In recent years, small hydro power plants played a vital role in the sustainable development of various developing countries. It provides technically feasible solution for electricity supply to the far flung areas where power supply through conventional grid doesn’t seem viable. This technology is widely accepted all around the world due to its least cost of generation among other renewable options. India has planned to harness 5 GW from SHPs (Small Hydro Projects) till 2027. In order to meet the set targets, planning and design stage of the project needs to evaluate the initial investment costs involved in successful implementation of small hydro systems. Therefore, the decision making process would require total project cost estimation to study the effect of different parameters on its development. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop total project cost correlation based on rated power, net head and design discharge of SHPs with special emphasis on involving discharge data for cost evaluation procedure. The accuracy of derived cost expression is characterized by mean error which is found less than that reported in the literature.
Volume 12 | 05-Special Issue
Pages: 300-307
DOI: 10.5373/JARDCS/V12SP5/20201762