Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 19861991

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Pico hydro Reducing technical risks for rural electrication

A.A. Williams a, *, R. Simpson b
a
b

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Renewable Energy division, EnergyAustralia, Sydney, NSW, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Available online 22 January 2009

Very small hydropower (pico hydro) schemes, with an output of less than 5 kW, can be a cost-effective
option for the electrication of remote rural communities. Despite the fact that each hydropower site is
unique, there is potential for using standardised equipment and low-cost approaches to scheme design.
Relatively low equipment costs are possible, particularly if locally manufactured in a developing country,
which enable costs per unit of energy output to be lower than small petrol or diesel generators, wind
turbines or PV systems.
Nevertheless, it is important not to compromise on technical quality of pico hydro schemes, as this may
lead to poor efciency or long periods when the scheme cannot operate, which will affect the nancial
success of the scheme. In the longer term, inappropriate cost reductions may lead to reduced uptake of
the technology. The challenge is therefore to provide engineering designs and implementation methods
that can effectively be customised for a wide range of schemes.
This paper describes research and development of successful approaches that have been used to enable
pico hydropower to be implemented in diverse situations around the globe. It includes an analysis of
penstock pipe sizing to achieve optimum economic design.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Hydropower
Turbine
Penstock
Rural electrication

1. Introduction
Hydropower is a well-established technology and due to this
fact, current research and development in the eld does not
generally receive the same amount of attention as other energy
technologies. It is also a technology that, depending on scale, can
have signicant negative environmental effects. Recent research
reported by Giles [1] indicates that, amongst other environmental
effects, some hydropower schemes cause as much global warming
as fossil fuel plants. Those with large reservoirs that cover previously forested areas in the tropics emit signicant greenhouse gas
in the form of methane. Harrison et al. [2] highlight a number of
other environmental concerns relating to the various large hydro
projects in the Yangtze River Basin in China. They propose specic
measures to improve sediment transport and river ecology.
Very small hydro plants do not suffer from such environmental
and social problems, not just because of the scale of the technology,
but due to the insignicant storage of water. Normally these
schemes do not form a barrier to the passage of aquatic life, especially sh. Mini, micro and pico hydropower are now recognized as
key technologies in bringing renewable electricity to rural

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 44 115 8468684; fax: 44 115 9515616.

E-mail address: arthur.williams@nottingham.ac.uk (A.A. Williams).
0960-1481/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2008.12.011

populations in developing countries, many of whom do not have

access to electric power. A recent report on electrication technologies by the World Bank Energy Unit [3] shows that, of the
options currently available for off-grid generation, pico hydro is
likely to have the lowest cost (see Fig. 1). For mini-grid power,
probably only biogas plants provide more cost-effective electricity
than micro hydro. These gures agree with those of Maher et al. [4],
who calculated scheme costs in rural Kenya of US 15/kWh for 1
2 kW pico hydro against US $1.09 for a nominal 20 Wp solar home
system. The costs for PV systems have fallen in the meantime, and
should continue to reduce, but are still likely to be 34 times
greater than the costs for pico hydro. However, pico hydro is not an
easy technology to transfer and disseminate in rural areas because
it is site specic and often requires co-operation within a community in order to manage the scheme successfully.

2. Factors that inuence success of micro-hydro projects

Sanchez [5] researched the factors that lead to the success or
failure of rural electrication schemes. In this study, data was
collected from 14 villages in Peru, a Latin American country with
one of the lowest rural electrication coefcients in the continent.
The sample was spread throughout the country, half with diesel
generators and half with micro-hydro plants. The questionnaires

Generator Type
Petrol or
PV-Wind
Diesel Solar PV
hybrid
Wind

Pico
hydro

A.A. Williams, R. Simpson / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 19861991

