(Proceedings, First International Conference on Renewable Energy, 6–8 October 2004, New Delhi, pp. PG-31-38).
High and medium head small hydropower (SHP) schemes, mainly run-off-river are site specific and major cost for their installation is governed by the civil works. However, for low head schemes, the cost is governed by the civil works as well as electromechanical equipment. For such schemes, there is scope to reduce the installation cost by optimising the sizes of civil works components which are directly affected by the type and size of machines (hydro turbines). In this paper various types of turbines suitable for low head small hydropower schemes are discussed in order to have costeffective installations. Based on the type of turbines discussed, a case study for installation of a low head small hydropower scheme on cooling water return channel of Badarpur thermal power plant at New Delhi has been carried out and presented in the paper.
Run-off-river, Major cost, Low head schemes, Optimising, Cost-effective installations
