干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Small Hydel Power Projects have proved to be a blessing in the power generation sector, but a question arises that does it finds a successful way in the arid and semi arid areas of Rajasthan state? To investigate the fact the authors have tried to accumulate the required information in context with the small hydro projects. This paper contains the feasibility analysis, design methodology and the points to be considered during the estimation of cost with special emphasis to the state of Rajasthan. A site was discovered on the Indira Gandhi Canal of Rajasthan state for the preliminary design to be made, involving the latest technologies to increase the efficiency. A message has also been conveyed by the paper to promote the use of renewable energy sources and to keep the benefits which in fact contributes in achieving the path of self sufficiency for a nation. Finally some points have been concluded which can be kept in mind for the future planning in the hydel generation in an arid or semi arid region. Pay back computation is showing a 12.36 year to return the capital investment. The research has been done on the prevailing sites and identification of the potential sites and the problems related to implementation in rural areas of Rajasthan. Combined Solar-Hydro hybrid system is proposed to optimally utilize the infrastructure and manpower. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.