300-1000
W

Minimum
Lower range
Probable range
Higher range

300 W

300 W

50 - 300
W

300 - 1000
W
0

20

40

60

80

1987

as the pipe cost is only a small part of the total scheme cost. In fact it
is always worthwhile to choose a larger diameter of pipe than that
which gives 33% head loss, so that the overall efciency of the
scheme is improved. A more detailed analysis is shown in Annex 1,
which shows that using typical costs, the optimum pipe head loss is
between 5% and 15% of gross head. Since pipes are available in xed
diameters, it is sometimes cost-effective to use a larger diameter
pipe for the section nearer to the intake, where a lower pressure
rating can be employed. This increases the net turbine head at
minimal extra cost.
Different types of water turbine are required to cover different
site conditions in terms of head and ow. Given a typical efciency,
a 1 kW scheme could acquire its energy from 200 m head with
a ow rate of 1 l/s or 2 m head with a ow rate of 100 l/s. In contrast,
the electrical generation system can be similar for all schemes.
Various types of generator can be used, but in terms of cost and
reliability, an induction generator is the recommended choice
because it does not have brushes and is very widely available [7].

Predicted Cost (US cents/kWh in 2010)

Fig. 1. Predicted costs for off-grid electricity data from World Bank [3].

3.1. High head turbine design

and technical data collected for each village were designed to

identify possible Critical Factors for the success of such schemes.
Questions were designed to collect key data to assess the inuence
of different factors.
The results corroborate the World Bank ndings, that diesel
schemes often run for only short times during the evening because
of the high cost of fuel. This limits the potential for the electricity to
contribute to income generating activities. Overall, the research in
Peru revealed that the management of the scheme is the most
critical factor on which successful nance, operation and maintenance of the schemes depend. Apart from management, the only
other factors that were identied as critical were local and national
technical capacity. Local capability is required for the day-to-day
maintenance of the scheme, whereas some national capacity is
required for installation, training and technical support for scheme
repairs.
Alongside this research, a management model has been developed, based on experience at several villages in Peru [6]. This model
promotes the community ownership of the scheme, whilst
a privately-owned company, run by entrepreneurs from within the
community, carries out the day-to-day management.
3. Technical design
The dimensions of the penstock pipe, bringing the water to the
turbine, and the layout of the distribution system, are both
parameters of scheme design that are site specic. Investigation of
actual schemes in Nepal showed how poor design of these
elements can cause excessive per kW costs [7]. This can occur either
through over-design, or through excessive cost-cutting that results
in low scheme efciency, for example in selecting a pipe of too
small diameter. The sizing of the penstock diameter is critical, as
can be seen from the simplied equation for pipe head loss:

Hf

flQ 2
3d5

(1)

where f is the friction factor, l the pipe length, Q the volume ow

rate and d the pipe diameter.
There is an analysis of pipe losses which shows that the
optimum power output from a given diameter of pipe occurs when
the head loss is one third of the gross head [8]. However, this
criterion is not suitable for selecting pipe sizes for hydro schemes,

For higher head schemes, a Pelton turbine is the ideal choice. The
Pico Power Pack [4] is a design of Pelton turbine with a directlydriven induction generator. The layout of the turbine, with a runner
attached to a shaft extension from the horizontally-mounted
generator, was developed through a synthesis of design ideas from
two experienced manufacturers of micro and pico Pelton turbines
Akkal Man Nakarmi from Nepal and Mauricio Gnecco from Colombia.
Flow analysis and laboratory testing were used to assist in the
design of the turbine runner. A number of turbines from various
manufacturers in Europe, South Asia, North and South America
which had different bucket shapes were tested in a purpose-built
laboratory test rig [9]. This was capable of testing runners from
100 mm up to 180 mm pitch circle diameter (PCD). Mechanical load
was provided by a hydraulic pump, which gave good control of
torque over a range of speeds. A succession of prototype Pelton
runners was manufactured accurately using rapid prototyping
techniques to nd the geometry that gave the best performance
without compromising strength or reliability. The initial bucket
design was based partly on the work of Thake [10], but it was found
that for pico turbines, this design could be improved. Different
numbers of buckets were also tested to nd the optimum bucket
spacing, a critical parameter as shown by a recent theoretical
analysis [11]. The thickness of the bucket material was found to be
an important design parameter, although it is not included in
Zhangs theoretical analysis. With thicker material, a greater
proportion of the water jet is deected away from the bucket as the
splitter cuts through the jet. However, a bucket with too thin
material would be difcult to manufacture on a small scale and
would be liable to erosion from any sand particles in the water jet.
The nal runner design differed from that of Thake [10] in that
the splitter ridge was nearly parallel to the front edge of the
buckets. Also, the number of buckets was decreased from 18 to 16. It
was found that painting the buckets to produce a good surface
nish achieved an efciency of 72% from a 1 kW turbine, as shown
in Fig. 2. The efciency of the turbine has been plotted against the
bucket to jet velocity ratio (Nc) for a 120 mm PCD runner manufactured using aluminium cast buckets. A similar surface nish
could be produced when manufactured in a small workshop by
polishing the turbine buckets after casting. Only one test gave
higher efciency, which was a single-piece cast runner from Harris,
a manufacturer in North America. This style of runner could not be
manufactured easily in a basic workshop, as it requires precision
investment casting techniques.

