Identifying some regularities of hydropower components functioning for proper operation of Chameliya hydropower plant in Nepal

Abstract

The main objective of the research study is to identify the status and analyze the problems in Chameliya hydropower plants in Nepal. In this paper, the hydropower has been studied to identify some regularities of hydropower components on proper operation and generation through primary and secondary data. Further, it been analyzed by bottlenecking through mechanical components testing for the detail study to find the actual problems. Hydropower contributes about 86 % of total internal generation to available energy in Nepal with 93 % of people having access to electricity through the national grid. Small hydropower plants (less than 30 MW) are 90 % of the installed plants contributing the major electricity demands of nearly 50 % in the country. Though hydropower is one of the major export commodities in the past few years, it still has deficits in the dry season. Chameliya hydropower plant, 30 MW situated in the far-western part of Nepal, generates 670 MWh of energy in the wet season and which declines to 384 MWh in the dry season. Even though the plant does not have the problem of much erosion and has a sufficient flow in the dry season, the generation value is still below the design. The issue of variation in shaft speed, misalignment of shaft bearing integrity and ultimately friction due to vibration, rises the temperature beyond the limit in the bearing Babbitt material result for failure in the plant with problematic shutdown. Thus, this research primarily focuses on the problem analysis in hydropower plants, concluding with the result that the developing countries need to have more focus on regular preventive maintenance and also schedule large maintenance on mechanical components like shafts, bearings, turbine etc. to avoid bigger damage in the long run. Hence, the study also suggests that mechanical failure in a hydropower is mostly common and therefore, a robust mechanical structure along with high safety factor components need to be encouraged where the possibilities of regular maintenance and smooth operation are reduced.