Small Hydro Power Plants in Croatia

Zarko Janic
Abstract: This paper provides information about small hydro power plants in Croatia. The MAHE program (National Program of Small Hydro Power Plants Construction) has been described. Hydrological potential, costs and the prospects of small hydro plants in Croatia have been also described. Keywords: Small hydro power plants, MAHE

1.

Introduction

The hydro power plants can be categorized in many ways type of the turbine, size etc. Small hydro power plants are plants with an installed power smaller than the limit. The limit varies from state to state, in Croatia small plants are those from 10 kW to 5000 kW (5 MW) of installed power. In the European union and in the most countries of the world the limit is 10MW. Small hydro power plants can also be categorized in several ways but in this paper this issues will not be discussed. The first power plants and the first steps in the electrification of the world started mostly with small hydro power plants something more than a 100 years ago. Nowadays, the same processes are happening in remote parts of Africa, South America and Asia. [1] Programs for the energy efficiency and usage of renewable energy sources were started in 1997, by the Croatian government, among them the National Program of Small Hydro Power Plants Construction called MAHE. [1]

Among the hydro power plants, small hydro power plats make about 7% of installed power (approx. 50 GW). The potential for the total installable power is estimated to be about 180 GW, which is about 6% of the estimated total installable power in hydro power plants (for this statistics small hydro power plants were considered those with an installed power less than 10 MW). Table 1 [3]
Continent Africa Asia Australia an Oceania Europe (without Russia and Turkey) North and Central America South America Total No. of small hydro plants 165 45720 73 17328 615 438 64339 Installed power (MW) 1048,27 29877,489 157,98 2398,42 4113,25 1175,19 48770,599

2. Small hydro power plants in the world

Among the renewable sources of energy in the world, hydro power plants produce the most electric energy.

Small hydro power plants are increasing its importance in the power systems of the developed countries. There is a very large number of plants built all over the world and because of the good experiences in building and working the interest for them is increasing. Most of the small hydro power plants are private property and the numbers in table 1 show their popularity. There were more than 60000 small power plants in the world in 2002. the statistics

are based on approximately 66% of the countries. In Europe the countries with most small hydro plants and the most installed power are shown in table 2. Table 2 [3]
Country Austria Czech rep. France Germany Italy Norway Spain Sweden Switzerland Installed power (MW) 670 200 1972 1300 2000 950 1540 1050 750 No. of small hydro power plants 1720 1200 1717 6000 1510 550 * 1615 1000

4.

Croatian hydro potential

* - Data not available

3. Small hydro power plants in Croatia

There are 31 operating small power plants in Croatia with the total of about 73MW of installed power. Nine plants are private property, two are industrial plants and the rest is owned by the Croatian Electric Utility (some of which plants of biological minimum on the dams of large hydro plants) see Appendix A. There are few more plants constructed and not in use for some time which could be used again. The first step in planning and building small hydro power plants in Croatia was in 1981. when Elektroprojekt published the Plan for Development of Small Hydro Power Plants in Croatia until 2000 [4]. The next document made was Methodology and Guidelines for Design and Construction of Small Hydro Plants in Croatia [5] in 1982 which set criteria and guidelines for the next elaborates. The Register of Small Streams [6], the Register of Small Hydro Power Plants Stage I. [7] and the Register of Small Hydro Power Plants Stage II.A [8] then followed. [1]

The Register of Small Streams (KMVS), which was made in 1985, gave the first assessment of possible locations on 134 streams. From those 63 streams have been judged as suitable for small hydro power plants. On those 63 streams 699 locations were identified. All of them were categorized in 4 categories see table 3. The total installed power on those 699 locations could be about 177 MW (natural gross power of 135 MW), and the technically usable annual production of 567,7 GWh (natural gross potential of 1180 GWh). The first category is the most interesting for investors but they are mostly in areas of protected environment, although they can be very well incorporated with the environment their future is uncertain. Because of the small net head, very high flow and, consequently, a small installed power and small amount of energy, the fourth category can be eliminated. Table 3 [2]
1 No. of locations Average net head Maximum flow Average installed pover Average annual production No. of locations Average net head Maximum flow Average installed pover Average annual production No. of locations Average net head Maximum flow Average installed pover Average annual production No. of locations Average net head Maximum flow Average installed pover Average annual production 108 16,62m 8,04m3/s 791,3 kW 3564 MWh 244 5,33m 9,81m3/s 247,35 kW 1115 MWh 231 3,11m 6,69m3/s 95,47 kW 430 MWh 116 0,998m 13,08m3/s 73,53 kW 346 MWh

