Research project on small hydro: BEDUIN (BEDre Utforming av Inntak, “better design of intakes”)

The BEDUIN project was commissioned by NVE (Norges Vassdrags– og Energidirektorat) to the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering of NTNU. NVE is the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate which is responsible for the management of Norway’s water and energy resources.

Today it is relatively common that private individuals, mostly farmers, build a micro or small hydropower plant on their land. The owners can directly use the electricity which they produce and sell it to the grid if there is any surplus. However new and specific challenges appeared with the development of small hydropower plants.

Challenges related to the site:

• Debris, ice, sediment, and air entrainment are common problems due to the small size of the intake ponds.
• Frazil ice problems due to the building of intakes downstream of water falls. Indeed many water falls are environmentally protected.

Challenges related to the developers and the resources:

• Many new developers are very resourceful but have little knowledge about hydropower.
• The developers often cannot afford to hire a consulting company for the planning and design.

The purpose of the BEDUIN research project was to find solutions to those specific challenges. The project included:

• Phone survey and power plant visits to identify the problems at intakes.
• Power plant monitoring for debris and sediment problems.
• Handbook on intakes with the procedure for hydraulic design of the different intake types and intake components.
• Coanda effect screens laboratory tests.