International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4442

Design Of Hydel Power Plant At Mid- Pennar
Reservoir


P. Nagendra Dr. G. Prasanthi


Abstract---
Micro-hydro-electric power is both an efficient and reliable
form of clean source of renewable energy. It can be an excellent
method of harnessing renewable energy from small rivers and
streams. The micro-hydro project designed to be a run-of-river
type, because it requires very little or no reservoir in order
to power the turbine. The water will run straight through the
turbine and back into the river or stream to use it for the
other purposes. This has a minimal environmental impact on the
local ecosystem.
The design procedure of micro-hydro power plant was
implemented practically. The choice of the turbine type
depending mainly on the site head and flow rate. The turbine
power and speed were directly proportional with the site head,
but there were specific points for maximum turbine power and
speed with the variation of the site water flow rate. The head
losses in the penstock could range from 5 to 10 percent of the
gross head, depending on the length of the penstock, quantity of
water flow rate and its velocity. The turbine efficiency coul d
range from 80 to 95 percent depending on the turbine type, and
the generator efficiency about 90 percent.
The design study showed that construction of micro-hydro-
electric project was feasible in the project site and there were
no major problems apparent at the design and
implementation stages of the micro-hydro-electric power plant.

Keywords: micro-hydro-electric power plant, design and
implementation, hydro-turbines.

I. INTRODUCTION
Energy is one of the most fundamental elements
of our universe. It is inevitability for survival and
indispensable for development activities to promote
education, health, transportation and infrastructure for
attaining a reasonable standard of living and is also a critical
factor for economic development and employment [1].
In the last decade, problems related to energy crisis such as
oil crisis, climatic change, electrical demand and restrictions
of whole sale markets have a risen world-wide. These
difficulties are continuously increasing, which suggestthe
need of technological alternatives to assure their solution.
One of these technological alternatives is generating
electricity as near as possible of the consumption site, using
the renewable energy sources, that do not cause
environmental pollutions, such as wind, solar, tidal and
hydro-electric power plants [2, 3]. Hydro-electric power is a
form of renewable energy resource, which comes from the
flowing water. To generate electricity, water must be in

motion. When the water is falling by the force of gravity, its
potential energy converts into kinetic energy. This kinetic
energy of the flowing water turns blades or vanes in a
hydraulic turbines, the form of energy is changed to
mechanical energy. The turbine turns the generator rotor
which then converts this mechanical energy into electrical
energy [4].

The power generated from falling water has been harnessed
in various applications such as milling grains, sawing wood
and pumping water for irrigation. The slow-moving water
wheels were used to harness the mechanical power from
flowing water. The design and efficiency improvements
made to these early water wheels led to the rise of the
hydro-electric turbines. The first hydro-electric power
systems were developed in the 1880's. According to the
international energy agency (IEA), large-scale hydro-
electric plants currently supply 16% of the world's
electricity. However, such kind of projects requires
tremendous amounts of land impoundment, dams and flood
control, and often they produce environmental impacts [5].
Micro-hydro-electric power plants are one of an alternative
source of energy generation. They are the smallest type of
hydro-electric energy systems. They generate between 5 and
100 Kilowatt of power when they are installed across rivers
and streams. The advantages of micro-hydro-electric power
plant have over the fossil and nuclear power plant are [4, 6]:
- It has ability to generate power near when its needed,
reducing the power inevitably lost during transmission.
- It can deal more economically with varying peak load
demand, while the fossil-fuel or nuclear power plants can
provide the base load only, due to their operational
requirements and their long start-up times.
- It is able to start-up quickly and make rapid adjustments in
Output power.
- It does not cause pollution of air or water.
- It has low failure rate, low operating cost and is reliable.
- It acts much like a battery, storing power in the form of
water.
In particular, the advantages that micro-hydro-electric power
plant has over the same size wind, wave and solar power
plants are:
- High efficiency (70-90%), by far the best of all energy
technologies.
- High capacity factors (> 50%) compared with 10% for
solar and 30% for wind power plant.
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4443