The table 4 shows that less than 3% of the locations would have an installed power between 5 and 1,5 MW but more important

is that its installed power would be nearly 1/3 of the total installed power. Table 4 [2]
Installed power (kW) 5000-1500 1500-1000 1000-500 500-100 Under 100 TOTAL No. of locations 20 17 42 296 324 (3%) (2%) (6%) (42%) (47%) 699 Total installed power (kW) 50232 21723 28768 55667 20765 (29%) (12%) (16%) (31%) (12%) 177155

hydro power plants would be one of the results as well. [3] Based on the contact with the institutions the environmental protection and cultural heritage protection restrictions were identified as the more restricting. One of the main reasons is the current approach so that all the restrictions are made for the whole stream and not for specific locations. [3] Table 5 [3]
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Location Butisnica 1 Butisnica 2 Cetina - Cikotina lada Cetina - Vinalic Jadro 2 Jadro 2 Kupcina 2 Kupcina 3 Kupcina 4 Kupcina 5 Kupcina 7 Ljuta 2 Mirna bridge Orljava 1 Orljava 2 Orljava 3 Orljava 4 Orljava 4-1 Orljava 5 Orljava 6 Orljava 7 Orljava 8 Ovrlja 1 Pantana 1 Ruda Velika 1 Ruda Velika 2 Vitunjcica 1 Vitunjcica 2 Vitunjcica 3 Zrmanja Vrelo 1

It was planed that the Register of Small Hydro Power Plants (KMHE) would be made in two stages. The first stage gave the designs for plants on 13 streams. 50 possible locations were identified (see Appendix B) and 10 of the possible locations were studied more thoroughly giving basic principles for constructing plants (guidelines for the type of structures, hydro mechanical equipment etc.). The selected 13 streams are Bregana, Brzaja, Buticnica, Cabranka, Jadro, Krupica, Krusa, Ljuta, Orljava, Ovrlja, Ruda Velika, Rumin Veliki and Zrnovnica. It was planed that the Stage II would study all the other streams but it was not carried out according to the plan, so only 4 streams have been studied Cuckov Jarak, Kupcina, Slapnica and Vitunjcica. In those 4 streams 17 possible locations were identified see Appendix C.

5.

Pilot program

In 1998 the pilot program has been started. The program included 50 locations from the first stage of the Register of small hydro power plants, 17 from the second (II.A) stage and more 10 as a result of interest of investors in some locations. This way the program wanted to encourage building of small hydro power plants. The main goal of the pilot program was to test the procedure of planning, engineering and building small hydro power plants. The more accurate Croatian potential of small

As a result of space-planning 33 locations have been eliminated. Two projects (Krupa 3 and 4) have been joint into one project so 41 project went to the next level (2 projects were added later on). Based on the cultural heritage and environmental protection more 13 projects have been eliminated, leaving 30 locations in the pilot programs table 5. [3]

6.

Finances

According to the regulations in the energy sector Besides the Croatian Electric Utility (HEP), persons, companies and other legal persons can also produce and distribute electric power. so it is a possibility for investors because of the easy construction and maintenance as well as the good rate of return. [9] One of the key issues is the construction cost. The four categories from the previous chapter give four categories of construction costs. The coefficient of the profitability (Cp) gives an approximate picture of the construction cost. [10] Cp = C tot Pmax

power is under 500kW is 75% of the average price of electric energy and for plants with an installed power grater than 500kW is 65% of the average price of electric energy for buyers [2]. Calculations for a pilot project (Krupa-3), done by MAHE, show that the project is profitable. The MAHE program suggests that because most of the locations are located in rural undeveloped areas and areas of special state care (occupied areas or areas on the first line during the war), the local government should encourage such programs to gain advantages for the local community (through taxes, concessions etc.). Such facilitations should be introducing the possibility of power plants in urban plans, permission for the building etc even prior to the interest of investors.

