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Design of hydro-power plant for energy generation for a mid-size farm with
insufficient water distribution networks

Conference Paper · February 2018

DOI: 10.1109/ICASET.2018.8376799

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 Design of Hydro-power Plant for Energy Generation
for a Mid-size Farm with Insufficient Water
Distribution Networks

Nasr Al Khudhiri Sharul Sham Dol

Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering
Abu Dhabi University Abu Dhabi University
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
nasr.alkhudhiri@adu.ac.ae sharulshambin.dol@adu.ac.ae

Mohammad S. Khan
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Abu Dhabi University
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
mohammad.khan@adu.ac.ae

Abstract—The power consumption of the farms in UAE is
mainly required during the on-peak periods which have high
electricity tariff rate. Hydro-power energy has been selected as
an alternative source of energy that is sustainable, functional and
economically feasible. A hydro-power plant was designed to
provide electricity to a mid-size farm that requires 50 kW power.
The hydro-power power plant was designed using micro-Pelton
wheel turbines and a pumped-storage reservoir as a water energy
source due to the lack of water dams and river streams in UAE.
The design focus of the hydro-power was on the turbine section
of the plant that consists of a unique blade shape of turbine
bucket that was able to extract maximum energy from the water
flow. To verify on the functionality of the hydro-power plant,
theoretical calculations have been done to determine the output
electrical power and the overall efficiency, which have been
obtained to be 47.2 kW and 80% respectively. This indicates the
designed micro-Pelton wheel turbines are able to produce the
required energy of the farm with a high overall efficiency. The
feasibility of the project has been evaluated as well to conclude
that the designed hydro-power plant is found to be economically
feasible based on the calculated simple payback period of less
than two years.
Keywords—alternative energy; hydro-power; Pelton wheel
turbine
I. INTRODUCTION
Hydro-power plant can be defined as a plant that convert
the kinetic energy that is available in the falling water into
mechanical energy of rotational turbine that drives an electric
generator to produce electrical energy. Thousands years ago,
people started using hydro-power to produce mechanical work
for mainly agriculture purposes. In 1882, first hydro-power
plant was built to produce electric energy which consider the
hydro-power as the first technology used to produce electricity
from renewable source [1].
The classification of hydro-power plants according to size
or capacity can be taken as;
 Pico; for capacity less than 0.005 MW
 Micro; for capacity less than 0.1 MW
 Mini; for capacity less than 1 MW
 Small; for capacity between 1-100 MW
 Medium; for capacity more than 100 MW
 Large; for capacity more than 500 MW
Micro-hydropower plant is economically justified to
produce electricity for the rural areas such as farms that are
located out of town and are not connected to the grids.
According to operation and type of flow, hydro-power
plants are usually categorized in three main types; run of river
(RoR), reservoir based and pumped storage type.
For RoR hydro-power plant, the electrical energy is
produced outside of the main river flow [2]. Short-term
storage (hourly, daily or weekly) is included in some of these
types of hydro-power to reach the demand profile. As seen in
Fig. 1, part of the river is diverted to a channel that is followed
by a pipeline, which is called a penstock to transport the water
to the hydro-power turbine that is coupled to an electric
generator for power production.
To reduce the dependency on the availability of water
flow, reservoirs that are controlled by water dams are used in
many hydro-power plants where the turbine that is coupled
with the electric generator and is located further downstream
as per the energy demand as seen in Fig. 2. Such lakes with
high altitude is considered as natural reservoirs in which
tunnels coming up beneath these lakes are connected to the
powerhouse.
During off-peak hours, pumped-storage hydro-power
plants pump water into an upper storage tank using surplus
electricity from the base load power plants and then during the
daily peak load period, the flow direction is reversed to
generate electricity. For energy storage, pumped-storage
hydro-power is one of the most efficient technologies
available.
In UAE, pumped-storage hydro-power plant with total
capacity of 250 MW and lifespan of 60 to 80 years will be
built by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) to
make use of the water in the Hatta Dam. It is considered as the
first hydro-power plant in GCC countries. The project is still
under design stage and they claimed that it will be 90 percent
efficient with 90 second response to electricity demand [3].
Fig. 1. Run of river (RoR) for hydropower plant [2].
Fig. 2. Hydro-power plants with reservoir.
Fig. 3. Hydro-power turbines classification.
Hydro-power turbines are classified into two main types;
impulse and reaction turbines as seen in Fig. 3 [4]. Each one
of these types is applicable for certain range values of water
flow rates and heads.
Impulse turbines are commonly used for high and medium
heads. But recently, their effectiveness has made them to
become an accepted alternative for lower head micro-sites.
They are simple in design and inexpensive. Turgo turbine can
be used for heads between 3 m and 150 m whilst its efficiency
depends on; nozzle or jet inclination, cup design and speed
ratio. For micro-site, the efficiency of Turgo turbine is more
affected by jet position and jet inclined angle. For large head
and low flow rate sites, Pelton turbines with one or multiple
jets are suitable for hydro-power generation. But recently, they
have been used for small and micro-sites hydro-power using
one jet and it is found that they are highly efficient; 70-90
percent. The Pelton wheel turbines power output can be
adjusted by regulating the flow within the nozzle.
Theoretically, the highest efficiency of Pelton wheel turbines
was found to be at the speed ratio of 0.5 but experimentally it
examined at near to 0.41. A cross-flow turbine (CFT) is
significantly applied in horizontal and vertical configuration.
It is used for lower head and higher flow than both the Pelton
wheels and Turgo turbines. For small and micro-hydropower
sites, the average efficiency of CFT is about 80 percent. But
for medium and large sites, it will rise to 86 percent.
Reaction turbines have a better efficiency compared to
impulse turbines in high flow and low head sites. And they
also have higher efficiency than the impulse turbines at slow
operating speed. Axial flow turbine (propeller or Kaplan
turbine) type is the most common used of reaction turbines. It
is more practical turbine due to its simplicity, effectiveness in
cost and good efficiency. It is more efficient for low head
sites. The most common applied type at hydro-power plants is
Francis reaction turbine. It can be used for micro, medium or
large hydro-power configurations. The operational head range
for this turbine is from 1 m to 900 m. The rotating of the pump
in reverse direction can be utilized using Pump as turbine
(PAT) and its efficiency can rise to 85 percent. It is more
significant turbine for low head and micro-sites due to the
practical and running cost saving over other types of turbines
in rural and remote area. Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 can be used to
design and select the best applicable turbine type out of
various hydro-power turbines types by knowing the available
head and water flow rates in the site.
In this paper, a hydro-power plant will be designed and
investigated functionally and feasibly for energy generation
for a mid-size farm with insufficient water distribution
networks that is located in UAE.
 equal to 40 meters. The flow rate of the water depends on the
nozzle diameter, total length, number and type of fittings, the
elevation head of the water tank and the difference in pressure
head and it assumed to be 0.15 m3/s..
Pelton wheel turbine is selected based on the available
head and flow rate as shown in Fig. 4. Also, it is shown that
Pelton wheel turbine can deliver the required power which is
almost 50 kW.

