IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v4y2011i9p1258-1277d13730.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tools for Small Hydropower Plant Resource Planning and Development: A Review of Technology and Applications

Author

Listed:
  • Petras Punys

    (Water and Land Management Faculty of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Kaunas, Akademija, 10 Universiteto Str., LT-53361, Lithuania)

  • Antanas Dumbrauskas

    (Water and Land Management Faculty of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Kaunas, Akademija, 10 Universiteto Str., LT-53361, Lithuania)

  • Algis Kvaraciejus

    (Water and Land Management Faculty of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Kaunas, Akademija, 10 Universiteto Str., LT-53361, Lithuania)

  • Gitana Vyciene

    (Water and Land Management Faculty of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Kaunas, Akademija, 10 Universiteto Str., LT-53361, Lithuania)

Abstract

This paper reviews and compares software tools for the planning and design of small hydropower (SHP) plants. The main emphasis is on small scale hydropower resource assessment computer tools and methodologies for the development of SHP plants corresponding to a preliminary or prefeasibility study level. The paper presents a brief evaluation of the historic software tools and the current tools used in the small hydro industry. The reviewed tools vary from simple initial estimates to quite sophisticated software. The integration of assessment tools into Geographic Information System (GIS) environments has led to a leap forward in the strengthening of the evaluation of the power potential of water streams in the case of the spatial variability of different factors affecting stream power. A number of countries (e.g., Canada, Italy, Norway, Scotland and the US) have re-assessed their hydropower capacities based on spatial information of their water stream catchments, developing tools for automated hydro-site identification and deploying GIS-based tools, so-called Atlases, of small-scale hydropower resources on the Internet. However, a reliable assessment of real SHP site feasibility implies some “on the ground” surveying, but this traditional assessment can be greatly facilitated using GIS techniques that involve the spatial variability of catchment characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Petras Punys & Antanas Dumbrauskas & Algis Kvaraciejus & Gitana Vyciene, 2011. "Tools for Small Hydropower Plant Resource Planning and Development: A Review of Technology and Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:4:y:2011:i:9:p:1258-1277:d:13730
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/4/9/1258/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/4/9/1258/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kusre, B.C. & Baruah, D.C. & Bordoloi, P.K. & Patra, S.C., 2010. "Assessment of hydropower potential using GIS and hydrological modeling technique in Kopili River basin in Assam (India)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 298-309, January.
    2. Larentis, Dante G. & Collischonn, Walter & Olivera, Francisco & Tucci, Carlos E.M., 2010. "Gis-based procedures for hydropower potential spotting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4237-4243.
    3. Rojanamon, Pannathat & Chaisomphob, Taweep & Bureekul, Thawilwadee, 2009. "Application of geographical information system to site selection of small run-of-river hydropower project by considering engineering/economic/environmental criteria and social impact," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2336-2348, December.
    4. Dudhani, Surekha & Sinha, A.K. & Inamdar, S.S., 2006. "Assessment of small hydropower potential using remote sensing data for sustainable development in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 3195-3205, November.
    5. Yi, Choong-Sung & Lee, Jin-Hee & Shim, Myung-Pil, 2010. "Site location analysis for small hydropower using geo-spatial information system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 852-861.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Armando Carravetta & Oreste Fecarotta & Umberto Maria Golia & Michele Rocca & Riccardo Martino & Roberta Padulano & Tullio Tucciarelli, 2016. "Optimization of Osmotic Desalination Plants for Water Supply Networks," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(11), pages 3965-3978, September.
    2. Anas Mahmood Al-Juboori & Aytac Guven, 2016. "Hydropower Plant Site Assessment by Integrated Hydrological Modeling, Gene Expression Programming and Visual Basic Programming," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(7), pages 2517-2530, May.
    3. Garegnani, Giulia & Sacchelli, Sandro & Balest, Jessica & Zambelli, Pietro, 2018. "GIS-based approach for assessing the energy potential and the financial feasibility of run-off-river hydro-power in Alpine valleys," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 709-723.
