Abstract
Pakistan is facing serious shortfall of electricity for few decades. Small hydropower projects can
alleviate the worsening situation. The sizing of a low head hydropower plant plays a vital role in
establishing the feasibility of the project. The plant needs to be optimized for energy produced,
efficiencies of the plant components, number of units and its financial/economic parameters. This
paper presents a review on the methodologies by which low head hydropower plants are being
optimized to get maximum energy output with minimal cost. The study of various researchers is being
presented regarding optimal sizing and selection of small hydropower plant components. A brief
summary of low head hydropower schemes in Punjab, Pakistan is also presented herein, which are
presently under construction. Moreover based upon literature review and methodology adopted for the
hydropower schemes in construction stage, using graphical optimization technique, optimal sizing for
power site at Upper Chenab Canal Lower (UCCL) at Bambanwala is also presented. In this study a
new parameter; inverse incremental energy is employed for selecting optimum flow. Two turbines
(Kaplan, pit type) with combined capacity of 3.58MW are found to be optimal for the case study site.
M. Mohsin Munir, A. S. Shakir, Noor M. Khan. (2015) Optimal Sizing of Low Head Hydropower Plant- A Case Study of Hydropower Project at Head of UCC (Lower) at Bambanwala, Pakistan Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, VOLUME 16, Issue 1.
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