Assessment of small hydropower potential for the Olanesti River using advanced software techniques

The assessment of small hydropower potential for rivers is essential for the Renewable Energy Sources Directive implementation, in order to identify and analyze opportunities for new small hydropower developments. As the Water Framework Directive requirement is the non-deterioration of the status of the river water bodies, the aspects regarding the consistency of a flow regime downstream hydropower plant and the environmental objectives are important. The paper presents a case study, the Olanesti River (Romania), using software techniques dedicated to the assessment of small hydropower potential. The hydropower potential of the river was assessed considering the heads based on the Digital Terrain Model and the mean flow. In addition, the environmental flow was considered for the installed capacity assessment, in order to cope with the Water Framework Directive requirements. The harnessed hydropower potential, the optimal distance between the water intake and power plant location, their optimum positions along the river sector, installed capacity and electricity production, calculated at an average lifetime, are the outcomes of the software. The applicability of the tool might be extended on a regional scale in order to support the decision making authorities, taking into account the increasing demand for energy as well as the environmental issues.