Costing of a Small Hydropower Projects

Hydropower, large and small, remains by far the most important of the renewable sources for electrical power generation worldwide, providing 19% of the planet's electricity. Small hydro is one of the cost effective and environmentally benign energy technologies to be considered for rural electrification in less developed countries. The installation cost of the small hydropower project is mainly divided into two parts -Civil works and electromechanical equipment. One of the most important element on the recovery of a small hydro-power plant is the electromechanical equipment (turbine-alternator). The cost of the equipment means a high percentage of the total budget of the plant. The present paper intends to develop a correlation to determine the cost based on the influencing parameters such as power and head. An attempt has been made to develop the trend of the cost of electromechanical equipment with the increase in head of the hydropower plant.