7.

Environmental impact

Ctot total cost Pmax maximum installed power These are the estimations of the construction costs per installed power for the four categories. [10] 1. Cp 2. 2500 US$/kW US$/kW 3. 4500 US$/kW US$/kW 4. 6000 US$/kW 2500 US$/kW Cp 4500 Cp Cp 6000

The percentages of specific parts of the total cost are shown in table 6. Table 6 [2]
Preparation and construction Hydro-mechanical equipment Electric and machinery equipment Connection with the electric system Other (studies, project, buy offs etc.) 40-70% 1-2% 20-40% Up to 20% 5-10%

Small hydro plants, as all other types of plants, have environmental impacts. Because of their small size, if constructed taking into account all factors, they can have a really small impact or even improve it. The basic impacts on the environment are the change in the parameters of water (percentage of oxygen in the water, decrease of speed of the flow, level of the water, possible decrees of biodiversity etc.). The most important is to estimate correctly the biological minimum. If it is not calculated correctly it can result in extinction of plants and animals, especially in the zone between the intake and the exhaust. There are a lot of endemic and rare species in Croatia, which makes these calculations even more important. For example Switzerland the Mattheyes equation is used for calculating the biological minimum [10]. 15 ln V347 Vmin biological minimum (l/s) V347 water flow in 347 days in year (l/s) Vmin = V347
2

The Croatian Electric Utility guarantees the buying of the entire production of electric energy. The price is set by the regulations. For plants whose installed

There is always the possibility of the contamination by various types of oil and other liquids used during construction and use of the plant. Knowing that the most profitable locations in Croatia are those in National parks and other areas of protected environment, the standards for these plants should be set high and the authorities should strictly control their appliance. Because of the small size of small hydro power plant accumulation lake, it should not have a big impact on the level of underground water, which can have a significant impact on the surrounding vegetation. Level of noise produced by the equipment, nowadays, is considerably under the recommended levels so no noise contamination should be experienced. There are a lot of possible good impacts. First of all is the decrease of the possibility of floods. Small hydro plants as one of the renewable types of plants do not use fossil fuels. For example a 5 MW plant using fossil fuels uses 1400 toe (tons of oil equivalent) per year. It also produces about 16000t of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 1100t of sulfur dioxide (SO2). The structure itself (the dam and the powerhouse) can be a degradation of the environment but not necessarily. The powerhouse can be built underground or well integrated in the environment. The dam can also be well integrated in the surrounding environment. Special attention should be given to road construction, used during building of the structure and for later maintenance. The accumulation lake can be attractive for fishing, tourism, recreation etc. One of Croatians priorities is tourism. Nowadays the continental part (and the whole noncoastal part) of Croatia is not yet valorized enough as a tourist destination so small hydro power plants can be a possible location for development of recreation or fishing tourism.

8.

Conclusion

The legislation was not discussed in the paper, the main reason is a lack of experience and consequently the necessary time for gaining all approvals is hard to estimate - it should be 4-5 years. For example in Switzerland it is 1-3 years, in Austria from 3 months (theoretical minimum) to several years. [2] The register of small hydro power plants has not been carried out completely so some of the water streams are not yet considered and possible locations are not yet identified. Because of the approach to restrictions, which apply to the whole stream, it is nearly impossible to build a small hydro power plant [3]. The possibility of integrating small hydro power plants in the water supply system has not yet been studied in Croatia. Turbines can be installed in the closed systems with a fall. For example in Czech republic and Slovakia there is more than 3,3MW of installed power on 22 locations in the potable water supply system. [3] External costs are not yet included in the price of electric energy. It would give an advantage to small hydro power plants as they do not emit any harmful gases or particles. Studies show that because most of locations are in rural area, small hydro power plant would give an increase of stability of electric energy supply and in some cases a decrease of loses in electric energy transmission [3]. Regulations on the use of renewable energy sources are in the procedure and the draft version provides a system of bonuses for among others small hydro power plants by annual bonuses depending on the annual energy production. [11] The Croatian government is preparing a decision on the minimal share of renewable sources of energy for all distributors in Croatia. It should be 4,5% of

energy, which cannot be less than 300MW [12]. Maybe those regulations will actualize the building of small hydro power plants in Croatia.

