Feasibility assessment of small hydropower projects

The most favorable renewable energy production method is small scale hydropower plants. The main parameters needs to be determined in small scale hydropower plants are the installed capacity and cost estimation. Installed capacity and cost estimation are effected by the design flow, gross head, turbines, tunnels, canals, penstocks, and the other variables. All of these variables are analyzed in the feasibility studies to find optimum installed capacity and cost estimation. A computer program named RETScreen, which is generally used in Canada, is capable of evaluating the energy generation, investment and maintenance costs for small scale hydropower projects. In this thesis four different small scale hydropower plants? feasibility studies, which were obtained from State Hydraulic Works (DSI), were compared with the results found by RETScreen. The results achieved by RETScreen were noticed to be very close to the results found in the feasibility studies obtained from DSI. RETScreen was noted to be capable of assessing feasibility studies of small hydropower plants (SHPP) within a relatively short period of time, thus minimizing costs.Key Words: small scale hydropower plants, RETScreen, feasibility study, installed capacity, cost estimation.