-Slow rate of change; the output power varies only gradually
from day to day not from minute to minute.
- The output power is maximum in winter.
Comparative study between small-hydro-electric power plants
(up to 10 MW ) and micro-hydro-electric power plants
(up to 100 KW ) reveals that the former one is more
capital intensive and involves major political decisions
causing difficulties in different implementation phases. On the
other hand micro-hydro- electric power plants are low cost,
small sized and can be installed to serve a small community
making its implementation more appropriate in the socio-
political context. Many of these systems are run-of-river
which does not require an impoundment. Instead, a fraction of
the water stream is diverted through a pipe or channel to a
small turbine that sits across the stream, as shown in figure
one [7]. So, there is a scope for harnessing the micro-hydro-
electric power plant potentiality by identifying proper site and
designing appropriate power generation systems.

Properly designed micro-hydro-electric power plant causes
minimum environmental disruption to the river or stream
and can coexist with the native ecology.



Figure (1) Schematic diagram of micro-hydro-electric power
plant

This paper reports on the design in Matlab Simulink
procedure and implementation of micro-hydro-electric
power plant taking into account a lot of design
considerations such as site survey, measuring of head and
water flow rate, civil work components (weirtrashrack
intake channel - penstock), selection of hydraulic turbine
type and dimensions and specifications of electrical power
generator.

II. MODEL OF HYDRO POWER PLANT

A. System configuration

The outline of the system is shown in the figure-1.The
hydraulic generator which converts the water power to
mechanical power is fed with water from the fore bay. This
special assembly not only protects the turbine assembly it also
helps to have a constant water flow in the system.
There is also a valve system which can be used for the gate
control of the hydraulic system. At hundred percentage of gate
opening only it is able to produce the maximum power from the
system. The provided machine energy by the hydraulic turbine is
sent to the electrical system which is composed of a synchronous
generator and power distribution assembly through a shaft. In the
proposed work we are using a natural water flow at Pennar
Reservoir, Andhra Pradesh, Indi is considered

B. Design of Penstock

The most important step in the design of system is the
design of the penstock system. It is very important for
optimally design the penstock so that the head losses
occurring in the system due to the frictional losses and other
losses are reduced to a considerable level. To optimally the
penstock assembly the trial and error method of Darcys
procedure is used in Darcys methodology is trial and error.
For the economic constrains of the penstock sizing is also
considered in this work. By the detailed analysis it is found
out that, as the penstock diameter is increased the losses are
reduced

The net effect of these losses is a reduction in the effective
head of the system and so ultimately reduction of the water
potential.

First the discharge of water in the site during last few years in
Pennar Reservoir region is considered from the available data

Discharge at FRL =4543.112 cumecs
Discharge at MWL =5318.3067 cumecs
For further design of the average discharge rate,
Let
V=velocity in m/s
Then
Reynolds No=V*D*10
6

Where D=diameter of penstock in m

Fuel loss,
Hf =(0.3164) / Re
0.25





Table-1. The head losses

Diameter of penstock Head losses (m)
(mm)

300 40.05

325 27.51

350 19.31

400 10.26


It is to be noted that if the diameter of the penstock pipe is
increased then the frictional loss are reduced drastically

For the economy of the whole system, the optimum diameter of
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4444

penstock is 400mm. As optimally selecting the diameter of the
penstock system so that there is significant amount of water
discharge without any high losses for power production , and
also there is a good financial gain also due to optimal sizing of
the penstock. The optimally designed penstock pipe carries
enough water which is controlled using a control valve. The gate
opening characteristics of the turbine which is very important as
far as the performance of machine is concerned is controlled
using this penstock water control valve. In our proposed system
we are selecting the optimal diameter of the penstock to be
400mm.


