SHP power plants

The principal requirements for electricity generation from a SHP power plant are:

• Suitable rainfall catchments area
• Hydraulic head
• Means of transporting water from the intake to the turbine, such as a pipe or millrace
• Turbine house containing the power generation equipment and gate valve
• Tailrace to return the water to its natural course
• Mechanical or electrical connection to the load to be supplied

The procedure is to convert the potential energy of a mass of water, flowing in a stream with a certain fall (termed the head), into electric energy at the lower end of the scheme where the powerhouse is located. The power of the scheme is proportional to the flow and to the head.

The output of a hydropower plant is given in terms of power (kw) and production (kwh).Usually a hydropower station runs at full load for roughly three months. The rest of the year according to the lesser discharge the station is operated at part load.

Although there is no internationally agreed definition of small hydropower (SHP); the upper limit is usually taken as 10 MW (as recognised by the European Commission and incorporated by some legal acts in different countries). For large countries such as India and China this number rises to 25 and 50MW respectively. Also within the range of SHP, mini-hydro typically refers to schemes below 1MW, micro-hydro below 100kw and pico-hydro below 5Kw. Although all of these technologies could be regarded as SHP, they have specific technical characteristics that warrant their own definition

Small Hydropower (SHP) has a proven technology than can be connected to the main grid, used as stand alone option or combined with irrigation system being, therefore a suitable source for rural electrification. Generally speaking, micro- and pico-hydro technologies are used in developing countries to provide electricity to isolated communities where the electricity grid is not available, where min-hydro tends to be grid connected. In most cases, no dam or reservoir storage is involved in pico-, micro and mini-hydro schemes, they are run of river plants, which do not alter the natural flow regime

SHP is located wherever a small or medium watercourse with some head is available, either they have been built within urban structures or absolutely remotely high up in mountain regions.