WREC 1996

MICRO AND MINI HYDROELECTRIC I’OWER ASSESSMENT IN URUGUAY

Ventura NUNES, Josh Lois GENTA

School of Engineer@, Work Group on Renewable Energy

University of Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay.

ABSTRACT

The Schoo! of Engineering in Montevideo, Uruguay, within the li-amework of Agreements made with the
National Utility, has carried out an as- of the potential and studies of the feaSbility of the use of
renewable energy for the generation of electrical power, both at the industrial level and the autonomous
level for rural electrilication.

original assessmti methodologies were developed, inch&g calculation tools which allow, for example,
to analyze historical meteorological data, to calculate the available energy in different kinds of energy
generators and also to simulate the operation and design of autonomous systems with established load
requirements and service quality.

At the micro and mini hydropower assessment, the main role was placed on the census of potential users
and the preliminary analysis of the representative places for the different technical solutions adequate to
the variety of topographic conditions and load requirements.

For power above 1 MW and up to 5 MW, the generating potential was assessed all over the country. If
power lower tban 1 MW or lower than 1OOkW(mini and micro) is considered, the information available
in maps with contour lines, in&ding in those of a 1:50.000 scale, is not enough to identi$ the most
adequate places. Instead, knowledge of the place is indispensable h these cases. A preliminary plan of
several installations was worked out.

KSYWORDS

Mini and micro hydropower assessment, rural electr&ation, autonomous electrical systems
microturbine choice.

DATA ANALYSIS AND ESTIMATION OF BASIN’S STREAMFLOW.

At first, an analysis was made of the rain gage information available with a methodology developed by
this team, which also allows to assess data quality.

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As hydrometric information on the majority of water streams is not available; an indirect cakuhrs of
water availability is proposed through a study of other watershed already gauged.

The selection of the reference watershed among those already gauged was based on typical
characteristics of the country landscape: smooth orography and uniformity of the use of the soil
@stures). Runoff coe%ients were de&red at the ret&me basin for each season and soil’s degree of
saturation. This degree of saturation depends on a classitication of each month in dry, humid and very
humid according to its reIationship with the month average precipitation and the co&ions of the
previous month.

The determmation of water availability of each basin was axyessed using the monthly precipitation data
obtained from the National Weather service Net and the runoff coefikients adjusted for the hind of soil.

Spatial distribution of precipitation is presented through a map of isohyets of mean e&&e monthly
precipitatiotq calculated from tunoff coefhcients and the information of 100 rain gages covering the
whole countty. Most of them have records over more than 70 years.

ASSESSMENT OF GENERATING POTEN’MAL (FROMlMWUPTO5MW)

For the power above 1MW and up to 5MW (small hydropower utihzation), the gene&q potential was
assessed~arouodthecountry,featuringsitesaccontingtothelengthaad~~ofthedamandvolume
ofwaterto turbinate, by means of a coeBicient which relates the vohune of the lake to the power to be
instakd.

Starting out from 1:500.000 hypsographic charts with contour lines every 50 meters, 107 points were
identified to locate microdamq and thereafter the isopower curves were designed.

The area enclosed by these curves allows to calculate the generation potential for each power range.
Table 1 indicatesthe numberof points, the estimated power as well as the enclosed area fir each range.

Power Points As the methodology used shows, a large

development of hydroelectric generation
IMW !%? !zY 55 caMotbeexpec@unlessittakesplace
2MW 38073 44.8 22 withinthetiameworkofageneraleconomic
3MW 44375 52.2 17 development of a region. The building of a
4MW 39739 46.7 11 damshouldbelbasibleifitissharedforother
5MW 8698 10.2 2 purposes such as: irrigation, drink.@ water
Total 178598 209.1 107 supply and flood control. Such multiple use
Table 1. Genemtion Potential. wouid justify not only the investment, but also
theefFectontheenvironmentthefloodingof
theiandproduces.

TURBINE CHOICE.

The turbine flow rate depends on the hydrogeologicai characteristics of the basin and on the
precipimtkms as well. The available head depends on the topographical charact&stics of the closing
pointofthebasin.Whentheturbineflowrateisverylow,itmustbecomparedtothestreambaseflow.
Whenareguletionisnaeded,thelengthandheightofthedamandthelakevohrmeareestimatedfiom
topogmphioal characteristics ofthe closing point ofthe baain and the available head.

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Once the available head wd the turbiie flow rate are determined, whether for regulation or for base flow
rate, Table 2 was prepared to select the suitable turbine power, type and cost.

This Table was made on the amumption that a single turbine was to be selected for the target power. A
multiple turbme armngement is a possibii that must be analyzed in each particular case study because,
as the flow rate through each turbine diminishes, a larger turbme speed is obtained.

