres

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Based on the availability of discharge, the power can be classified into firm power and secondary
power.

FIRM POWER

• Insured to costumer at any time of the day.

• Primary power that corresponds to minimum stream flow and is
available for all times for run-of-river plant.
• Can be increased by pondage(storage) so greater min flow is
available for 100% of time.

SECONDARY POWER

• Excess of firm power.

• Surplus power that the plant can deliver only for a part of the year
• Comparatively less valuable as it is available intermittently at
unpredictable time.
• Useful in an interconnected system of power plants.
• available when the discharge in the river is greater than the
minimum discharge in ROR plant

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Methods of fixing installed capacity
Flow duration curve:
• Graphical representation of runoff is the
flow duration curve.
• has discharge plotted on Y- axis and % of time
duration is available on X- axis.
• used in assessing the dependability of
discharge. Basically these are used in assessing
dependable power in ROR with or without
pondage.

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Uses of flow duration curve:
• Highly useful in the planning and design of water resource projects (determine the potential for firm power).
• If a sediment rating curve is available for the given stream, the flow duration curve can be converted into
cumulative sediment curve by multiplying each flow rate by its rate of sediment transport.
• FDC plotted on a log paper provides a qualitative description of runoff variability in the stream
steep slope- high variable discharge from surface runoff
flat slope- small variability of flow in stream receiving both surface runoff and groundwater runoff.
• Finds use in the design of drainage systems and in flood control studies.

• 100%( higher percentage) flows are • In wet year, flow will be higher so FDC
increased by storage provided in the river will above the FDC of normal year and
so FDC will change as shown in curve vice versa for the dry year.
above.

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Plant capacity: It is the capacity of the plant with respect to the available head, discharge and efficiency.
Installed capacity:
• The plant capacity which is economically viable, is known as installed capacity.
• The max power which can be developed by all generators used in the plant at normal head with
design flow of water.
• Power(P) =
where, = overall efficiency
H= normal head in m
Qd= design discharge in m3/s, =sp wt. of water (9.81kn/m3)

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Marginal cost and benefit approach:
The installed capacity is determined by equating the marginal cost and benefit for that project, while
determining the fixed cost of the project is assumed to be constant.
Let us consider, X % of the duration to the best installed capacity for 1 KW power generation with
Energy price = NRS Ecost /MWh
Variable cost = NRS Vcost / KW
(The variable cost is the electro-mechanical installation cost. The civil cost is not included in this cost because it is
fixed cost) O &M= certain% of variable cost, life of plant= N yrs
Analyzing by marginal cost and benefit approach,
Energy generated=MW)
Marginal benefit = total energy generated
= NRS 8.76E(selling price)
MC=AC+O&M cost
AC= = Vcost *[ ], O&M cost=% of Vcost
Hence, MC= Vcost *[ ]+% of Vcost
equating MC and benefit, the value of x can be obtained. The power
corresponding to X% of tie in PDC is best installed capacity of project.

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Installed capacity optimization approach:
• The benefits of projects with different possible installed capacities are evaluated to determine the optimum
installed capacity.
• can be fixed by evaluating the present worth of the capital cost and operation and maintenance expenses during
the life of the hydropower project and the present worth of benefits at different percentile of available flows as
P30=
• When percentile of the available flow increases, corresponding
discharge decreases also, the generation of power also reduces. At this
condition, the size of the hydropower components such as dam, intake
structures, settling basin, conveyance system, etc decrease. Hence the
capital cost of the project reduces; thereby the annual revenue also
decreases and vice versa.
• Generally, the flow with 25% available flow to 65% available flow with
certain interval is calculated from flow duration curves.
In Nepal for projects upto 25 MW, installed capacity is considered based on Q40 basis
because Nepal Electricity Authority(NEA)conduct power purchase agreement in this pattern
but for projects greater than 25MW, installed capacity is fixed based on optimization
approach.

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Reservoir planning
• When a barrier is constructed across some river in the
form of a dam, water gets stored in the u/s side of the
barrier, forming a pool of water, called a dam reservoir
or an impounding reservoir or a river reservoir.
• Dams and reservoirs are complementary to each other.
• Dam and reservoir planning such as selection of site for
dam and reservoir, fixation of reservoir capacity, safe
yield of storage etc. has very important role for
development of multipurpose project.