III. TURBINE SYSTEM

The hydraulic turbine is one of the most important aspects of
the power system. Usually for high head system we use pelton
turbine. In the proposed site a water head of around 100m is there.
For these types of high head large discharge systems the pelton
wheel turbine is the most suitable. The design of the turbine is as
important as the selection of the turbine. For pelton turbines the
diameter of the circle describing the buckets Centre line D (in m)
is given by

D =(0.68*H*0.5)/n

Where H is the net head (in m) n is the speed of rotation (in
rps)
The model given in Fig.2 is used to simulate the steady state
output of the turbine for given gate position. The simulation
model which is shown below is used to compute turbine
output for any gate position. Besides this the integrated model
of gate, penstock turbine/generator is also used to study the
deviation in power output and speed for a change in gate


Assuming a rigid conduit and incompressible fluid, the
basic hydrodynamic equations are



P
m


Where,
P
m
=mechanical power produced in the turbine
U =velocity of water in penstock (m/sec)
H =head in meter

Expressing the above equations about the rated values





Ideal gate opening (G) is related to real gate opening (g) as
follows;





Where,
=turbine gain
=Gate Opening at full load
=Gate Opening at no load
H
0
=loss of water in conduit length and Tw is the water
starting time

Modeling of Generator

Machinery can be driven directly by a turbine as in
traditional grain mills and many modern timber sawing mills,
but converting the power into electricity has several additional
advantages. For instance, it enables the use of all types of
electrical appliances from lighting to electric motors and also
the flexibility of having the appliances at any point either near
or far from the turbine. The device which converts mechanical
energy into electrical energy is called a generator . The most
common type of generator produces alternative current and is
known as an alternator position.

The steady state out power P
m
for various gate positions can
be computed from the differential equation and completely
describes the water and hydraulic turbine characteristics.

Synchronous generator is used to produce the electric
power. Alternators generate electricity using the same
principle as a DC generator, i.e when the magnetic field
around a conductor changes, a current is induced in the
conductor. Typically, a rotating magnet called the rotor turns
within a stationary set of conductors wound in coils on an iron
core, called the stator. When the field cuts across the
conductors, an EMF (electromotive force) is induced, as the
mechanical input causes the turning of the rotor. The rotating
magnetic field induces an AC voltage in the stator windings.
The rotor's magnetic field may be provided by stationary field
winding, with moving poles in the rotor. Brushless AC
generators are usually larger machines than those used in
automotive applications.

Simple design for alternator



Where, N=rotor speed (in rpm)
=frequency in Hz
=number of pole
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4445


The input to the generator is considered as mechanical power,
which is the output of hydraulic turbine.. A constant excitation
is needed for the alternator. The rotor is excited with a dc
supply so that a rotating field type alternator is produced. A
three phase RLC load is introduced to imitate the possible

loads of the system. Electric torque is calculated after
considering electric power and rotor speed. The input to the
alternator is a mechanical power which is taken from the output
of a waterwheel turbine. Thus the electric power and electrical
torque are reproduce
Figure 2: Pennar Reservoir
Figure 2: Location of mid-pennar reservoir
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4446


IV. PROPOSAL OF HYDEL POWER
PLANT AT PENNAR RESERVOIR

This module is based on the technical feasibility of the
implementation of micro hydro electric power plant in Mid
Pennar reservoir, which is located in Anantapur district in
Andhra Pradesh state. This section mainly focused on
geographical details of the site, catchment area of the waterfall
and climate of the region The initial project proposal envisaged
only a detailed hydrological investigation of the catchment of
the Pennar river with an aim to help in establishing a micro
hydel power plant. The catchment of the Pennar reservoir is
located in Anantaour district of Andhra Pradesh State at
772434E Longitude and 145216.Fig 2 shows the index
map of the proposed. Site. The different components of work
carried out are furnished below:

1. Collection of all available data on morph metric and
hydrologic parameters from existing sources.

2. Hydrological observations in the field using instruments.

3. Arriving at different alternatives and selection of the
optimal scheme.

4. Preparing the design details of the scheme.

A. Hydrological Study

The catchment of Pennar stream has an area of 6.237Sq.
Km. The area is subjected to two monsoons: south west
(June Aug) and north east (Oct-Nov), the former
contribute 75% of annual rainfall and later 30%. The average
rainfall of the proposed site is around 440cm based on data
available from the nearby station Fig 3 gives the average
monthly rainfall in the site for last few years.