    4. Anita Kwartnik-Pruc & Aneta Mączyńska, 2022. "Assessing Validity of Employing Surveying Methods to Capture Data on Topography to Determine Hydrological and Topographic Parameters Essential for Selecting Locations for the Construction of Small Hyd," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-41, February.
    5. Mishra, Mukesh Kumar & Khare, Nilay & Agrawal, Alka Bani, 2015. "Small hydro power in India: Current status and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 101-115.
    6. Petras Punys & Linas Jurevičius, 2022. "Assessment of Hydropower Potential in Wastewater Systems and Application in a Lowland Country, Lithuania," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-23, July.
    7. Apichonnabutr, W. & Tiwary, A., 2018. "Trade-offs between economic and environmental performance of an autonomous hybrid energy system using micro hydro," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 891-904.
    8. Marco van Dijk & Stefanus Johannes van Vuuren & Giovanna Cavazzini & Chantel Monica Niebuhr & Alberto Santolin, 2022. "Optimizing Conduit Hydropower Potential by Determining Pareto-Optimal Trade-Off Curve," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Vincenzo Sammartano & Lorena Liuzzo & Gabriele Freni, 2019. "Identification of Potential Locations for Run-of-River Hydropower Plants Using a GIS-Based Procedure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-20, September.
    10. Bracken, L.J. & Bulkeley, H.A. & Maynard, C.M., 2014. "Micro-hydro power in the UK: The role of communities in an emerging energy resource," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 92-101.
    11. Punys, Petras & Kasiulis, Egidijus & Kvaraciejus, Algis & Dumbrauskas, Antanas & Vyčienė, Gitana & Šilinis, Linas, 2017. "Impacts of the EU and national environmental legislation on tapping hydropower resources in Lithuania – A lowland country," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 495-504.
    12. Müller, Marc F. & Thompson, Sally E. & Kelly, Maggi N., 2016. "Bridging the information gap: A webGIS tool for rural electrification in data-scarce regions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 277-286.
    13. Kałuża, Tomasz & Hämmerling, Mateusz & Zawadzki, Paweł & Czekała, Wojciech & Kasperek, Robert & Sojka, Mariusz & Mokwa, Marian & Ptak, Mariusz & Szkudlarek, Arkadiusz & Czechlowski, Mirosław & Dach, J, 2022. "The hydropower sector in Poland: Historical development and current status," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Moiz, Abdul & Kawasaki, Akiyuki & Koike, Toshio & Shrestha, Maheswor, 2018. "A systematic decision support tool for robust hydropower site selection in poorly gauged basins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 309-321.
    15. Punys, P. & Adamonyte, I. & Kvaraciejus, A. & Martinaitis, E. & Vyciene, G. & Kasiulis, E., 2015. "Riverine hydrokinetic resource assessment. A case study of a lowland river in Lithuania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 643-652.
    16. Maxim Zhelonkin & Andrey Kurkin & Alexey Loskutov & Alexander Plekhov & Dmitry Malyarov & Evgeny Kryukov, 2023. "Developing a Simulation Model to Numerically Estimate Energy Parameters and Wave Energy Converter Efficiency of a Floating Wave Power Plant," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Tamm, Ottar & Tamm, Toomas, 2020. "Verification of a robust method for sizing and siting the small hydropower run-of-river plant potential by using GIS," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 153-159.
    18. Jacopo Carlo Alberizzi & Massimiliano Renzi & Maurizio Righetti & Giuseppe Roberto Pisaturo & Mosè Rossi, 2019. "Speed and Pressure Controls of Pumps-as-Turbines Installed in Branch of Water-Distribution Network Subjected to Highly Variable Flow Rates," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    19. Abdelhady, Hazem U. & Imam, Yehya E. & Shawwash, Ziad & Ghanem, Ashraf, 2021. "Parallelized Bi-level optimization model with continuous search domain for selection of run-of-river hydropower projects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 116-131.
    20. Alberto Reyes & L. Enrique Sucar & Pablo H. Ibargüengoytia & Eduardo F. Morales, 2020. "Planning Under Uncertainty Applications in Power Plants Using Factored Markov Decision Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Soulis, Konstantinos X. & Manolakos, Dimitris & Anagnostopoulos, John & Papantonis, Dimitris, 2016. "Development of a geo-information system embedding a spatially distributed hydrological model for the preliminary assessment of the hydropower potential of historical hydro sites in poorly gauged areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 222-232.