B. Design of the Turbine Section

The turbine blade shape should be selected to produce
maximum output power. The output power for the Pelton
Fig. 4. Head and power capacity for various hydro-power turbine types. wheel turbine that is shown Fig. 6 can be written as;

Fig.. 6. Pelton Wheel Layout

To maximize the output power, the deflection angle (θ)

which is the angle between water jet and the turbine blade
should be very small; close to zero. Based on that approach,
Fig. 5. The selection range of small and micro-hydropower turbines with the turbine blade shape is selected to be as shown in Fig. 7.
heads and flow rates variations.

II. METHODOLOGY

A. General Design of the Hydro-power Plant

To select the size or the capacity of the hydro-power plant
that will be used for a farm in UAE, it is needed first to figure
out the average power consumption of the farm in UAE. This
average value is found to be about 50 kW which will indicate
that the required size or capacity of the farm’s hydro-power Fig. 7. Selected Turbine Blade (dimensions in mm)
plant is under the micro level.
Now, the total length of the turbine blade should be
Since the rivers do not exist in UAE, using a Run of River determined to be able to fabricate it using aluminum sheet, the
hydro-power plant type will not be right. And due to the lack detailed dimensions of one segment of the turbine blade is
of water dams in UAE, reservoir type as well will not be an shown in Fig.8.
appropriate choice for hydro-power plant. So, the only choice
that can be selected to generate hydro-power in UAE is the The value of can be determined using Pythagorean
pumped-storage hydro-power plant. It will be managed to Theorem;
operate mainly during peak-hours in UAE which is between
12-6pm during summer season (June- September) to avoid the
high electricity rate during peak-hours. And during off peak-
hours, the water will be pumped to a storage tank that is
located almost 45 meters above the ground level.
Then, the arc angle (∅) can be calculated as follows;
Now to select the appropriate hydro-power turbine, it is
needed to know the head and the flow rate of the water. Head
is considered as the difference in elevation between the
headwater surface of the storage tank above and the tail-water
surface below the hydro-power plant and this value is almost
 So, the arc length will be; 4. A generator that is connected to the pulley using v-belt to
convert the mechanical energy in the shaft to the electric
energy.
So, the total length of the turbine blade will be;

