Abstract
Nepal is known in the world for having successful community-led stand alone micro hydro plants
(MHP) that have transformed rural economy. Unfortunately, as soon as the national grid reaches a micro
hydro catchment area, things start falling apart. For various reasons, the community people eventually
start using grid electricity and stop the operation of MHP. Thus, the Government of Nepal has
come-up with the policy for grid interconnection of MHPs having capacity less than 100kW. This opportunity
of transforming a standalone system to grid connected system (distributed generation)
owes several advantages for both the utility grid and the micro hydro plants. The technological difference
between grid interconnection of MHP and other hydropower projects shall be discussed in
detail from the Nepalese context. A MATLAB simulation analysis is presented to demonstrate the
technical viability of the interconnection in the 11kV feeder line. Moreover, financial and economic analysis
of the grid interconnected systems is discussed. This paper also focused on how droop features
of Electronic Load Controller (ELC) shall manage the proportional load sharing among the MHP plants.
Key Words — Micro Hydro Plant, Distributed Generation, Electronic Load Controller, Droop Characteristics
(MHP) that have transformed rural economy. Unfortunately, as soon as the national grid reaches a micro
hydro catchment area, things start falling apart. For various reasons, the community people eventually
start using grid electricity and stop the operation of MHP. Thus, the Government of Nepal has
come-up with the policy for grid interconnection of MHPs having capacity less than 100kW. This opportunity
of transforming a standalone system to grid connected system (distributed generation)
owes several advantages for both the utility grid and the micro hydro plants. The technological difference
between grid interconnection of MHP and other hydropower projects shall be discussed in
detail from the Nepalese context. A MATLAB simulation analysis is presented to demonstrate the
technical viability of the interconnection in the 11kV feeder line. Moreover, financial and economic analysis
of the grid interconnected systems is discussed. This paper also focused on how droop features
of Electronic Load Controller (ELC) shall manage the proportional load sharing among the MHP plants.
Key Words — Micro Hydro Plant, Distributed Generation, Electronic Load Controller, Droop Characteristics
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 24-24 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2019 |
| Event | International conference on New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage - Energy Academy Building, Groningen, Netherlands Duration: 6 Jun 2019 → 7 Jun 2019 |
Conference
| Conference | International conference on New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Netherlands |
| City | Groningen |
| Period | 6/06/19 → 7/06/19 |