A.A. Williams, R. Simpson / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 19861991

0.8

Efficiency

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Speed ratio (Nc)

Fig. 2. Efciency of a pico Pelton turbine from laboratory tests (carried out by Jeff
Baines at Nottingham Trent University).

The test rig was set up so that the turbine nozzle could be moved
in two dimensions. From this, it was determined that the positioning of the jet relative to the bucket was critical in achieving the
optimum power output. The nal design of the Pico Power Pack
was therefore tted with an adjustable nozzle plate so that ne
adjustments could be made on site, using the meter on the electronic controller to determine the point of maximum efciency.
Bucket patterns for the Pico Power Pack are available for three
sizes of runner. An example of the nal design was manufactured in
a small workshop in Nepal and when tested on site had an efciency improvement of 8% relative to a runner typical of those
made previously in the workshop [12]. It was also found that, with
little drop in efciency, the new bucket design could be used with
double the nozzle area normally recommended. A greater ow rate,
and hence power output, can be achieved with this design, while
retaining the simplicity of a single jet. With a nozzle diameter of up
to 17.5% of PCD efciency is still above 70%, as shown in Fig. 3. With
20% jet diameter, the efciency is signicantly lower and the value
of Nc for optimum efciency is also lower than the value of 0.46
normally recommended.
Turgo turbines are a good option for medium to high head
schemes, as reported by Wiles and Zedler [13], who measured
efciencies of over 70% for pico turbines. For medium head
schemes, below those that can use a Pelton efciently, crossow
turbines have often been used. These have a good record of being
manufactured locally, but can be bulky and run at relatively slow
speeds. Even for turbines with power output greater than 10 kW,
efciencies of above 70% are difcult to obtain in the eld [14],
0.8

12.50%
15%
17.50%
20%
12.5%
15%
17.5%
20%

0.75

Efficiency

0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55
0.5

although higher efciencies have been reported from optimized

laboratory turbines [15]. An appropriate alternative is to use
a pump as turbine (PAT), which has the advantage of being a widely
available piece of equipment, usually supplied with an induction
motor that can be used as a generator. It is recommended to use
a pump of good quality, even though the initial cost may be higher,
because when used for hydropower, the operating hours are relatively high. The value of the additional energy produced by
a turbine of 5% higher efciency will typically justify a 10% higher
turbine cost, based on a three-year payback. Selection guidelines
for pumps as turbines have been published elsewhere [16] and have
been used by engineers encouraging sustainable rural development
in remote areas, e.g. in northern Thailand [17].
3.2. Low-head turbine design
A key focus of recent research in pico hydro has been the
development of low-head turbine designs suitable for manufacture
and installation in developing countries. At Kathmandu University
in Nepal, researchers are looking at open ume designs [18], while
a joint project between Nottingham Trent University and Practical
Action in Peru focussed on closed volute designs. The aim of this
project was to produce a general design for pico propeller turbines
and the results, which are described below, have been very
encouraging. In particular, it was found that over 70% turbine efciency can be achieved without the need for expensive materials or
manufacture. However, care must be taken with the design of the
turbine components and matching of the design parameters. The
graph (Fig. 4) illustrates how performance was enhanced by
making successive improvements to a 1 kW low-head turbine
design. A turbine, originally designed by Demetriades et al. [19] was
modied rstly by removing the guide vanes and then by
manufacturing a simple chamfer on a critical corner where the ow
changes direction before passing through the runner. Design
changes were modelled using the Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) package, ANSYS CFX, in order to pinpoint the causes of energy
loss. The turbine runner in this case was kept the same and was
manufactured from simple, constant thickness blades, which do not
require precision casting for manufacture. Laboratory experiments
showed that along with improvement in efciency, the speed of the
turbine increased, making it easier to drive a standard electrical
generator.
In order to check the validity of using CFD for turbine design
evaluation and improvement, actual velocity vectors were
measured and compared with a CFD model. For this comparison,
a two-component Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) system was
80
8mm chamfer