The turbine blade will be fixed inside a bucket to ensure

that all the water jet will be collected and passed through the
turbine blade. The number of buckets is decided to be eight to
utilize the maximum power from the water jet as shown in
Fig. 9.
Now, to be sure that these eight buckets can be fixed using Fig. 8. Detailed dimensions of one segment of the turbine blade (Dimensions
the arms to the hub plate, it is required to know the exact in mm)
radial position (from the center of the hub plate) to fix the
arms on the hub plate. Using Fig. 10, the radial position to fix
the arms on the hub plate can be determined as follows.

Using cosine rule;

It will be safer to consider the radial position of the arm to

be rarm=17 mm, to ensure that the arms will not intersect with
each other.
Fig. 9. The eight buckets are fixed to the hub plate
The last thing that should be determined on the design of
the turbine section is the radial position (from the center of
hub plate) of the buckets to fix them on the arms. The same
equation that is used to find the radial position of the fixing
arms will be applied on the buckets. The only difference will
be to change the width of the arm (23 mm) to be the width of
the bucket (165 mm).

Fig. 10. Determining the fixing position of the arms on the hub plate
To be sure that the buckets will not intersect with each
other, the radial position of the buckets from the center of the
hub plate can be rbucket=217 mm.
The embodiment design of the hydro-power plant is shown
in Fig. 11. It mainly consists of four sections which are;
1. A water pump that is used to elevate the water from a
lower tank to an upper tank during the off-peak periods.
2. The upper water tank and its piping system that is used to
supply the jet water to the turbine buckets through the jet
holder during the on-peak periods.
3. The turbine section which has the turbine buckets, arms
and hub plate. This is considered as the main section since
it will extract the energy from the water jet and convert it
to a mechanical energy that causes the shaft which is to
rotate. The turbine section is fixed on a table or trolley to
make it movable using the two supported bearings which Fig. 11. Embodiment design of the hydro-power plant
are attached to the shaft.
 III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The functionality and the feasibility of the designed micro-
hydro-power plant should be investigated to get the final
decision on the performance of this project if it is applied in
the farms that are located in UAE. The functionality will be
checked based on analytical calculations. For future work, it
can be investigated as well using simulation and experimental
methods.
A. Analytical Calculations
First, it is required to draw the inlet and exit velocity
triangles on the turbine blade as shown in Fig. 12. The
velocity triangle consists of the absolute fluid velocity (V)
which is the sum of the relative velocity (W) and the blade
velocity (U). The absolute fluid velocity consists of axial
component (Va ) and the tangential component(Vθ ).
Fig. 12. Inlet and exit velocity triangles for Pelton wheel turbine
Using the velocity triangle, the tangential velocity at the
inlet is;
And the tangential velocity at the outlet is;
Assuming the two relative velocities at the inlet and outlet
are same (W1=W2=W) which means that the relative speed of
the fluid does not change as it is deflected by the turbine
buckets. The change in the tangential component of the inlet
and exit is;
This change in tangential component of fluid velocity is
used to derive the equation of the shaft torque and power.
And since;
In which is the angular velocity of the bucket. So, the
power equation will be;
Substituting the mass flow rate to the power equation;
To find the shaft power of the designed Pelton wheel, it is
required first to find the water jet inlet velocity (V1).
In which H is the head given for the water. Assuming the
speed ratio is 0.5, so the blade velocity can be determined;
The volumetric flow rate (Q) is given to be 0.15 m^3/s,
and the density (ρ) can be assumed to be 1000 kg/m^3. The
only remaining parameter that should be determined to find
the shaft power is the blade angle at the outlet (β2 ) which can
be calculated as follows using the geometry of the blade that is
shown in Fig. 12.
Substituting in equation (11), the shaft power is;
To evaluate this developed shaft power, it is required to
find the hydraulic efficiency;
The value of the hydraulic efficiency is considered within
the acceptable range of the hydraulic efficiency for Pelton
wheel turbine. Assuming the efficiency of the generator to be
ηgen=95%, then the generated electric power (Welect ) is;