References
[1] Austrian National Committee on Large Dams: Austrian hydro power professionals 2nd edition [2] Basic, Hubert et al.: MAHE: National Program of Small Hydro Power Plants Construction, Energy institute Hrvoje Pozar, Zagreb, 1998. [3] Basic, Hubert: New Approach to Planning Small Hydro Power Plants Construction, Faculty of Electric Engineering and Computing, doctors dissertation, Zagreb 2003 [4] Plan for Development of Small Hydro Power Plants in Croatia until 2000, Elktroprojekt inzenjering, Zagreb, 1981 [5] Methodology and Guidelines for Design and Construction of Small Hydro Plants in Croatia, Elektroprojekt inzenjering, Zagreb, 1982 [6] Register of Small Streams, Elektroprojekt inzenjering, 1989. [7] Register of Small Hydro Power Plants Stage I., Elektroprojekt inzenjering, 1993. [8] Register of Small Hydro Power Plants Stage II.A, Elektroprojekt inzenjering, 1993. [9] Croatian Electric Utility: Small HydroPower Plants, Croatian Electric Utility, Zagreb, 1993. [10] Labudovic, Boris et al.: Renewable energy sources, Energetika marketing, Zagreb, 2002. [11] Regulations on the Use of Renuwable Energy Sources, draft version no. 19, August 19 2003 [12] Decision on Minimal Share of Renewable Sources of Energy, without Large Hydro Power Plants, in the Structure of Electric Energy of the Companies Involved in Electric Energy Distribution, draft version

Zarko Janic was born in Pula, Croatia, in 1980. He is a student at the Department of Power Systems of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb, Croatia. He has been among the 10% of the most successful students of the Faculty throughout his studies. He is the winner of the Josip Loncar Award in 2002 and 2003, and the Hrvoje Pozar Award in 2003. He is a member of DOOR Society for Sustainable Development Design and of DOOR working group for the project MojaEnergija (MyEnergy).

Contact: Zarko Janic zarko.janic@pu.htnet.hr Ginzkeyeva 1, 52100 Pula, Croatia DOOR Society for Sustainable Development Design, Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Appendix A
Operating small hydro power plant in Croatia [5] Name HE Mreznica 2 HE Mreznica 2 HE Cabranka 2 HE Kupa 2 HE Finvest II 2 HE Kupcina 6 2 HE Orljava 7 2 HE Pamucna industrija Duga Resa 1 HE Tvornica cementa 10. kolovoza Majdan 1 HE Finvest I 2 HE Roski slap 2 HE Krcic 3 HE Gojak 3 HE Varazdin 3 HE Vinodol 3 HE Senj 3 HE Orlovac 3 CHE Lepenica 3 HE Cakovec 3 HE Zavrelje 3 HE Dubrava 3 HE Zeleni Vir 3 HE Ozalj II 3 HE Zakucac 3 HE Ozalj I 3 CHE Fuzine 3 HE Kraljevec 3 CHE Busko Blato 3 HE Jaruga 3 HE Golubic 3 HE Miljacka 3 TOTAL
1 2

Installed power (MW) 0,004 0,006 0,008 0,01 0,03 0,045 0,065 1,16 1,2 1 1,4 0,3 0,32 0,585 0,4 0,64 0,8 1,1 1,44 1,47 1,8 1,8 2,2 2,4 3,3 4 4,77 4,8 5,6 6,54 24 73,193

Average annual production (GWh) * 0,042 * * 0,13 0,6 * 3,87 3,5 3,17 5,583 2 * 3,8 * * 0,6 0,5 9,03 4 11,3 8 10 3,2 14,1 4,5 23,666 0 35 20,1 115 281,691

