Design & Analysis of 100KW Hydro Power Energy Production in Rural Sectors of Ganga River Basin

Abstract

This research was done with the idea to design, analyze, and compare efficiency low head turbine's
hydropower energy generation capability in rural sectors of the Ganga river basin for the utilization by the
local population. For the past decades, CFD ANSYS (Fluent) has been the preliminary choice of engineers for
designing and analyzing the flow of fluids across structures and sections. Small Scale Hydropower (SSHP)
has proven to create energy from Run of the River segment of water streams, making the world shift towards
a cleaner and greener environment with minimal impacts on the aquatic ecosystem. To locate these zones of
Hydropower Potential is a relatively challenging task, but with the exponential growth of Geographic
Information System (GIS), the application of this system will make the challenge easier. Also with the rise in
demand and to decrease the load on the central grid, a decentralized system such as solar, hydro, or wind does
exist to meet with the basic needs of the local isolated areas where transportation of electricity is not feasible
neither economical. The Existence of various turbines of standard design and dimensions do exist, with an
efficiency of 40-70%, overheads ranging from 5 to 15 m. The study produced the conclusion that Geotagging
of location having Hydro-potential can be done based on the GIS DEM data of the region having possible
water heads of 0.5 meters and above in the river basin. The vortex flow design of the turbine chamber showed
excellent results in the stable production of energy. Based on the data inputs on flow, Hydraulic head, and
DEM, selection of turbine type was explored. The range of Head taken is 0.3 to 5 meters. Initial designing
was done in AUTOCAD with simulation runs on ANSYS (FLUENT), variation parameters included intake
angles, discharge variations, dimension modeling & optimization. The resulting conclusions of this study
indicated that the Singular designed system with Vortex Flow and different turbine types based on geolocation
specifications has 70 -80 % efficiency in the Ganga river basin with an average output power capacity of
100KW.