A small-hydro plant model for feasibility analysis of electrification projects in Rural Tanzania

In some rural areas of developing countries grid extension may not be convenient and thus off-grid technologies are frequently the most appropriate option addressing the prevailing lack of electricity access. Among the renewable off-grid technologies, micro and small hydropower often matches local conditions. Nevertheless in order to accomplish reliable and affordable off-grid electrification, techno-economic analyses play a pivotal role. In this paper we describe the model that we developed for assessing the techno-economic feasibility of run-of-river small hydropower plant (up to 2MW) for rural areas in Tanzania. The model makes use of river and load data to generate an optimization of the installed electrical power and to perform an economic analysis of the investment. The capability to search for the best power size while evaluating draft designs and the implementation of Tanzanian-tailored cost functions, make the model useful for the purposes of identifying small-hydropower sites. Application to two real field cases complete the validation of the model.