Nepal. There are more than 27 micro hydro turbine manufacturers and more than 2500 Micro Hydro Projects MHP in the country. In future these micro hydro turbine projects and
manufacturers are expected to increase; and continue its contribution significantly for electrifying Nepal. Thus, RD to promote MHP in Nepal has been crucial.With a mission to
make renewable energy mainstream resource to rural areas of Nepal, AEPC is providing subsidy to micro hydropower projects. Cross flow turbine is widely used in micro hydropower plants.
Although standard for Micro Hydro exists and is put into practice, it is rather simple. Hydraulic efficiency is not measured, but is calculated from the empirical relation of generator. For a micro
hydropower plant, only the electrical output is of major concern. So to obtain design output at lower turbine efficiency has led to oversizing of micro hydro turbines. Annually millions of
rupees are being wasted by the use of larger turbine than needed. Pertaining to the need of standardizing micro hydro turbines and testing facilities for these turbines, AEPC has granted
fund for the project 2014-2015 of establishing micro hydro turbine test rigs at TTL so as to uplift the status of micro hydro in Nepal. Testing standards and testing procedures relevant to
present context of Nepal will be developed in this project.
In course of completion of the project funded by AEPC,Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning KETEP has also paid a great interest in motivating the research
culture in micro hydro sector of Nepal. In 2015, KU in collaboration with KMOU Korea Maritime Ocean University has received a fund for developing 5 kW and 20 kW cross flow
turbine in a feasible site of Nepal, with design optimization in regard to the erosion effect. The 3 year project will include a PhD enrollment and all the design, testing and analysis works will be
carried out in the lab, whereas the manufacturing will be done in Korea. It is also planned to manufacture the turbines alternatively in Nepal so that the design competences in Nepal can be
enhanced.
a b
c
Figure 4:
a Test rig layout design b Manufacturing at Krishna Grill c Pelton turbine rig installed at TTL
3. Models for enhancement of RD activities of TTL
a. Foundation Model
Foundation includes the required facilities in the lab to be able to provide certifications to the turbines with international standards. After the lab facilities are built with the financial support
from NORAD and the micro-hydro test rigs are developed, there is also a necessity to test the larger turbines through scale-down models. The scaling down approach and scaling effects need
to be taken into account from IEC standards. Nepal including South Asian region lacks facilities for model test of hydro turbines as per IEC guidelines. Hence, upgrading of existing turbine
testing laboratory involves enhancing the laboratory facility for design verification and model test certification.The University aims in enhancing the capability of TTL to serve as a center for
sustainable development of hydropower in Nepal and in the region. The capacity of TTL will be developed for research, design verification and model test certification to provide technical
solutions and intellectual support related to mechanical equipment of hydropower, focusing on turbines.
The framework of the foundation model is explained in Figure 5. The goal of establishing a Francis turbine IEC 60193 standard test rig at TTL has been put forward as a proposal to
Energize Nepal program, which is expected to start in early 2016. The outputs of the project are indicated below:
1. IEC standard hydro turbine test rig installed and turbine performance testing procedure
established at TTL 2.
3 set of models of Francis runners are fabricated according to new design concept concerning better sediment handling and tested in the IEC standard test rig
3. Development of competent human resources in the field of hydro turbines and electric
power engineering by involving 29 academic graduates Master and PhD in the research activities in the field of turbine design and hydropower
4. Experience sharing from the acquired knowledge among the stakeholders of the field
through dissemination programs and publications IEC standard Francis Test Rig established at Turbine Testing Lab will be an asset of hydropower
industry of Nepal. With the establishment of IEC rig it is equally important to develop competence in
model Francis turbine design, which will be acquired from the PhD and Master’s research works. The test rig will be useful for model testing of Francis runner, certification of the
turbines manufactured in Nepal in an internationally recognized standard and RD works related to Francis turbines. The test rig can also be useful to its neighboring country like Bhutan and
India since these countries have huge potential for hydropower and are developing several hydropower projects. Successful completion of this project would enable TTL of designing
model runner and also doing its performance measurement. Besides, TTL will also be responsible for collaboration with the necessary government and private sector organizations,
national and international research institutions, turbine manufacturing industries, hydropower companiesprojects for successful execution of this project and to meet its long-term objectives.
Figure 5:
Foundation Model
b. Cooperation model