70
60

Efficiency (%)

1988

50
40
Original 1 kW turbine
30
20
Guide vanes
removed

0.45
10
0.4
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Velocity Ratio (Nc)

0
0

300

600

900

1200

1500

1800

Speed (rpm) @ 2.75 m head

Fig. 3. Performance of a pico Pelton turbine with different nozzle diameters (Jeff
Baines).

Fig. 4. Pico propeller turbine performance from laboratory tests.

2100

A.A. Williams, R. Simpson / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 19861991

1) Estimating the design ow rate accurately is critical for effective operation of the turbine. At the eld test site for this
project, the turbine was initially designed for approx 40%

Fig. 5. Set-up for the LDA velocity measurements.

Swirl Velocity (m/s)

used to measure ow velocities in a miniature (200 W) turbine. The

experimental set-up, with a transparent acrylic casing, is shown in
the photograph in Fig. 5. The laser beams were transmitted via bre
optic cables to a probe head which was mounted above the turbine
casing, so that it was possible to get accurate resolution of both
radial and circumferential components of velocity in the volute
region. Measurements were also made at the inlet to the volute so
that accurate boundary conditions could be set in the CFD model.
The probe head was tted to a motorised traverse capable of
motion along x, y, z axes. Appropriate real-time software was used
to control the traverse and acquire the ow velocity data.
As a typical example, Fig. 6 shows the circumferential (or swirl)
velocity in the scroll casing, 180 from the inlet, at the mid-height
(z 24 mm) of the radial opening that leads to the impeller section.
Due to limitations with optical access and reections from external
components, measurements could only be taken down to a radius of
70 mm, which is just inside the runner radius of 75 mm. The
agreement between the results is good. The line marked theory
shows the expected values based on a free vortex distribution. Note
that there is a difference in the results obtained from the CFD close to
the inner radius, depending on the turbulence model that has been
used. It is likely that the shear stress transfer (SST) model, which
indicates more signicant separation, is more accurate than the k-3
model in this region. Due to physical limitations it was not possible
to get experimental values in this region.
CFD has been a useful tool in modelling small water turbine
designs and selecting designs which will have good efciencies.
More modications can be made using a computer model than is
possible in the same time using laboratory or eld experiments.
Previous research on modications to pumps as turbines also
showed good agreement between experimental test results and the
overall turbine parameters when modelled using CFD [20].
Improvements to the low-head turbine installed at a eld test site
in Peru were also achieved using CFD modelling [21]. However,
until now it was not possible to check the validity of the predicted
velocity vectors in the CFD model. The results from the propeller
turbine LDA measurements show that, within reasonable limits,
a good quality CFD model using standard commercial software can
reliably model the ow within a small water turbine.
Some of the key ndings regarding the design of low-head
turbines are as follows.