The criteria used for completing Table 2 are the following:

- For power less than IMW, it was aa%umed that to minim& equipment initial cost was far more
&ortantthannlaximk efticiency. This assun#ion is particularly valid in the cases the energy demand
is reached with a flow rate much lower than *& average one and there is no regulation. Based on this
criterion, crossflow turbines (Banki - Mitchell) were selected wherever possible.
-Aminimum turbine speedwastriedtobeassuredtoavoidthenecessityofgearspeedrmultipliers,
because of their high cost and introduction of additional power losses. Minimum turbine speed was
chosen to be 150 rpm.
- For power larger than IMW, the equipment of higher et&i- available was selected. The kind of
turbii that allows for highest etlkiency for the select4 study cases are axial a being in general
bUlbtypeUGtS.

Head(m) -lwJilEtypearuiccstsiuchldlugtlleelectlical
F(m3/$ 2 5 10 15
0.05 OS* 1.4. 2.3* 4.3+
0.01 1.1* 2.8* 5.5* 8.5* (1) Mitchell-B&u&i(*)
-I! power<2OOkW alamomm 3OOuwkw
1E00
50 14.0
7.0 35.05
14.05 28.0*
55.0* 45.0*
98.0’ puwm>2OOkW ~5OOUVlCW
-z gridmmeued 2OOlJ!MKW
L~00 40.0 65.0 150.0 204.0*
5.00I 68.0 190.0 400.0 600.0+ (2) AXIAL, flow
-iii5 9 155.0 380.0 760.0 1260.0 power<2OOkW -4oou.wkw
z(T1.00 305.0 760.0 1750.0 2400.0 power>2ODkW -18oUSlkW
power> 4OkWgridconwted
50.00 760.0 1970.0 4000.0 6000.0
gridmmectedeq@ment 6OOUS/kW
Table2Powerandmbinetype
power~2OOkWgridam. 3OOUSlkW

KINDS OF GENERATION

The operation of the hydroelectric plant within an e!ectrical system in which the contribution of the
cogenerating plant is marginal is ditkent ikom the operation within an autonomous system.

In the Srst case, the cogene&ing station does not aSectthe electric network in its behavior, except very
close to the plant. In the second case, the plant will be the system’s only sours or it will be integrated
to other sources. The solutions regardiq the electrical equipment will be dig&em in each case. In
cogeneration the kequency and voltage are imposed by the grid. In autonomous systems both must be
regulated. The use of rectifmrs and inverters is recommended.

STUDY OF ARROYO GRANDE’S HYDROPOWER.

The site is located near the center of the country over the Arroyo Grande river, approximately 6 km
before its mouth. The basin‘s total area is 3 112 km2.

This site allows for two possible kind5 of development:

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1. A local demand of around 1CrJkW could be supplied through an autonomous system.

2. A mini or micro hydroelectric power station connected to the grid.

case1.
To satisfy the power requirements of 100 kW the dam will have a height of 6 m, with 5 m available head
and 147 m length and may be overflowed. Therefore submersible equipment should be used, or instead it
will be necessary to place it at a height well above the water level in case of a flood. This height is
estimated to be 4.8 m over the dam level, which makes necesaq an important construction and can arise
mechanical transmission difIIculties. To simplify, a turbine with submersiile asynchronous generator will
be used.

The ins&Ration includes also a 15 kV (three-phase) overhead line and capacitors. The &quency control
selected was an electronic control of power using 4 three phase banks of resistors and thyristors with
firing angle control.

It is possible to obtain a more accurate control of the generation l?equency by splitting the regulation
load into a set of smaller ones. Doing that a reduction of the current distortion is also achieved. It makes
sense to place the regulation load next to the customers so as they could use this energy for alternative
uses (for example pumping or water heating).

case 2.

A study was conducted to determine the dam’s dimensions and cost for di&rent heads, based on
precipitation data and the aite topographic characteristics.

is shown the height (h), power, kWh ‘cost and

generation days (DG).

Marginal generation costs of the national grid are low, that is the reason why given the generation costs
obtained, cogeneration would not be economically viable except for the &ct that the dam is constructed
for other purposes as well.

If a sensitive change in power demand occurs, a suitable power can be selected for an autonomous
system.

REFERENCES

Fritz J.J., “Small and mini hydropower systems”, Ed. MC. Graw Hll, 1984.
De Sousa, Z., “I&rotmbina Hidraulica Axial Tub&t”, Escola Federal de Itajub&, M.G. Brasil, 1992.
Genta, J., Silveira, L., Anido C., Acosta A. , Cataldo J., Charbomtier F., Nunes V., Chaer R, Alonso
J.,“Estudio para la mstalacion de microturbmas en zonas alejadas de la red electrica national”,
Agreement Report, -Montevideo, Uruguay, 1993.

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