Abstract:
Micro hydropower typically stand-alone system in the range of 1-100 kW has been proved useful in powering remote domestic loads. The utilization of micro hydro electricity for small-scale industry and productive processes can often reduce the payback period on capital investment from over 20 years to less than five years. However, such potential exploitation may not be economically viable as the capacity of hydro power plant decreases, the generating cost per unit increases. Hence to make it economically more viable, the methodology and technology applied must be different from that applied to larger capacity hydro plant.
The hydrological potential for micro-hydro is such that the possible sites tend to be low in output power, large in number, and widely dispersed. The concept of micro-hydro is thus found to be appropriate to the hilly areas in Himalayan region in the Indian context.
The problem associated with small hydropower exploitation especially in micro hydro is technical as well as economical. Each proposed site requires individual considerations for civil works as well as for electromechanical equipment. Therefore, costs become infeasible due to lack of standardization of the system for such a small power generation. From past experiences it is observed that the exploitation of micro hydro potential has not been the successful story due to application of scale down approach for civil works and non-standardization of equipment. This leads micro hydro power plants uneconomical. Keeping this in view, it is felt that there is a need to find out cost-effective strategies for the development of micro hydropower
