Feasibility studies concerning decision-making for various types of items to be used in a small hydropower scheme is important for estimating the energy generation, the approximate cost of the project, and the required budget allocation. A computer program named RETScreen, which is commonly used in the North Americas, is capable of evaluating the energy generation, investment and maintenance costs for small hydro-projects. This thesis is based on application of this program to the Turkish practice. To this end, energy and cost equations dealing with energy generation and cost estimation of various items, such as costs of turbines, generators, installation of energy equipment, transmission line, etc., will be applied according to the common practice currently used in Turkey. A case study is performed to illustrate the use of this program. With the use of this program, it may be possible to perform quick successive runs to assess economic feasibility of several alternatives.

Sri Lanka has a number of small waterfalls and channels. Related to this there is a significant potential to develop small hydropower plants, thus to generate much needed electricity for country’s development efforts. Small hydro power plants cause less environmental effects compared to large scale hydro power generation and power generation using fossil fuel. Therefore, it is a timely requirement to explore the possibilities of utilizing small water streams to generate electricity as much as possible as well as to optimize the energy generation with the available    water in those water streams.   The importance of small hydro power is highlighted in the   Sri Lanka’s energy generation plan, and  the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) annual report states that in year 2011 total installed capacity of small hydro plant was around 200MW and it is expected to expand energy generation to around 800GWh. This study focuses on finding out optimum operating parameters to maximize the energy generation of existing small hydro power plant in the country. By selecting a few small hydro power plants, preliminary studies were performed to identify optimum values of water flow rate to maximize the efficiency of the power generation. The study revealed that the selected plants had not operated at the maximum efficiency; hence they did not optimally utilize the available water.

Demand for energy is constantly growing both in the world and in Turkey. Sustainable development being an important concept, development of small hydro power projects has been popular in recent years. Eastern Black Sea Basin in Turkey has a lot of small hydro power potential because of high amount of precipitation and existence of steep slopes. Since the amount of river runoff is the only parameter that is variable in order to determine the power potential, it is vital to estimate the project discharge in ungauged basins accurately that have hydro power potential. Projects discharges of hydro-power plants in ungauged basins have been calculated using conventional methods up to now. This study aims to introduce a statistical model in linear and multi-variate form using the topographical and morphological parameters derived from GIS and hydro-meteorological variables to estimate the specific flow duration curves of potential small hydro-power locations for the selected study areas in Eastern Black Sea Region namely Solakli and Karadere basins. As well as developing an annual regression model using the annual values of hydro-meteorological parameters / seasonal regression model (spring season) has also been developed by including the mean seasonal (spring) air temperature variable instead of snow covered area (SCA) in addition to basin parameters. By studying the spring model, effect of different variables from the annual model were tested and discussed with some recommendations for the future studies.

This diploma thesis describes design of a new shape of the draft tube for small hydro Katovice with maintaining built dimension. First part of this thesis is devoted to the formulation of the problem, description of basic function of the draft tube, its efficiency and other formulas. In the second part of this thesis the analysis is made for original design supported by CFD calculation. Furthermore a new design of the draft tube is made with comparison of original draft tube.

This work deals with the design of a small hydro secured control system. The secured control system itself belongs to the Fault Tolerant Systems category. At first the requirements on small hydro control system are discussed. Then the introduction into the basics of Fault Tolerant System theory is given. The requirements on small hydro control system and basics of Fault Tolerant Systems are basis for specification of secured control system which design and construction is the main objective of this work.

The thesis deals with design and implementation of proportional hydraulic valve, which will be integrated to hydraulic system of small hydro in Rájec - Jestřebí. This valve will be used to control one of the wicket gates of double Francis turbine. The thesis is processed for the company Mavel a.s., which is the owner of SH. The goal of this thesis is to create control of the valve according to the client's requirements, its implementation to the control system and commissioning.

This thesis focused on creating a model of a small hydropower plant model (SHPP) and a part of the electricity network in the simulation software "PSCAD" (basing on real sources). The model will be specified on the basis of the data obtained from the measurements to correspond with the real equipment.

Thesis deals with the use of renewable sources of energy focused on water energy, especially small hydropower plants in Czech Republic. It should clarify the legal and technical framework for energy production in small hydro power plants, types of aid and the amount for the operator. Case studies describe the construction and reconstruction of small hydroelectric power plants which are dependant on the amount of feed-in tariffs and try to find out the economic efficiency according to the selected methods of investment appraisal.

