Hydropower Optimization of Cascading Run-of-River Projects on Kunhar River

Abstract

Pakistan has a huge potential for the natural resources and the exploitation of surface water for the generation of hydropower energy is the cheapest option for the country. The province of KP is a reserve for untapped 30,000 MW and Kunhar river is a major stakeholder in energy potential. Kunhar River is currently selected for five hydropower projects for generating enough electricity for the people of KP and Kashmir. Of the five projects, the study focused on the effect of Suki Kinari dam on the downstream Patrind Weir under optimized release conditions, the latter being in operational. The first phase was rearranging of Patrind Weir to match the observed outcome of the plant as the existing operation of the project contradicted the design. An efficiency curve was deduced with R^2 =0.8,0.79,0.8 &0.79 for the available information from 2018-2021. Separate calibration and validation tools were employed to convince the applicability of the global efficiency of the turbines. The second phase involved the cascading effect of Suki Kinari on Patrind’s power output which constituted the core of the study. Operational guide curves for Suki Kinari’s impact were considered for 2018-2021 and witnessed a low impact on the power production from turbines at D/s plant. Two scenarios were tested under the guise of optimal annual energy from both projects working in cascade. Optimal guide curves were produced for Suki-Kinari under the limited data, but they produced satisfactory response. The low turnout of the scheme can be directed to actual flow not according to design flow duration curve. Furthermore, the shallow impact of Suki Kinari on Patrind might possibly be due to vast distance between the two reservoirs separated by large catchment area that is subjected to strong climatic event of precipitation at Balakot and Talhatta. Thus, analyzation of cascading effect of Suki Kinari requires the involvement of Balakot dam which lies in between the reservoirs in this study and longer duration of hydrological dataset for the catchment in necessary.