OPTIMAL DEVELOPMENT OF CASCADE FALLS ON IRRIGATION CANAL FOR POWER GENERATION

Abstract

Canal falls are to be developed with a view to exploit the potential hydro energy available in the flow of water which is wasted otherwise. The main constraint of such schemes is the higher cost per KW of installed capacity. Standardisation of generating equipments and civil works reduces the project cost. Howerver it is very unlikely that the standard equipment may exactly suit to the design conditions of the project thereby the efficiency of the turbine (and generater) may be reduced. In the project formulation stage, it is necessary to have information about the cost of equipment and civil works so as to determine the optimum installed capacity. Such a relationship is so far non-existent in the Indian context. In this dissertation a cost function has been established as a function of head and capacity by analysing the detailed cost data of ten projects with the help of a power 'model through multiple regression by the method of least squares. This relationship has been used to assess the probable cost of the project and the total annual costs to determine the optimum capacity of the project. The marginal or incremental cost-benefit ratios at different outputs are superimposed on a power duration curve to determine the optimum capacity....