Costs of Micro-Hydro Power Sites

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Revision as of 10:11, 7 January 2014 by ***** (***** | *****) (→‎Overview)


Overview

Micro-Hydro Power (MHP) projects come along with a big variety of costs. Planning and developing a site brings a number of country, probalby regional specific costs. Similar to that are costs for operation and maintenance. All different cost categories play a role for individual projects, while big difference between countries due to different framework conditition might occur. A clear cost analysis upfront is highy recommended.

Cost factors are eventually:

a locations feasibility check by respective personal

land/water ownership/usage

civil construction (canal, wear, intake, pipes, powerhouse)

electro-mechanical equipment (turbine, generator, load controller)

power grid (evtl. transformers, powerlines, house-cabeling, load limiters, meter installation, ...)

opperation & maintenance (collecting tarrifs, running and maintaining the assets)

Some remarks regarding costs:

Land & water requirements are mostly small. But there may be interference with existing schemes (irrigation) or legal issues to be considered.

Order to delivery of electro-mechanical equipment may take half a year. Ensure to order in time.

Costs for power lines and household connections often require a substantial amount from the overall budged.

Any mhp scheme supplying a group of households has to install fixed procedures to cover operation & maintenance.
This includes the collection of tariffs from each user.



MHP costs in Rwanda


Further Information

References