Hydropower Potential of Tendaho Irrigation Hydropower Potential of Tendaho Irrigation Earth Dam Dam

Abstract

In rural areas of Ethiopia, modern forms of energy are not available. Traditional sources such as fuel wood, cow dung, and crop residue are being depleted rapidly thereby deepening the rural energy crisis. Compared with other new and renewable sources of energy, hydropower has been recognized as being a viable and mature technology. It can be applied immediately on an economic scale in a flexible manner and can comparatively easily bring benefits to the population in isolated areas, who are so far not covered by national electricity supply grid. Only less than one percent of the rural population, which is eighty two percent, of Ethiopia has access to electricity. However, a number of irrigation dams have been constructed and planned for implementation which could generate and provide electricity to the rural population in addition to its irrigation requirement. A case study regarding generating hydropower had been conducted on Tendaho dam, which is one of irrigation earth dams in Afar Regional State so as to integrate it with hydropower. Accordingly a number of objectives were accomplished like collecting, processing and analyzing meteorological data, collecting and preparing input data for the DP model, establishing reservoir operation rule curve, formulation of discrete dynamic programming model. A Visual Basic Program was written to solve the DP model. The main results obtained were monthly energy output, energy output duration curve and optimal reservoir operation guide curve. The yearly average energy production for the mean monthly inflow data is found to be 7563.47 MWh. The results of this study showed that it is possible to produce a valuable amount of electric energy that is very useful in electrifying the rural community without affecting its irrigation service by applying systems engineering as a planning tool. Based on the findings, conclusions and recommendations for further studies are drawn.