Hydropower potential of agricultural dam in Bukit Merah

Abstract

Malaysia, although having a good number of small to medium hydro power potential sites, has still not exploited all of them. The focus of this manuscript is a feasibility study of the technical viability of power generation from a medium hydropower potential site, the Bukit Merah Dam site, on the Terusan Besar irrigation canal in northern region of Malaysia. This study is carried out using flow data of 2016 from the main irrigation canal of Bukit Merah dam. The data was obtained from Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Perak. The power capacity, yearly energy output of the potential hydro site are studied in this work. Technical analysis of the power output capacity and yearly energy output of three (3) hydro-turbine types (Kaplan, Propeller, and Francis) operable at the same given head and design flow were studied. The study shows that there is a potential capacity of 2.2 MW and an annual energy generation capacity of 7028.47 MWh at a turbine peak efficiency of 92.8% at a design flow of 19.23 m3/s using Kaplan turbine. © BEIESP.