Industrial power plant Private property 3 owned by Croatian Electric Utility * data not available

Appendix B
Possible 50 locations from the Register of Small Hydro Power Plants Stage I. [1]
Stream Bregana-1 Bregana-2 Bregana-3 Bregana-4 Bregana-5 Bregana-6 Bregana-7 Brzaja-1 Brzaja-2 Brzaja-3 Brzaja-4 Butisnica-1 Butisnica-2 Cabranka-1 Cabranka-2 Cabranka-3 Cabranka-4 Cabranka-5 Cabranka-6 Cabranka-7 Cabranka-8 Cabranka-9 Cabranka-10 Jadro-1 Jadro-2 Krupa-1 Krupa-2 Krupa-3 Krupa-4 Krupa-5 Krupica-1 Krupica-2 Ljuta Orljava-1 Orljava-2 Orljava-3 Orljava-4 Orljava-5 Orljava-6 Orljava-7 Orljava-8 Ovrlja Ruda Velika-1 Ruda Velika-2 Ruda Velika-3 Rumin Veliki Zrnovnica-1 Zrnovnica-2 Zrnovnica-3 Zrnovnica-4 Installed power (kW) 43 49 33 49 45 55 129 63 70 39 37 473 84 185+45 207 220 233 232 216 399 1378 402 469 192 200 542 1070 1592 1084 1435 1380 1406 2206 132 75 98 90 156 251 217 159 72 702 415 149 364 325 332 129 77 Annual production (kWh) 267294 304813 209176 313190 302603 374435 823048 339102 374177 226650 216723 2783439 553607 1330538 989007 1051919 1200605 1196229 1114535 1841314 6355581 1853263 2165127 996421 1035712 2413805 4003032 6039890 4126804 5506079 5534534 5513359 8245366 684139 389902 512402 461321 804902 1298774 1121439 823719 418272 4484196 2558540 1306123 1555486 1619318 1651662 644071 383911 Installed stream flow (m3/s) 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 0,5 1,6 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,3 2,8 2,8 0,7 + 0,3 1,8 1,8 1,8 1,8 1,8 3,3 3,3 3,3 3,3 6,87 4,81 2,8 8,6 10,0 10,0 10,0 10,0 23,0 7,5 2,5 2,5 2,6 3,1 4,7 5,4 7,9 8,1 1,03 10,0 17,0 5,0 8,7 1,8 1,8 1,8 1,8 Net head (m) 10,90 12,43 8,53 12,90 11,53 13,95 10,27 26,78 29,55 16,44 15,72 21,52 3,84 35 + 21 14,62 15,55 16,46 16,40 15,28 15,41 53,19 15,51 18,12 3,57 5,30 24,67 15,86 2,03 13,81 18,28 17,59 7,79 37,48 6,74 3,83 4,82 3,68 4,23 5,92 3,50 2,50 8,91 8,95 3,11 3,80 5,33 23,03 23,49 9,16 5,46

Appendix C
Possible 17 locations from the Register of Small Hydro Power Plants Stage II.A [1]
Stream Cuckov Jarak Kupcina-1 Kupcina-2 Kupcina-3 Kupcina-4 Kupcina-5 Kupcina-6 Kupcina-7 Slapnica-1 Slapnica-2 Slapnica-3 Slapnica-4 Slapnica-5 Slapnica-6 Vitunjcica-1 Vitunjcica-2 Vitunjcica-3 Installed power (kW) 190 98 23 26 65 37 60 37 50 45 40 66 86 109 56 56 56 Annual production (kWh) 115740 608400 136800 157300 399400 232600 369400 246300 296800 269400 239400 400000 526300 648900 276600 271600 306400 Installed stream flow (m3/s) 0,3 0,2 1,0 1,3 2,3 2,6 2,6 2,6 0,4 0,4 0,5 0,8 0,8 0,9 3,3 3,6 4,3 Net head (m) 73,30 57,80 2,60 2,30 3,30 1,70 2,70 1,8 14,10 12,80 9,10 9,50 12,50 13,70 2,00 1,80 1,70