| Author | Jayasuriya, M. D. A. |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.WA-80-6 |
| Subject(s) | Water-power electric plants
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The rapid development and the industrialization of developing countries cause the demand for electrical energy to rise annually and constantly strain the resources of the power generating authorities. Small scale hydro- power tend to offer a quick solution to this multidimensional problem, through its renewable source and its economical feasibility . The lack of appropriate
methodology to evaluate the small scale hydro-power has been a retarding factor in developing these numerous potentially rich locations.
This study is done with the intention of filling this void by way of providing a methodology by which the hydro- power potential of small sites could
be evaluated, together with their economic feasibilities. An attempt is made to cover all practical situations that could be anticipated to arise including
the development of the flow duration curves for ungauged locations. The developed methodology is then applied to evaluate the hydro-power
potential of the uppermost reach of the Mahaweli Ganga in Sri Lanka . The study
is restricted to the catchment area contributing to the river gauging station at Watawala . The recorded daily stream flow at Watawala and the daily rainfall recordings at stations Watawala , Abergeldie and Hatton , recorded between the
years 1958 to 1971 are the inputs in this study.
Application of t he methodology successfully yielded the synthetic flow duration curves for a number of sub reaches and located the reach with the
highest concentration of power . Furthermore, it indicates that if a capacity of 120 kw is installed on this reach, it would result in the optimum surplus of annual revenue . Finally when the generation costs of this 120 kw hydro-power p l ant is compared with an alternate diesel power plant of the same capacity , it shows that at an interest rate of a modest 8% and an annual fuel price increase of 5% , the cost of generating a kWh by t he diesel power p l ant would be about 2.6 times that of the hydro-power plant. |
| Year | 1981 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Water Resources Research Engineering (WA) |
| Chairperson(s) | Eggers, Helmut
|
| Examination Committee(s) | Selvalingam, Selvadore ; Tawatchai Tingsanchali ; Gupta, Ashim Das
|
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Government of Switzerland |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1981 |