Fig 3 Average Monthly Rainfall

Runoff is that balance of rain water, which flows or runs
over the natural surface ground surface after losses by
evaporation, interception and infiltration. The yield of a
catchment is the net quantity of water available for storage,
after all losses for the purposes of water resources utilization
and planning, like irrigation, water supply etc. The runoff from
rainfall may be estimated from the Empirical formulae method

i.e
(10) Where R =runoff in cm,
P =rainfall in cm a and b are

Constants which varies with region

R =0.85P-30.4

Fig.6 shows the average monthly hydrograph of flow in the
stream in the past 10 years. The maximum average stream flow
is about 19.82m
3
/sec and minimum is about 0.2581m
3
/sec.
Two peaks are clearly indicated that one during south west
monsoon and another during north east monsoon. There is
decrease in flow from months from Nov to May is about
0.67m
3
/sec, the large gap between monsoon and summer poses
problem in utilizing 75% of the flow for uniform power
generation to cater to the domestic needs of the people in the
locality.


















Fig 4 Estimated Monthly Electric potential

Discharge (m
3
/sec) can be calculated by using water flow
rate and seconds
Water Discharge (in m
3
) =monthly runoff x catchment area
Water discharge (in m
3
/sec) =water discharge/no. of
seconds


International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4447



B. Estimation of Electric Power

Micro hydro power is a site specific type of renewable
energy. Each different site requires a separate evaluation in
order to determine the energy output. A micro hydro
application installed in home areas or any place where a
small stream can be harnessed for power. This means that
each individual site will most likely have a low head and a
low flow. The higher head a site has, the higher the final
energy output will be. Higher heads require less water to
produce a given amount of power. In some instances the
flow rate of a stream can be determined through the access
of Government records of stream flow. Once both the head
and flow data are measured the potential power of an
application can be obtained using equation

P = ( W Q H) / 102
Where Q=51.4 m
3
/sec,
=0.8
H=6 meters
Fig 7 shows the estimated monthly electric potential of
the proposed site for the past 10 years.









Fig 5: Estimated electric potential
V. ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMICAL
IMPACT

This type of small hydro power plants is economically
more sustainable and may cause less impact on environment.
Due to the simple construction and use of run-off water from
the river directly the environmental impacts are reduced
considerably, also due to minimum construction works the
economy is also improved.

Considering the full load condition the proposed
generator produces around 2500Kw power daily for 1 unit.
Here we can install 4 units with that we can generate
approximately 10MW ( 4* 2500kw) daily, which is around
0.20 ton of oil equal lent daily. According to our estimation
the system will save around 248 liters of diesel daily which
means less pollution. The avoided cost of the fuel may
constitute the fuel economy and this avoided pollution is also
considered as an economical advantage, it is also considered
in the unit cost of power to be produced. Considering a
modest plant load factor of 0.7 and effective plant life of 25
years we calculated that we can produce and sell power at
the rate of Rs1.10 per Kwh. This simple cost is very low
considering other forms of power production.

