Small Hydropower Articles
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Procedure for the establishment of a small-hydro project
The objective here is to synthesize into three steps the various procedures that the designer (public or private) has to go through in order to succeed in a small-hydro project. We first of all strongly recommend measuring discharges as regularly as possible, at least once a week or, ideally, continuously, and to have a surveyor measure up- and downstream altitudes. A simple method of measuring ...
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Sustainable Electricity: One Step Closer to a Green Future
The continuous rise in carbon dioxide emissions for the last 30 years has led to increased atmospheric temperatures today. And the environment is getting more and more polluted due to the rapid industrialization and usage of fossil fuels for energy production. That is why there is a growing global demand for sustainable electricity, ensuring access to clean and affordable energy in order to stop ...
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Reverse Engineering a Guide Vane
Hydropower plants around the world have been equipped with components from Voith Hydro for over 140 years. As a full-service provider of hydroelectric power plant equipment, Voith is one of the world’s leading manufacturers. The Voith Hydro GmbH & Co. KG, with its headquarters in Heidenheim, is a leading full-service provider of machine technology equipment for hydroelectric power ...
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Reverse Engineering a Guide Vane
Hydropower plants around the world have been equipped with components from Voith Hydro for over 140 years. As a full-service provider of hydroelectric power plant equipment, Voith is one of the world’s leading manufacturers. The Voith Hydro GmbH & Co. KG, with its headquarters in Heidenheim, is a leading full-service provider of machine technology equipment for hydroelectric power ...
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IHA: Putting sustainable hydropower at the heart of the energy transition
Happy 25th birthday! Much of the past 25 years has been spent building a better hydropower sector. Thanks for being part of the journey. Building on this platform, our next 25 years can have a more confident ...
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Renewable Energy Market in Indonesia
The development of renewable energy in Indonesia has stalled in recent years, especially wind and solar PV power. By the end of 2018, cumulative installed solar and wind capacity in Indonesia just reached 136MW, which is at a relatively low level compared with other Southeast Asian countries. It is a recognized fact that 2019 was the year of Vietnam’s renewable energy explosion, with a new ...
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Connecting to the Grid: A Letter from Paul
Dear potential grid connected customer, Many people contact us concerning the possibility of using a power source that is either connected to the commercial power grid or feeding power to a house that is. While this may be possible, it is not likely to make economic sense. Over 99% of our customers are off-grid and there are reasons for this. The question is then more like: ’Can I ...
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Intro to Hydropower - Measuring Head and Flow
Small-scale hydro is the only renewable energy source that works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the first article in this series (HP103), I explained the basics of hydroelectric system theory, and reviewed system components. This article focuses on measuring a stream’s head and flow. Before you can begin designing your hydro system or estimating how much electricity it will ...
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Lower village hydro - Case study
The Lower Village Hydro Dam was built in 1995 and is located on the Sugar River in Claremont, New Hampshire. The plant was last operational in 2011and was acquired by Sugar River Power LLC in January 2017, which owns and operates four other small hydro plants in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. As part of a major plant restoration and repowering project undertaken by the new owners, CHC is ...
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45 Mile Hydro Project - Case Study
Apple Inc. Culver, Or The computer and electronics giant, Apple, Inc. is the owner of a small hydroelectric plant in Culver, Oregon, which it operates as part of its ongoing commitment to power its resources exclusively with green energy. CHC provided the equipment to the developer, EBD, and commissioned the plant in 2015. The equipment package included three 900 mm axial flow ...
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The future of Solar Power
When you think of renewable energies, what do you think of? Hydro power? Wind energy? In fact, they have proven to be the most popular in recent years. Hydro power in its current form is the cheapest of the renewable energies. Wind power is the fastest growing. However, there is a renewable energy that is far more versatile and has the potential to achieve a higher ROI than the ones mentioned ...
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Minimum Flow Units - Case Study
Environmental regulations are becoming more stringent and the minimum by-pass flow requirements are generally increasing in North-America. Many of our small hydro technologies are perfectly suited for this type of application whether it is to replace an existing pressure reducing valve or implement a new turbine upstream of the by-passed reach of an existing hydro plant. Shown below is an example ...
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A conceptual framework for real time estimation of WFP for small hydroelectric power plant
It is believed that the power sector, particularly hydroelectric power, contributes to a very high consumption of fresh water in terms of evaporation from storage reservoirs. Robust methods of water footprint (WFP) assessment will eventually help in the pricing of water and energy. Conventionally, WFP for hydropower plants is estimated by dividing the gross/net evaporation losses by power ...
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Forecasting monthly energy production of small hydropower plants in ungauged basins using grey model and improved seasonal index
A first-order one-variable grey model (GM(1,1)) is combined with improved seasonal index (ISI) to forecast monthly energy production for small hydropower plants (SHPs) in an ungauged basin, in which the ISI is used to weaken the seasonality of input data for the GM(1,1) model. The ISI is calculated by a hybrid model combining K-means clustering technique and ratio-to-moving-average method, ...
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What rural Alaska can teach the world about renewable energy
I flew into Unalakleet, Alaska, on a late fall day. With about 700 people, Unalakleet is large by rural Alaska standards and serves as a regional hub. The village is located on a sandy spit of land where a clear river meets the turbid water of the Bering Sea. Out the plane window the sun shone bright, glittering off the wind-tossed whitecaps of the sea. To the east, the rolling Nulato Hills, clad ...
By Ensia
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Complete Overhaul of unique hydro power plant Želina - Case Study
The small hydro power plant Želina built on Ohre river has been commissioned since1908 year and these days is being listed as technical heritage of the Czech Republic. Generating technology is still oparated by CEZ. Scope of Želina power plant works is complete overhaul and modernization of two Francis turbine units, installation of new intake trash racks, up-grading of trash raking machines and ...
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Understanding water-society nexus: insights from Turkey's small-scale hydropower policy
Turkey's recent venture involving the construction of hundreds of small-scale hydropower projects is a significant trend, both in regard to its contribution to Turkey's hydroelectricity production and the social and environmental impact of these projects at the local level. Turkey's hydropower policy was premised on a conventional understanding of water driven by science, technology, and the ...
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Energizing our green future
As world leaders come together at the UN General Assembly to adopt new sustainable development goals, climate change activists gear up for Climate Week in New York City and the Pope brings his message to the United Nations, a shared vision of our future is coming into clear focus. If we are to eradicate poverty, we need to tackle climate change. And since 2008, the $8.1 billion Climate ...
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Micropower system modeling with Homer
The HOMER Micropower Optimization Model is a computer model developed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to assist in the design of micropower systems and to facilitate the comparison of power generation technologies across a wide range of applications. HOMER models a power system's physical behavior and its life-cycle cost, which is the total cost of installing and operating ...
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Towards realising social sustainability in the small hydropower sector in India: opportunities for social innovations
This paper investigates the SHP sector in India and aims at finding out its contribution towards realising social sustainability and if there are any opportunities for generating social innovations. Various stakeholders connected to the SHP industry were interviewed in four states of India to explore the existing situation of this industry. The data was acquired through 28 individual in–depth ...
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