    2. Ioannidou, Christina & O’Hanley, Jesse R., 2018. "Eco-friendly location of small hydropower," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(3), pages 907-918.
    3. Zaidi, Arjumand Z. & Khan, Majid, 2018. "Identifying high potential locations for run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plants using GIS and digital elevation models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 106-116.
    4. Alexandros Korkovelos & Dimitrios Mentis & Shahid Hussain Siyal & Christopher Arderne & Holger Rogner & Morgan Bazilian & Mark Howells & Hylke Beck & Ad De Roo, 2018. "A Geospatial Assessment of Small-Scale Hydropower Potential in Sub-Saharan Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-21, November.
    5. Anita Kwartnik-Pruc & Aneta Mączyńska, 2022. "Assessing Validity of Employing Surveying Methods to Capture Data on Topography to Determine Hydrological and Topographic Parameters Essential for Selecting Locations for the Construction of Small Hyd," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-41, February.
    6. Kelly-Richards, Sarah & Silber-Coats, Noah & Crootof, Arica & Tecklin, David & Bauer, Carl, 2017. "Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 251-264.
    7. Calvert, K. & Pearce, J.M. & Mabee, W.E., 2013. "Toward renewable energy geo-information infrastructures: Applications of GIScience and remote sensing that build institutional capacity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 416-429.
    8. Gerardo Alcalá & Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña & Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo & Jose Javier Muñoz-Criollo & J. D. Revuelta-Acosta, 2021. "SHP Assessment for a Run-of-River (RoR) Scheme Using a Rectangular Mesh Sweeping Approach (MSA) Based on GIS," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-21, May.
    9. Moiz, Abdul & Kawasaki, Akiyuki & Koike, Toshio & Shrestha, Maheswor, 2018. "A systematic decision support tool for robust hydropower site selection in poorly gauged basins," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 309-321.
    10. Mosier, Thomas M. & Sharp, Kendra V. & Hill, David F., 2016. "The Hydropower Potential Assessment Tool (HPAT): Evaluation of run-of-river resource potential for any global land area and application to Falls Creek, Oregon, USA," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 492-503.
    11. Izadyar, Nima & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Chong, W.T. & Leong, K.Y., 2016. "Resource assessment of the renewable energy potential for a remote area: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 908-923.
    12. Vincenzo Sammartano & Lorena Liuzzo & Gabriele Freni, 2019. "Identification of Potential Locations for Run-of-River Hydropower Plants Using a GIS-Based Procedure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-20, September.
    13. Fasipe, O.A. & Izinyon, O.C. & Ehiorobo, J.O., 2021. "Hydropower potential assessment using spatial technology and hydrological modelling in Nigeria river basin," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 960-976.
    14. Larentis, Dante G. & Collischonn, Walter & Olivera, Francisco & Tucci, Carlos E.M., 2010. "Gis-based procedures for hydropower potential spotting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4237-4243.
    15. Palomino Cuya, Daly Grace & Brandimarte, Luigia & Popescu, Ioana & Alterach, Julio & Peviani, Maximo, 2013. "A GIS-based assessment of maximum potential hydropower production in La Plata basin under global changes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 103-114.
    16. Bayazıt, Yıldırım & Bakış, Recep & Koç, Cengiz, 2017. "An investigation of small scale hydropower plants using the geographic information system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 289-294.
    17. Ibrahim, Mohamed & Imam, Yehya & Ghanem, Ashraf, 2019. "Optimal planning and design of run-of-river hydroelectric power projects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 858-873.
    18. Balkhair, Khaled S. & Rahman, Khalil Ur, 2017. "Sustainable and economical small-scale and low-head hydropower generation: A promising alternative potential solution for energy generation at local and regional scale," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 378-391.
    19. Müller, Marc F. & Thompson, Sally E. & Kelly, Maggi N., 2016. "Bridging the information gap: A webGIS tool for rural electrification in data-scarce regions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 277-286.
    20. Abdelhady, Hazem U. & Imam, Yehya E. & Shawwash, Ziad & Ghanem, Ashraf, 2021. "Parallelized Bi-level optimization model with continuous search domain for selection of run-of-river hydropower projects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 116-131.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:4:y:2011:i:9:p:1258-1277:d:13730. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.