Tem crescido a demanda por energia em todo o mundo. No Brasil, com o aquecimento da economia aumentam ainda mais as pressões. O parque gerador Brasileiro é fortemente baseado na geração hidrelétrica, que representa aproximadamente 77,6% da oferta de geração de eletricidade. Entre os impactos ambientais gerados pela construção de barragens e reservatórios de aproveitamentos hidrelétricos está a mudança do regime fluvial de jusante, a chamada vazão remanescente. Entre outros, esta vazão deve garantir as condições adequadas à sobrevivência e continuação das espécies e dos ecossistemas, associando as necessidades humanas, ambientais e as características de cada região. Tomou-se como objeto de análise dois estudos de caso, a pequena central hidrelétrica (PCH) Santa Gabriela, localizada no rio Correntes, na divisa entre os estados de Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul e a usina hidrelétrica (UHE) Batalha, situada no rio São Marcos, na divisa entre os estados de Minas Gerais e Goiás. Embora o assunto seja discutido amplamente pela comunidade técnica e acadêmica, não há ainda nos marcos legais Brasileiros associados, uma definição explícita de critérios ou limites para estabelecimento da vazão remanescente. Em geral, as legislações estaduais estabelecem valores máximos outorgáveis determinados a partir de percentuais da curva de permanência (Q90, Q95) ou da vazão mínima anual de sete dias de duração e tempo de recorrência de 10 anos Q7,10, garantindo consequentemente as vazões mínimas remanescentes. Essas metodologias implicam num único valor fixo para a vazão ao longo do ano, o que não condiz com a realidade do regime hidrológico natural. Estudos atuais apontam para um hidrograma ecológico, que represente a variação das vazões entre os meses de estiagem e cheia. Assim, a metodologia envolveu a comparação entre critérios de outorga utilizados em alguns estados Q90, Q95 e Q7,10 e métodos citados na literatura para estudo da vazão ecológica (Tennant, Texas, Vazão Base e Perímetro Molhado) e as Resoluções referentes à Declaração de Reserva de Disponibilidade Hídrica (DRDH) das usinas, que especificam a vazão remanescente nas fases de enchimento e operação, emitidas pela Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA). Observaram-se valores de vazões substancialmente diferenciados entre os seis métodos empregados. Cabe destacar, que representa um avanço a publicação do Manual de Estudos de Disponibilidade Hídrica para Aproveitamentos Hidrelétricos (ANA, 2009), que visa à padronização dos documentos para fins obtenção da DRDH e da outorga do uso do potencial de energia hidráulica em corpo de água de domínio da União. Assim, o empreendedor poderá propor e negociar a demanda hídrica para as necessidades ambientais com as autoridades competentes, o que deverá ser discutido em reunião técnica inicial que deverá contar com a participação da Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL), ANA, órgão ambiental, empreendedor e a empresa responsável pelos estudos ambientais. / Worldwide, the demand for energy has been increasing. In Brazil, with the economy warming up in the last years, the demand for energy supply further increased. The Brazilian power generating facilities are heavily based on hydroelectric generation, which represents 77,6% of the total generated electricity. Among the environmental impacts caused by the construction of dams and reservoirs are the changes on downstream discharges, known as the remaining discharge. This discharge should ensure the appropriate conditions to the survival and perpetuation of ecosystems, linking human and wild life needs of each region. In this respect, two case studies are taken as object of analysis: (1) a small hydroelectric power plant Santa Gabriela, located in Correntes river, in the limits of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul States; (2) the hydropower plant Batalha, in São Marcos river, in the limits of Minas Gerais and Goiás States. Although its been observed that this issue is widely discussed by technical and academic communities, no legal framework or an explicit definition, or criteria, or limit values has been identified for the establishment of the remaining discharge in hydroelectric power plant projects. Generally, values have been defined based on criteria adopted in states water use rights acts that define minimum discharge parameters based on time series frequency analysis such as Q90%, Q95% or Q7, 10. These methodologies imply on a single value discharge throughout the year, which does not reflect the variability of natural hydrological regime. Current studies lead to an, so called, ecological hydrogram, which would represent discharges variability during drought and flood periods. The methodology of analysis in which the discussion presented in this master dissertation was based, involved the comparison of values obtained by different water use rights criteria adopted in some states like Q90%, Q95% and Q7, 10 and, methods quoted in the literature to define the ecological discharge (Tennant, Texas, Base Flow and Wetted Perimeter), as well as National Water Agencys (ANA) declarations related to the Water Availability Reserve Statement (WARS) which specifies remaining dischargesflow for the reservoir filling and operating phases. It was observed that the application of the different methods in the two case studies resulted in significantly different values for the definition of the remaining discharge. However, its worth to note that the publication of the Guidelines for Water Availability Study for Hydroelectric Power Plants (ANA, 2009) that aims the standardization of documents to obtain WARS and granting the use of water for energy generation purposes in federal jurisdiction represents an advance in these matters. By that, the developer may propose and negotiate water demands for wild life needs with the involved authorities, which should be discussed in the initial technical meeting that will count on the National Electrical Energy Agency (ANEEL), ANA, the related environmental agency, the developer and the organization/agency responsible for the environmental studies.

One of the main concerns of the power utilities is secure, continuously supplying electric power to customers, thus meeting so satisfy these as to regulatory requirements. Thus, the proposed paper presents a method of restoring the electric power supply applying the concepts of automatic reconfiguration of the aggregate distribution networks the possibility of islanded operation of small hydro (SHP), since the use of PCH so islanded in certain circumstances, or becomes only, or the best solution to be adopted in a contingency situation in order to reduce the impact of unwanted interruptions. Since the intrinsic decision making process of reconfiguration of distribution networks involves multiple objectives and constraints, the proposed methodology uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, which is a very useful tool for issues involving multicriteria decision taken. Additionally, case studies for analysis and validation of the proposed methodology are presented. / Uma das principais preocupações das empresas distribuidoras de energia elétrica é garantir, de forma contínua, o fornecimento de energia elétrica aos seus clientes, atendendo assim tanto a satisfação desses quanto às exigências regulatórias. Sendo assim, o trabalho proposto visa apresentar uma metodologia de restabelecimento do fornecimento de energia elétrica aplicando os conceitos de reconfiguração automática das redes de distribuição agregados a possibilidade de operação ilhada de pequenas centrais hidroelétricas (PCHs), uma vez que a utilização de PCH de forma ilhada, em determinadas circunstâncias, torna-se ou a única, ou a melhor solução a ser adotada em uma situação de contingência com o objetivo de reduzir o impacto causado por interrupções indesejadas. Visto que a tomada de decisão intrínseca ao processo de reconfiguração das redes de distribuição envolve vários objetivos e restrições, a metodologia proposta utiliza o método Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) que representa uma ferramenta muito útil para questões envolvendo tomadas de decisão multicriteriais. Adicionalmente, são apresentados estudos de caso para análises e validações da metodologia proposta.