GIS INTEGRATED HYDRO POWER ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Fast urbanization and climate change have made proper water resource management very tricky and difficult to estimate. Estimation of hydropower potential requires primarily the estimation of discharge and head available at a particular site. The present study aimed at developing a simple quick and reliable approach to select suitable site for small hydro power stations using an integrated remote sensing and GIS technique. Discharge data is not always available for all the rivers and streams to calculate the hydropower potential. There are various methods available for estimating the above parameters and attempt is made here to calculate the discharge at a site using hydrologic modeling. Hence to identify hydro power opportunities in remote areas also, the HEC-HMS model is used in conjunction with GIS. Network of streams and watershed areas are derived from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Hydrological modeling using GIS-based terrain analysis can estimate theoretical hydroelectric power potential of individual water courses, regions and entire country. Therefore, appropriate water resource management is needed to forestall the deficiency of water in future. Average discharges for a period of six years but then computed from the precipitation data of six years using the same model. Hydropower potential for the site selected was then estimated using the head obtained from the DEM and 90% dependable discharge computed using the average discharges computed from the model