HOMER Pro 3.15

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Hydro

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Important: This feature requires the Hydro module. See Adding Modules for more information on purchasing modules.

The Hydro page allows you to enter costs and turbine information for the system. Because HOMER can only consider a single size of Hydro system, the Hydro page does not contain tables of various costs or sizes. Instead, you simply specify the cost and properties of the size of Hydro Component you want to consider.

Economics

The Economics inputs specify the costs of the hydro system. Be sure to include all costs associated with the hydro system, including the civil works.

Variable	Description
Capital Cost	The initial capital cost of the hydro system
Replacement Cost	The replacement cost of the hydro system
O&M Cost	The annual cost of operating and maintaining the hydro system
Lifetime	The number of years that the hydro system is expected to last

Turbine

The Turbine inputs specify the properties of the hydro turbine.

Variable	Description
Available Head	The vertical drop between the intake and the turbine.
Design Flow Rate	The flow rate for which this hydro turbine was designed. It is often the flow rate at which the turbine operates at maximum efficiency.
Minimum Flow Ratio	The minimum flow rate of the hydro turbine, as a percentage of its design flow rate. Below this rate, the turbine produces no power.
Maximum Flow Ratio	The maximum flow rate of the hydro turbine, as a percentage of its design flow rate. The turbine generates power at the specified efficiency up to this flow. Additional flow above this level will not increase turbine power output.
Efficiency	The efficiency with which the hydro system converts the energy in the water to electricity

Electrical Bus

Select whether the hydro system consumes alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power.

Intake Pipe

The Intake Pipe input allows you to specify the frictional losses that occur in the intake pipe which reduce the energy of the water before it goes through the hydro turbine. See the glossary entry on Pipe Head Loss for help calculating the head loss.

Variable	Description
Pipe Head Loss	Pipe friction losses expressed as a percentage of the available head

Systems to Consider

The choice you make in this section affects which systems HOMER considers as it searches for the least-cost system.

Variable	Description
Simulate systems with and without the hydro turbine	Choose this option to simulate systems both with and without the hydro turbine. HOMER ranks the systems according to cost so you can see whether the hydro system is cost-effective.
Include the hydro turbine in all simulated systems	Choose this option if you want all systems to include the hydro turbine.

Note: To the right of each numerical input is a sensitivity button () that allows you to do a sensitivity analysis on that variable. For more information, see Why Would I Do a Sensitivity Analysis?