Micro-hydro power plants have an installed capacity of less than 100 kW. They operate using the natural flow of water without large dams or reservoirs. They use simple turbine technology to generate electricity from small water flows as little as a few liters per minute. Components include a forebay, intake, penstock, surge chamber, hydraulic turbine, powerhouse, draft tube, and tailrace. Turbines convert the rotational energy of flowing water into usable energy via mechanical or electromagnetic means. Common turbine types include impulse and reaction turbines. Generators then convert this mechanical energy into electrical energy. An electronic load controller diverts excess power to a dummy load to regulate frequency. Micro-hydro is economic and utilizes natural water flow without harmful environmental effects

1. MICRO-HYDRO
POWER PLANT

2. MICRO-HYDRO POWER PLANT
Micro-hydropower systems are small hydropower plants that have an
installed power generation capacity of less than 100 kilowatts (kW).
Many micro-hydropower systems operate “run of river,” which means
that no large dams or water storage reservoirs are built and no land is
flooded.
MHP is decentalised, renewable, robust, and simple technology. It
only takes a small amount of flow (as little as few litres per minute) or
a drop as low as 1 m to generate electricity with micro hydro.

3. Fig. Micro-Hydro power plant

4. Various Components
Construction of a Micro-Hydro Power plant is site specific. It is made up
of a number of components. Some of them are :-
Forebay.
Intake structure.
Penstock.
Surge chamber.
Hydraulic turbines.
Power house.
Draft tube.
Tailrace.

5. TURBINES
A turbine is a machine that transforms rotational energy from a fluid
that is picked up by a rotor system into usable work or energy.
Turbines achieve this either through mechanical gearing or
electromagnetic induction to produce electricity.
A turbine is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a
fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a
turbine can be used for generating electrical power when combined
with a generator.

6. TYPES OF TURBINES
Fig. Turbine classification

7. GENERATORS
a generator is a device that converts
motive power or fuel-based power into
electric power for use in an external circuit.
Sources of mechanical energy include
steam turbines, gas turbines, water
turbines, internal combustion engines,
wind turbines and even hand cranks.

8. ELECTRONIC LOAD CONTROLLER
Electronic Load Controller (ELC) is
a controller used in small hydro power
plant to control the frequency of generator
by diverting excess power to dummy/
ballast load. Power diversion to dummy
load is done electronically through thyristor
(SCRs) automatically without any moving
parts and human interference.

9. ADVANTAGES
Economic energy source.
No reservoir required.
Utilize natural flow of water.
No harmful effect on surrounding.
No costly equipment's used.
DISADVANAGES
 Low power generation during summer months.
 Suitable site characteristics required.
 Efficiency is low.

10. CONCLUSION
Micro-Hydro power plant is an important part of world’s electricity
supply. Specially in remote areas it is providing reliable and economic
source of electricity.
As no fossil fuel required in hydro power plant, it can help to save
other source of energy

11. THANK YOU