25-30 September 2010, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Policy Strategy PS
1
Pico Hydro Application for Off-Grid Settlement
Juhari Ab Razak
1
, Masjuri Musa
1
, Md Razali Ayob
1
, Muhammad Zahir Hassan
1
, Mohd Nizam Ab Rahman
2
, Kamaruzzaman Sopian
3 1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
2
Faculty of Enginering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Solar Energy Research Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Corresponding author: juhariutem.edu.my
Abstract
Malaysia is currently constructing a large hydropower station with five more schemes under review. However these stations are catering for energy consuming industrial parks while the domestic supply
is not making much in-road due to geographical constraints. This paper is discussing the use of off- grid alternative for power supply to the rural settlements. A run-of-river application, pico hydro,
requires no dam or reservoir for water storage. It is intended for low flow and low head application. A mapping of possible locations for application along selected rivers in Malaysia is discussed. Two
types of pico hydro turbine are selected for review and comparison in power production. Research are undertaken to promote this environment friendly technology to rural electrification program. Studies
show that pico hydro manages to provide enough power for basic lighting needs in remote area where water is available with small drop or head.
Keywords: pico hydro, off-grid, run-of-river, turbine
1. Introduction
Asia leads the development in hydropower currently in progress with China, the number two energy user, planning to increase its capacity a further 190 GW [1]. These are referring to large-scale projects,
from mini hydro up to 1 MW, to small hydro up to 10 MW and to large hydropower plant, which has the capacity of more than 10 MW. Malaysia has the potential of 29000 MW of hydropower,
especially in Sarawak and Sabah [2]. While the mega project provides a lot of power to the industrial parks, it failed to satisfy the needs of remote population domestically. These off-grid settlements are
still depending on the generator sets for their lights and power. Until recently the rural electrification program reluctant to look at the capability of small-scale hydropower scheme despite the availability
of potential sites that could benefit the rural community tremendously. As most villages are located near river, sites with low head less than 10 m are worth looking at for their potential [3]. Several
renewable energy hybrid systems using small scale hydro were being tried at various locations of several countries. A project at Taratak Indonesia operated using a head of 5.5 m with a discharge rate
of 240 ls [4]. In Cameroon, a water turbine of 5 kW capacity making use of the available head of 10 m and flow rate of 92.6 ls to provide 24 V DC system to light up their village [5]. The main problem
of using this run-of-river application is the seasonal fluctuation of depth and flow rate of these rivers. The appropriate turbine should be chosen for the specific location depending on the available head and
the minimum annual flow rate. Comparisons and feasibility study are done to evaluate the feasibility of the renewable energy
resources between pico hydro up to 5 kW and solar powered systems have been made by Maher et al. [6] in the off-grid electrification options in rural Kenya. Nunes and Genta [7] worked on a bigger
micro hydro turbine up to 100 kW for off-grid electrification program in Uruguay. The cost for both hydro systems are much smaller compared to using the solar panels when the settlements are located
near river. Therefore small-scale hydro system should be considered, whenever available, due to cost and environmental concerns [8].
25-30 September 2010, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Policy Strategy PS
2
The 2400 MW Bakun hydroelectric project is initially targeted to provide the power to the peninsular Malaysia using underwater cable. However it has since being shelved due to the forecasted power
needed by the industrial parks to be developed by the Sarawak state government and the potential of selling the electricity to Brunei and Indonesia. The state is also planning to build five smaller projects
to meet future demand. The peninsular Malaysia also has large scale hydro plants ranging from 40 MW to 150 MW power. However, Malaysia has yet to fully utilize its many rivers, big or small, which
are capable of producing electricity for domestic use especially to off-grid settlements living nearby. Fig. 1 shows grid systems in Malaysia and the rural electrification rate. The shaded area represents the
geographical constraints where alternative for generator powered electrification program is required.
Figure 1 – Grid system in Malaysia and rural electrification rate, source: [9]
2. Methodology