This value of the generated electric power is very close to
50 kW which is the required electric power for the farm in
UAE. The overall efficiency of the Pelton wheel turbine can
be determined as well;
This efficiency value is considered within the acceptable
range of the overall efficiency for Pelton wheel turbine.
Based on the value of the overall efficiency and the
generated electric power, it can be concluded that the designed
micro-hydropower turbine is proven to be functional in
operation by giving the required electric power with high
overall efficiency.
B. Feasibility Study
As the project has proven in functionality study using the
analytical calculation, it needs now to be proven in feasibility
study to have a good argument in the economical side as well.
The technique that it will be used to judge on the feasibility of
the designed micro-hydropower plant can be achieved by
calculating the payback period of this project and see whether
this period is acceptable for this kind of project or not.
To reach to this judgment, first it is required to calculate
the annual saving when this project is applied to a farm in
UAE. As mentioned earlier, this system will be operated
during on-peak periods to avoid the high electricity rate that
will be applied by the electricity production company for the
consumption during the on-peak periods. The electricity rate
for a farm in UAE is 0.366 AED/kWh during the on-peak
periods which is between 10 am to 10 pm from June 1st to
September 30th. And during the off-peak periods, the
electricity rate is 0.27 AED/kWh [5].
 The annual saving can be determined as follows;
The annual operational & maintenance (O&M) cost can be
assumed to be as 10 percent of the annual revenue;
Then, the annual saving will be;
(18)
Now, to determine the simple payback period, it is needed
to estimate the initial or budget cost of the project which
includes the cost of the parts, manufacturing cost and
assembly cost. The estimated budget cost can be seen in
details in Table 1.
The total initial cost to establish this micro-hydropower
plant will be around 11,205 AED. This total cost might change
a little due to the market price fluctuations. So, the simple
payback period will be;
The simple payback period is founded to be less than 2
years which tell us that the micro-hydropower plant project is
proven to be an economically feasible project. Before
finishing the two years, all the initial cost that had been spend
will be returned and any saving for the next years will be
considered as profits of this project.
Table 1. The detailed Estimated Budget of the micro-hydropower plant
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IV. CONCLUSION
For rural areas in UAE such as a farm, the electricity tariff
rate during the on-peak periods is considered as high rate
compared to the off-peak periods. So, the idea came to design
a hydro-power plant as an alternative energy source that can
be used in such farms in UAE to be operated during on-peak
periods. From the conceptual general design of the hydro-
power plant, a micro Pelton wheel turbine based on the
available head and flow rates that will be operated through
pumped-storage technique was selected. Then, the turbine
section has been designed to have eight turbine buckets that
contain the curved reflectors. From the analytical calculations,
the functionality of the designed micro-hydropower plant is
evaluated, which the results indicate the design is able to
deliver the required electrical power to the farm with high
overall efficiency. From the feasibility study, it was proven
that the project is economically feasible based on the small
value of the simple payback period. Applying this project will
help to decrease the dependency on conventional energy
sources and open the local market and people to the renewable
energy sources.
References
[1] Nagpurwala, Q. (n.d.). Hydraulic Turbines. India: M.S. Ramaiah School
of Advanced Studies.
[2] Arun Kumar, T. A. (2009). Hydropower. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC).
[3] Wam. (2017, 10 04). DEWA makes progress in engineering studies for
Hatta hydroelectric plant. Retrieved from emirates247:
http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/dewa-makes-progress-in-
engineering-studies-for-hatta-hydroelectric-plant-2017-10-04-1.659896
[4] A.H.Elbatran, O. Y. (2015). Operation, performance and economic
analysis of low head micro-hydropower turbines for rural and remote
areas: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40-50.
[5] Company, A. D. (2017). WATER & ELECTRICITY TARIFFS 2017.
Retrieved from ADDC: https://www.addc.ae/en-
US/residential/Documents/02-English.pdf