Effects of Connecting a Micro-Hydro Turbine to an Existing Power System Grid

摘要

As the world's supply of fossil fuels is now becoming scarce and depleting, an alternative means of energy production should be explored further. In this case, alternative sources of energy will play a vital role in future energy production. There are many kinds of alternative energy sources of which we are particularly interested on clean energy sources such as wind, solar and micro-hydro generation. This paper deals on the utilization of water for electricity production wherein it aims to determine the amount of water that can be impounded in a dam from a stream or river. The forecasting of water is done with the aid of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). ANN is a versatile tool that predicts a certain output given previous inputs. The Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN) is used to predict the level of water in the dam. With the forecasted result from ANN, a schedule of power generation from a micro-hydro turbine (MHT) is done. An MHT is a machine which can generate power of up to 100 kW. The effect of connecting an MHT to an existing power system grid is also investigated.