POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT OF MICRO HYDRO POWER FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ON SELECTED SUB-BASINS OF RIFT VALLY AND GENALE-DAWA BASINS

Abstract

Access to electricity has the potential to improve productivity and provide considerable welfare benefits in remote areas, for which there is a need for a reliable and affordable source of electrical energy such as micro hydropower (MHP) . Especially in small, remote areas where there is no grid supply of electricity. The basic principle of hydropower is that if water can be piped from a certain level to a lower level, then the resulting water pressure can be used to do work and the key objectives of this study includes : assessing the hydropower potential in Sidama zone; identifying suitable si tes for MHP implementation and; making recommendations for wider implementation of MHP in the zone. The methodology allowed rapid identification of micro hydropower potential. MHP potential identification was based on stream flow and head. Since the stream flow had missed data, correlation method was exploited. The potential sites were located not on the gauged stations, for that matter to generate the stream flow to the potential sites Area -ratio method was carried out and the catchment area for the potential sites were delineated with the help of geographic information system (GIS) and Watershed management system) (WMS) software and based on this generated results flow duration curve was plotted. Head was collected using geographic positioning system (GPS) then ; power and energy of the potential sites were estimated. Based on this ten sites have already been identified with total annual power and energy of 13,447 . 664 Kw and 13.559 GWh/year respectively. Finally, rank of the sites based on cost per Kwh, community awareness towards implementation of the project and accessibility was done on which Getancho and Gelana II get first and le