Abstract
Any hydropower project requires an ample availability of stream flow data. Unfortunately, most of the hydropower projects especially small hydropower projects are conducted on ungauged river and consequently hydrologists have for a longtime used stream flow estimation methods using the mean annual flows to gauge rivers. Unfortunately flow estimation methods which include the runoff data method, area ratio method and the correlation flow methods employ a lot of assumptions which affect their uncertainty. This study was conducted on Bua River in Malawi to unveil the uncertainties of these flow estimation methods. The study was done on a well gauged catchment in order to highlight the variations between the observed, true stream flows and the estimated stream flows for uncertainty analysis. After regionalizing the homogenous sites, catchments using L-moments, an uncertainty analysis was done which showed that the area method is better followed by the correlating flow method and lastly the runoff data method in terms of bias, accuracy and uncertainty.
Highlights
Hydropower schemes whether small or large operate upon a reliable resource of water
According to the uncertainty analysis results of this study the, area method for gauging and estimating the stream flows of an ungauged catchment presented the least measures/values of bias accuracy and uncertainty followed by the correlation flows method and the runoff data method presented the largest values of bias accuracy and uncertainty
Estimation methods if they are applied in terms of accuracy in case of the agreement of results if repeated estimations are performed under similar assumptions
Summary
Hydropower schemes whether small or large operate upon a reliable resource of water. It is from water whereHow to cite this paper: Kasamba, C., Ndomba, P.M., Kucel, S.B. and Uamusse, M.M. (2015) Analysis of Flow Estimation Methods for Small Hydropower Schemes in Bua River. Hydropower schemes whether small or large operate upon a reliable resource of water. (2015) Analysis of Flow Estimation Methods for Small Hydropower Schemes in Bua River. To develop a hydropower scheme you should obtain enough and reliable as well as accurate hydrological information of the catchment or river otherwise the project would be a failure or prove to be both economically and technologically unfeasible. Though it is possible to gauge the rivers for small hydropower plants by deriving the FDCs using the mean annual flow estimation methods, the drawback lies in the uncertainty attached to each of the flow estimation methods since a lot of assumptions are employed
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