FEASIBILITY, EFFICIENCY AND ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LOW HEAD HYDROPOWER

Abstract

With the increasing energy demands, especially for renewable and easily accessible energy sources, a real engineering challenge is in finding new solutions for using available resources, respecting three main aspects: feasibility, efficiency and ecology. One of the solutions can be found in small hydropower plants operating with a very low hydraulic head, from 0.8 to 3 m, and power in the range of 5 to 500 kW. Although some of technical solutions are environmentally friendly, so far low head hydropower plants constitutes a largely unused potential source of renewable energy. The main reason for the low utilization of these potentials is because there are still many engineering problems that are not fully resolved. The conventional turbines are not suitable for many of the existing locations with such a low hydraulic head and increased ecological demands must be considered. One of the best solutions for the exploitation of low head hydropower is the new designed Archimedean screw turbine, which is eco-friendly and usually do not require large investments. Two suitable locations on the territory of the southeast Republic of Serbia are analyzed in the paper, giving recommendations for selection of main power plant parameters, such as: flow duration curve, installed capacity, dimensions, issues and operating principles, environmental considerations, scheme costs, revenue and return.