A comprehensive overview of new designs in the hydraulic, electrical equipments and controllers of mini hydro power plants making it cost effective technology

Implementations of mini hydro schemes with conventional hydraulic, electrical equipment's and controllers have proven very expensive and uneconomical. Many developing countries that are in need of rural electrification have encountered economical problem when setting up these mini hydro schemes. To address this problem, alternative options and new designs of these equipment's have been explored by many researchers around the world. The application of these new designs would reduce the overall cost of mini hydro development and would help in making it a cost effective technology. These new designs will also help developing countries to provide electricity to rural areas or remote regions where interconnection of transmission line from the electrical grid is uneconomical. The new designs can also be an enabling factor in boosting up electricity generation using a renewable energy source. This paper provides survey of all these alternative options and new designs in the controller, hydraulic turbine and generators that have been implemented in different countries of the world.