Performance Evaluation of a Hydro-Power Plant

Abstract

Abstract: The electrical power generation of any country drives the economy of that country. Sufficient electrical power supply plays an important role for industrial development and growth of any country. The epileptic state of electricity supply in Nigeria arising partly from power generation plants’ inability to operate at installed capacity led to the investigation and evaluation of hydro – power plant operational performances in a bid to suggest ways the generation capacity of these plants can be well utilized. This study evaluated the performance of Shiroro Hydro-Power Plant on monthly basis employing the relevant fluid mechanics models; the appropriate performance indices such as plant efficiency, capacity factor, utilization factor and overall efficiency were evaluated. Data obtained from the plant inventory records include daily power generation, daily hydrological data such as water discharge rate and gross operating head. The net head, the hydraulic power and the theoretical power developed by the flowing water were estimated to aid the evaluation of the plant performance indices. The results of the study for the period under review showed that the plant efficiency for 2019 varied from 43.56% to 85.83% with an average of 65.65% and 41.81% to 86.66% with an average of 65.99% for 2020. The capacity factor of the plant for 2019 varied from 25.74% to 66.78% with an average of 47.85% and 22.65% to 67.15% with an average of 49.44% for 2020 against standard practices of 50% to 80%. The plant utilization factor for 2019 varied from 42.51% to 79.95% with an average of 66.1% and 29.38% to 73.35% with an average of 62.44% for 2020 against standard practices of over 95%. From these results, it can be concluded that the generating plants were underutilized. This is due to inadequate routine maintenance, equipment fault development, low load demand from the national grid and low headwater elevation (water drought). Evaluation of the overall efficiency of the plant showed an average of 55.74% for 2019 and an average of 56.02% for 2020 against standard practices of 80% and above. This indicated a shortfall of 24.26% and 23.98% and above of energy conversion from the hydraulic power developed by the falling water. Also, out of the 600MW installed capacity and a possible energy consumption of 5,270,400MWh annually, only 2,520,243MWh of energy was consumed from the plant for 2019 and 2,606,206MWh for 2020. The overall results revealed that the potential capacity of the generating plant remains unutilized. Measures to improve the performance indices and overall efficiency of the plant have been suggested in this study.