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Classification of reservoir Single purpose reservoir
It has two main purposes: Multipurpose reservoir
a) Flood control storage Distribution reservoir
b) Storage or conservation storage

• To store some of the flood water when

discharge rate at a stage likely to cause
• To store water for different purpose
storage

storage
Conservation
Flood control

damage d/s of the valley and release

flood storage slowly at a safe rate when like:
flood subsides.
• Hydropower
• Flood control reservoir differs from • Irrigation
conservation reservoir only in needs for • Public and industrial water supply
a large sluiceway capacity to permit • Navigation
rapid drawdown before or after a flood. • Recreation
• Fishery and wild life
• Retarding type or detention type. • Growing useful aquatic life
• Debris & sediment control
• Soil conservation and land
reclamation

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 Determination of storage capacity
By contour map Height of dam Contour interval(m)
moderate 0.5
high 1.5

Water spread area at any elevation is directly determined by

measuring area at contour by planimeter.

A1+A2) trapezoidal rule

A1+A2+4Am) simpson rule( Am=area of contour line between
midway A1&A2
With the formula, vol. between successive )] cone formula
contours A1&A2, A2&A3……may be V= vol. between two adjacent contours at an interval of having areas
determined and add all these vol to get total A1&A2
capacity

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 By Mass curve of inflow and demand
• Plot of accumulated flow volume against time, accumulated
volume at Y axis and time on x axis.
• Determines capacity from uniform demand flow and safe
yield from reservoir.
• Prepared from inflow hydrograph of a river for a large no. of
consecutive years.
• Continuously rising curve.
• Slope of curve indicates the rate of inflow at that particular
time.
• If curve becomes horizontal at some point, indicates rate of
flow at that time is zero. But mass curve never fall down.
• If curve rises sharply, indicates high rate of inflow within that
period.
• Relatively convex and concave depression indicate flood and
dry period respectively.
• The maximum vertical intercept between mass curve(AF)
gives reservoir capacity.

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Zones of storage in reservoir:
Based on functions:
• Surcharge storage
• Useful or live storage
• Dead storage
• Valley storage
• Bank storage

Various pool levels of reservoir are:

 Maximum pool level
 Normal pool level
 Minimum pool level
Multipurpose reservoir and its regulation principles.
Rule curve or guide curve required only for flood
season
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Reservoir sedimentation:
The extent of erosion, i.e. silt or sediment depends on:
a) Nature of soil of watershed.
b) Topography of watershed
c) Vegetation cover of the watershed
d) Intensity of rainfall, i.e., higher intensity produces higher
runoff or high velocity which erodes and carries silt
along with water.
e) Soil conservation and watershed management methods
adopted in the catchment.

The rate of silting or sedimentation may be reduced

considerably if the density current is vented by proper
location and operation of outlet called scouring sluice.

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Effect and control of sediment on reservoir
EFFECT OF SEDIMENT ON RESERVOIR
CONTROL OF SEDIMENT IN RESERVOIR
FUNCTION
Loss of storage and service. Proper selection of reservoir site
Sediment deposition at outlet gate Control of sediment inflow

Aggradation of reservoir Vegetation cover

Degradation below reservoir Soil conservation methods

Removal of deposited sediments
Construction of dam in stages
Construction of check dams
Removal by sluice during flood time

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 Mean and peak load, load factor, utilization and
diversity factors….
Load curve:
• Graph of load consumption during any time.
• The area below the curve signifies the total
consumption of units(KWh).
• Generally, the load curve is daily load curve, weekly
load curve, monthly load curve and yearly load
curve.
• The average load on power station is the average
consumption over a defined time period.

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Load factor:
It is the ratio of average load to the maximum demand during a certain period of time.
Since the average load is always less than the maximum demand, hence load factor is always less than unity.

Load factor=
daily Load factor=
Yearly load factor=
 Gives an idea of degree of utilization of capacity.
 If a load factor is low, a large portion of generating capacity remains idle for most of the time and cost of generation
becomes high.

Capacity factor:
 It is the ratio of the average load to the rated capacity of the power plant.
 Every plant requires a reserve capacity to take care of the future expansion and increase in load.
 Therefore total installed capacity of the plant is usually greater than that of actually required (maximum demand).
 Vary greatly depending on the type of fuel that is used and the design of plant.

 The capacity factor would be identical with load factor if peak loads were equal to plant capacity and the plants were used
to its full capacity.

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Diversity factor:
• The sum of individual maximum demand all the consumers connected to a power station is always
greater than the maximum demand on the installation.
• The ratio of sum of the individual maximum demands of all the consumers supplied by power station to the
simultaneous maximum demand.
• always greater than Unity.

Utilization factor:
• It is measure of the utility of the power plant capacity.
• In other words, it is the ratio of quantity of water actually used for power production to that available in the river.
• ratio of maximum demand to the installed capacity of the power plant.
• It varies from 0.4 to 0.9 for a hydropower plant depending upon the plant capacity,  load factor and storage.

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