Techno-Economic Viability of Small Hydro Power Plants for Mini-Grid Electrification in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

The commercial viability of small, mini, and micro hydroelectric power generation collectively termed Small Hydro Power (SHP) potential in Southwest Nigeria was investigated by collecting proven historical and real-time data of extant SHP-convertible water bodies as well as general hydrology and population settlement pattern in the region based on reservoir hydroelectric power technology in distributed mini-grid application using a 100kW pilot model. Small hydropower with scores high on the Techno-Economic Renewable Energy Viability Index (TEREVI) scale with a value of 0.795 compared to the minimum viability threshold of 0.70 which is a reflection of good hydro potential given widespread water resources and high year – round precipitations with mean runoff flowrate being 180.65m3/s ranging from 23.12m3/s in January to 430.67m3/s in June representing corresponding rainfalls of 0.59mm and 10.99mm respectively.  The cost of small hydro energy generation is relatively low compared to other sources, given values of $0.022069123/kWh from HOMER simulation, $0.02316/kWh from Matlab simulation, $0.027878615/kWh from LCOE, and $0.0296/kWh from Techno-Economic Levelized Cost of Energy (TELCOE), with a mean COE of $0.025676935/kWh. Southwest West Nigeria’s surface runoff hydro power potential is 448.16kW/m2, the overall finding reveals that reservoir SHP harnessed in distributed generation power mini–grids is a very technically and commercially viable sustainable clean energy opportunity for Southwest Nigeria with proven potentials between 70MW to 350MW and probable potential up to 3900MW, which could be much higher with flood and stormwater optimization.