Design Considerations of Small

Hydropower and Hydraulic Ram

Pump Projects
Dr. Roberto C. Guarte
Professor

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Design Consideration of Small
Hydropower Project

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Classification of Hydropower
The European Union member countries differs
their definition of small hydropower as follows:
• United Kingdom: up to 20 MW
• France: up to 12 MW
• Portugal, Spain: up to 10 MW
Ireland, Greece
and Belgium
• Italy: up to 3 M
• Sweden: Up to 1.5 MW
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Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Classification of Hydropower
Generally accepted classification of
Hydropower:
§ Large Hydropower: Above 10 MW
§ Small Hydropower: 501 kW to 10 MW
§ Mini Hydropower: 101 kW to 500 kW
§ Micro Hydropower: 6-100 kW
§ Pico Hydropower: Up to 5 kW
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Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Classification of Hydropower Plant

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the site

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Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Classification of Hydropower
§ Establishing a small hydropower plant is
more capital expensive and involves major
political decisions causing difficulties in
different implementation phases
§ On the other hand, micro-hydro electric
power (MiHP) 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.
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Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Design Considerations for MiHP
§ The power output of a hydropower plant is
generally classified according the following head
classification:
o High head: 100-m and above
o Medium head: 30 - 100 m
o Low head: 2 - 30 m
§ These ranges are not rigid but are merely means
of categorizing sites which can also be defined as:
o Run-of-river schemes
o Schemes with the powerhouse located at the base
of a dam
o Schemes integrated on a canal or in a water supply
pipe 7

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Design Considerations for MiHP
To design a micro-hydro-electric power plant, there
are many considerations to be prepared and taken
into account in the design procedure. These
considerations are:
1. Flow duration curve (FDC) 10. Tailrace
2. Flow rate measurement 11. Head Measurement
3. Weir and open channel 12. Turbine Power
4. Intake location 13. Turbine Speed
5. Trash rack design 14. Turbine Selection
6. Gates and valves 15. Cavitation
Phenomenon
7. Vorticity 16. Powerhouse
8. Penstock design 17. Speed increaser
9. Saddles 8

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Design Considerations for MiHP
18. Speed Governor
19. By-pass, and
20. Load Factor
§ For detailed discussion on the design of Micro-Hydro-Electric
Power Station, please refer to the following references:
1. Bilal Abdullah Nasir (2014). Design of Micro-Hydro-
Electric Power Station. Blue Eyes Intelligence
Engineering and Sciences Publication Pvt.Ltd.
2. ESHA (2004). Guide on How to Develop a Small
Hydropower Plant, European Small Hydropower
Association - ESHA - esha@arcadis.be.

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

Design Methodology for
Haydraulic Ram Pump
(Hydram) Project

Dr. Roberto C. Guarte

Professor

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

The Hydraulic Ram Pump
§ The hydraulic Ram pump or hydram is a
complete automatic device that uses the
energy in the flowing water such as spring,
stream or river to pump part of the water to a
height above that of the source.
§ With a continuous flow of water a hydram
operates continuously with no external
energy source.
§ The basic operation of a ram pump is shown
below:
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Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

The Hydraulic Ram Pump

Figure 1. Parts of a typical Ram Pump showing : (A) Water Supply

Pipe , (B) “impulse” valve (B), (C) Check valve (C), (D)
Water pressure in the tank, (E) Delivery pipe . 12

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

The Hydraulic Ram Pump
§ The first manual hydraulic ram pump was built by
Whitehurst (1775), which operated manually by the
opening and closing of the stopcock. This hydram
was able to raise water to a height of 4.9m.
§ The first automatic hydram was invented by
Montgolfier in 1796 for raising water in his paper
mill.
§ His work was improved upon by pierce (1816), who
designed the air or sniffer valve to introduce air into
the air chamber and this hydram, which is 300 mm
in diameter is reported to have pumped 1700l/min
to a height of 48m. 13

Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II

 The Hydraulic Ram Pump
§ Easton and James (1820) were the first to produce
hydrams in large scale for commercial purpose.

§ A number of interested individuals have innovated

and produce their own prototypes using locally
available materials.
§ For engineers, there are still a number of
challenges in the technical design of Ram Pump.
The following are useful references:
1. S. B. Watt (1974)
2. Shuaibu Ndache MOHAMMED (2007)
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Lecture on AGEN 252 on Renewable Energy II