www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org HYDRO POWER AND COMPARATIVE TURBINE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION M. A. MURTAZA 1 & M. I. MURTAZA 2 1 Professor ASET, Amity University, Lucknow Campus, Uttar Pradesh, India 2 Member, ASME ABSTRACT This paper presents a review of development of hydro power, its basics, teaching and performance evaluation. The laboratory experimental data pertaining to Pelton, Francis and Kaplan small turbines has been analysed. The analysis presented here is based on turbine shaft load resulting in utilization of water power and includes comparative overall efficiency, specific speed and unit quantities based on data is presented. KEYWORDS: Hydro Power, Classification, Turbines, Performance Evaluation, Experimental Data Received: Oct 05; Accepted: Oct 13; Published: Oct 22; Paper Id: IJMPERDDEC20153 INTRODUCTION The term hydro power means generation of mechanical power from falling water. The power then can be used for direct mechanical applications or for generating electricity. Hydropower presently accounts for 20% of world’s total electric power generation. [1]. Other resources such as solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy were also explored. These are green and renewable and have no adverse effect on environment. These are produced continuously and therefore inexhaustible. In fact hydro power is also an outcome of abundant solar power and water. Possibility of using hybrid of hydro, solar and wind power are also being attempted [2, 3, 4, 6]. Among these hydropower is the oldest and was in use during agriculture based society [5]. The development of hydro-electricity in the 20th century required building of large dams. These have also resulted in environmental problems due to the interference with river flows. The current focus is on small or micro hydro power generation as they do not require massive construction. Small-scale hydro is generally a “run-of-river”, with no dam or water storage. It is cost-effective and environmental friendly energy technology [7]. Hence several “run-of-river” schemes are found on the downstream end of the large storage reservoir schemes. The large reservoir project can regulate the output of these small “run-of-river” plants. These schemes are considerably cheaper as little construction is required. [6, 8]. Classification Following table gives the classification of hydro power plants. It is based on capacity and worldwide practice [7, 10]. Original Article International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN(P): 2249-6890; ISSN(E): 2249-8001 Vol. 5, Issue 6, Dec 2015, 43-52 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.