1989

Theory
Laser measurement
CFD, K-epsilon
CFD, SST

5
4
3
2
1
0
0.025

0.05

0.075

0.1

0.125

0.15

0.175

0.2

Radius (m)
Fig. 6. Comparison of circumferential (swirl) velocities in a tapered turbine scroll.

greater ow than that available, which resulted in negligible

turbine output power (less than 20% of design) [21].
2) There is no need to use guide vanes in a small turbine with
a scroll casing; guide vanes do not necessarily improve the
turbine performance and tend to cause additional losses if not
designed correctly.
3) A signicant proportion of the hydraulic loss occurs in the inlet
section of the turbine. These losses can be reduced by using
a larger section at the point where the guide vanes would
normally be, and a chamfered or rounded edge where the ow
changes direction into the runner section.
4. Technology dissemination
Micro and pico hydropower are unlikely to undergo signicant
further development from a technological point of view. Along with
other small-scale renewable energy, a major effort is now required
to disseminate successful technology for use in rural electrication.
There have been a number of demonstration projects, but so far
there has been a lack of widespread commercial dissemination of
these technologies. A recent report by the Global Network on
Energy for Sustainable Development [22] discusses ways to unlock
the potential of renewable energy technologies as a means to
alleviate rural poverty. It identies a lack of awareness as a key
issue. Due to this, national policy frameworks are not effective in
supporting rural energy, there is a lack of nancial mechanisms to
support local projects, a lack of technical expertise and hence
(particularly for solar) some poor quality installations.
Several micro and pico hydro case studies in Nepal and Kenya
are discussed by Gitonga and Clemens [23] in the context of
expanding access to modern energy services. They identify this
technology as having good potential because of relatively low
capital costs and exible power production for electrical and/or
mechanical equipment. The design of these schemes is based on the
Pico Power Pack and pump as turbine technology described earlier
in this paper, demonstrating reliable energy production over
a number of years. These authors stress the need for involvement of
local non-government organizations (NGOs) and the need for good
management of schemes at a local level, echoing the work of
Sanchez mentioned earlier. However, experience in Kenya suggests
that there needs to be more co-operation between national NGOs
and local entrepreneurs, for example in passing on enquiries from
the districts where the entrepreneurs are active. Nevertheless,
community pico hydro schemes are now being constructed as
commercial projects, not just as demonstrations (see Fig. 7).
Although the technology is almost identical between projects in
different countries, the approach to dissemination and management of the technology often needs to be adapted to the needs of
the particular country. For example, Bryce and Soo [24] argue that

1990

A.A. Williams, R. Simpson / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 19861991

Typical pipes used for pico hydro have a surface roughness of

0.06 mm and the value of friction factor, f, reduces with increasing
Reynolds Number. A plot of ow rate against pipe diameter for
a constant head loss of 1% per unit length of pipe, using data from
British Hydraulic Research tables [25] shows that d is proportional
to Q2.65, as shown in Fig. A.1. The Reynolds Number is related to Q
and d by the following equation:

Re

rvd rQd 4rQd

4rQ

m
pdm
Am
pd2 m

(A.2)

Fig. 7. Locally manufactured pico hydro turbine installed at Ndiara, Kenya, in 2006.
Photo credit: Phil Maher of Pico Energy Ltd (www.picoenergy.co.uk).

the special needs of the Pacic Island Communities mean that the
expansion of renewable energy through private enterprise is not
appropriate. Certainly, the programmes promoted by the Village
First Enterprise Group, which have a focus of promoting womens
empowerment, have been successful within this context.
Expansion of micro-hydro programmes is planned in Uganda, in
Indonesia and across the francophone countries of Sub-Saharan
Africa, following successful demonstrations in Madagascar. Even
countries with good grid coverage, e.g. peninsular Malaysia, have
discovered the potential of micro hydro to meet the energy
requirements of remote rural communities.

Flow for 1% head loss (l/s)

0.25
y = 3.3798x2.6503
0.2

R2 = 1

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

Fig. A.1. Relationship between ow and PVC pipe diameter for xed head loss.

This suggests that f is proportional to (Re)0.182 which changes

the proportionality of the head loss to:

Q 1:818
Hf f 4:818
d

5. Conclusions
Where there is a suitable site pico hydropower is usually the
lowest cost option for off-grid rural electrication, and is environmentally sustainable. The technology has been developed for
a wide range of site conditions, but the design, even for such small
schemes, is usually site specic. In order to achieve low installation
cost per unit power output, and hence low energy costs, it is
necessary to select the components of the scheme to reduce cost
and increase efciency. For example, analysis of penstock diameter
shows that design for less than 10% head loss is likely to give the
optimum economic choice. Design guidelines have now been
developed for most aspects of pico hydro technology and will soon
be made available for low-head turbines. There is now a need to
build up technical and organizational capacity at a local level so that
the benets of this technology can be brought to rural populations.

