EVALUATION OF HYDRAULIC CONDITIONS IN THE MAJOR NETWORK FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF MICROHYDRAULIC PLANTS WHICH GENERATE ELECTRICITY

Abstract

The technical and economic viability of promoting construction projects for microhydraulic plants, to generate electricity, was analyzed, which could be installed in hydraulic structures that are used for the control and operation of canals of the Major Network in an irrigation district; and, given that these systems use large volumes of water when located in agricultural valleys, distributed in extensive networks with variable flows and low loads, a series of short and fast methods are proposed to select feasible sites, which when evaluated with the RETScreen methodology can identify alternatives for the development of executive projects, saving resources in planning and decision making. The Major Network of canals in Irrigation District 014, Río Colorado, in Valle de Mexicali, México (470 km long and distribution of 1,850 million m³ annually), was studied, with 31 meters of hydraulic load differential, equivalent to generating 26 MW. Conversion efficiencies of 70 % were used, plant factors of 0.7, capacities installed higher than 100 kW, costs under $7,600 USD per kW installed, and localization of the construction sites at distances greater than 6 km from geological faults. The study reported the selection of two sites, in a canal used to install 559 kW, for a generation of 3,918 MWh annual, with an investment of $2.8 million USD, and average cost of $5,211 USD kW^-1 installed and $0.0713 USD kWh^-1 produced. Savings of 0.47 t of CO₂ MWh^-1 in emissions are estimated and an investment return period of 10 years