Proposed Method to Determine the Potential Location of Hydropower Plant: Application at Rawatamtu Watershed, East Java

Abstract

Potential of hydroelectric plants depend on the availability of discharge and head flow. The steep slope of rivers and the abundant of water flow in rural areas are as potential locations of hydroelectric power plant site (HPPS). The lack of discharge data measurements on the tributaries are the main obstacles to determining the potential sites. This paper proposed a method to identify the potential sites for HPPS. The method based on two main information: (1) location of the steepest slope, and (2) discharge generation of tributaries. In this case, ASTER GDEM 2 was used to: delineate watershed boundary, determine river network, and derive slope. Then, long section of the selected tributaries was analyzed to obtain the location the steepest slope potentially to HPPS. Furthermore, generated discharges for selected sites were calculated using Clark UH running under HEC-HMS program. The model was calibrated using daily discharge data observed at the watershed outlet. The time series period used for calibration process is range from 2002 to 2014. Simulation model of rainfall-runoff at a variety of outlets were selected to obtain the dependable discharge assisted with hydro-office program. This result show that total potential of hydroelectric plants can reach up to 653 kW.