For any project the rate of return of the cost is very
important. In the proposed scheme it is estimated that the rate
of return is around 4years and 10 months. Due to these
statistics it is can infer that this proposed scheme is not only
economically viable but also environmentally friendly, which
is the trade mark of a green project. The proposed scheme
has not only environmental value, but also a socio-
economical value also. The cheap power produced from the
generator can not only be used for domestic lighting but also
for other economical activities
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) Volume 4 Issue 10 - Oct 2013
ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 4448


V. CONCLUSION

Micro hydro is a primary source of energy in India
especially in the southern regions. Promoting renewable energy
sources for energy requirements in conjunction with alleviation
of rural poverty, diversification of energy resources and
reduction of oil imports are needed to shift the economical
growth towards greater sustainability, as well as environmental
and social stability. This paper presents the feasibility of micro
hydro power plant in domestic needs. This paper also deals
with both hydraulic turbine and alternator and their clearly
shows the steady state output for various gate position. The
feasibility of small hydro power for domestic needs is justified
by giving a proposal of the implementation of small hydro
power plant in Pennar reservoir, Andhra pradesh.

REFERENCES

Sakurai.T, Fuanto.H Fundamental Characteristics of Test
Facility For Micro Hydro electric Power Generation System
IPEMC 2009.

[2]. Okonkwo, G N, Ezeonu S O Design and Installation of Mini
Hydro Electric Power Plant, Scholar J ournal of Engineering
Research Vol 1(1), April 2012

[3]. Chauhan D S, Gagan Singh Simulation and Modelling of
Hydro Power Plant to study Time Response during Different
Gate States

International J ournal of Advanced Sciences and Technologies
Vol 10 Issue No. 1, 42-47 2007

[4]. Priyano Sutikno, Ibrahim Khalil Design, Simulation
Simulation and Experimental of the Very Low Head Turbine
with Minimum Pressure and Free Vortex Criterions,
International J ournal of Mechanical and
Mechatronics Engg IJ MME IJ ENS Vol 11, 2011

[5]. Yin Chin Choo, Kashern M Muttaqi, Negnevitsky M
Modelling of hydraulic governor turbine for control
Stabilization, ANZIAM J 49
(EMAC2007) pp C681-C698, 2009

[6]. Angus Simpson, Michael Gibbard, J ohn Pheat Development
of an integrated Hydraulic Electrical Model for Hydro Power
Plant, Water
Power pp1150-1159, 1997

[7]. Yu, Yao-nan Electric Power SystemDynamics Academic
Press, New York, 1983

[8]. Oliver Paish, Small Hydro Power- Technology and Current
Status: Elseiver J ournal Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews
[9]. Fraenkal P Paish, O Bokalders V, Harvey A, Brown A,
Edward R, Micro Hydel Electric Power Plant- a guide for
development workers IT Publications Ltd. London, 1991

[10]. Arun Kumar, Verma H K Performance Testing of Small
Hydropower Plant International Conference on Small Hydro
power- Hydro Srilanka 22-24 2007

[11]. Renata Archetti , Microhydro electric power: Feasibility of
domestic plant, International Conference on Green Buildings
and Sustainable Cities, Elseiver journal Procedia Engineering
21 pp 8-15 2011.

[12]. Wazed M A, Shamsuddin Ahmed,Micro Hydro Energy
Resources in Bangladesh - A Review, Australian J ournal of
Basic and Applied Sciences2(4):11209-1222, 2009.

[13]. CWRDM, Micro Hydel Scheme at Kakkadampoil- Project
report by Centre For Water Resource Development and
Management, Calicut.

1. P. Nagendra was born in Anantapur. He completed his
Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering at Vaagdevi
Institute of tech & science, proddatur and currently pursuing
M.tech in Energy systems at JNTUACEA Anantapur, Andhra
Pradesh.. His research interest includes Renewable Energy
sources and Energy Conservation.

2. Dr. Smt. G. Prasanthi is a Professor in Mechanical
Engineering Department. She has more than 20 years of
teaching experience. She has guided 22 M.Tech projects and is
supervising 9 PhDs. She has published about 35 papers in
various National and International Journals and Conferences.
She served as Board of Studies chairman for Mechanical
Engineering in 2011 at JNTUA CEA, Anantapur.

[1].