0.4

Pipe dia (m)

(A.3)

This is now consistent with d proportional to Q2.65 for xed head

loss. Using Eq. (A.3) and now assuming a xed ow rate, the fractional head loss can be expressed as:

hf

Hf
Hgross

k1

 4:818
1
d

(A.4)

Data from pipe manufacturers shows that the cost, Cp, of plastic
pipe of a given pressure rating is proportional to d2, due to the
increase of pipe thickness with diameter. Substituting into Eq. (A.4)
gives the following relationship between hf and Cp:

hf k2

1
Cp

2:41

(A.5)

Now, using the relationship between output power and head

loss for xed Q:

Acknowledgements
The research project on low-head turbines was carried out at
Nottingham Trent University, UK, in collaboration with Practical
Action Peru, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (20042007). The
research on Pelton turbines was funded mainly through a grant
from UK Department for International Development.

 2:41


k3
P Pmax 1  hf Pmax 1 
Cp

!
(A.6)

Annex 1. Calculation of optimum penstock head loss

Note that when Cp k3, P 0, i.e. k3 represents the cost of the

penstock which has head loss equal to gross head. This is not
a practical penstock choice, but gives an indication of suitable values
to use. Rearranging gives an expression for Cp, in terms of the power:

The penstock head loss can be determined from equation (1),

which gives:

Cp k3

Hf f

fQ 2
d5

(A.1)

Pmax
Pmax  P

0:415

(A.7)

Fig. A.2 shows the relationship between scheme costs, for

a range of penstock costs, taking a xed cost of $2000 for a scheme

A.A. Williams, R. Simpson / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 19861991

with an available power output of 1 kW. By drawing straight lines

through from the origin to the tangent of the curves, it is possible to
identify the points of least cost per kW power output. Note that
there are also some scheme costs which increase proportional to
the actual power output, but these will have no effect on the
optimum cost/kW of the whole scheme, and can therefore be
neglected in this analysis.
6000
k = 1000
k = 500

5000

k = 200
k = 100

Cost ($)

4000

k = 50

3000
F

2000
1000
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Power (kW)
Fig. A.2. Relationship between total scheme cost and output power for various
diameters of penstock.

To make the results generally applicable, the penstock costs

have been calculated relative to the xed scheme costs, on a $/kW
basis. These relative costs are plotted in Fig. A.3 against the fractional penstock head loss, hf. The constant kr represents the cost of
a penstock with head loss equal to gross head as a fraction of the
scheme xed costs. For many pico hydro schemes the value of kr
varies between 0.1 and 0.25. At optimum cost per kW, the penstock
costs vary between 40% and 80% of xed scheme costs (i.e. the value
on the vertical axis is between 1.4 and 1.8). For this range of
penstock diameters the optimum head loss is between 8% and 13%
of the gross head. For some low-head schemes, the penstock cost
may be quite small relative to the total civil works, in which case
the optimum fractional head loss will be lower than 8%.

Costs/kW (as fraction of fixed costs)

kr = 0.25

kr = 0.1

kr = 0.05

kr = 0.025

Minima

kr = 0.5

3.5
3
2.5

2
1.5

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[25] British Hydraulic Research. Tables for the hydraulic design of pipes. London:
HMSO; 1977.

Fixed Costs
0.5

1991

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0
0.3

Dr Arthur Williams has been working in the eld of micro and pico hydropower
since 1987. He completed his PhD in 1992 and been a full-time academic since 1997.
In 2007 he transferred from Nottingham Trent University to the University of
Nottingham.

Penstock head loss (as fraction of gross head)

Fig. A.3. Relationship total scheme unit cost ($/kW as a fraction of xed unit cost) and
fractional head loss for various diameters of penstock.

Dr Robert Simpson obtained his PhD in aerodynamic analysis from the University of
New South Wales. He was the main researcher on the low-head turbine project at
Nottingham Trent University from 2004 to 2007.