Economic and CDM Benefits of Assimilating a Biogas and Canal Based Small Hydropower Plant Into an Existing Hybrid Power System

In countries like India, there is a unceasing and quick growth in load and electricity demand owing to heavy industrial development, urbanization and economy rise. Most of this demand is met through power generation from fossil fuel based sources which have negative environmental impact. Renewable energy resources provide a good alternative but lack of continuous generation, high initial cost, complex control, conversion between AC and DC generation, grid integration etc. are some of the drawbacks associated with renewable energy sources. To overcome these disadvantages and to efficiently utilize the available energy resources, a hybrid power system combining the advantages of individual power sources, can be seen as a preferred option to generate and deliver power. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse the benefits arising from clean development mechanism and economic viewpoint by integrating a biogas and canal based hydropower generation system to an existing hybrid power system in an educational facility and the results are summarized.