Design and Development of Savonious low head Hydropower Turbine

Abstract - The contribution of renewable energy in the global electricity production is 26.2% of which 15.8% is the share of hydropower (REN21, 2019). Hydropower is the largest contributor in renewable energy but has various negative impacts on biodiversity and now-a-days, society aims to produce energy in an efficient and sustainable manner. This is the reason that growth rate of large hydropower is reduced. But unlike solar and wind, hydro is 24X7 available, reliable and predictable source of energy and therefore instead of out-looking this source, it is better to utilize the water energy more effectively. Small hydropower has been evolved as a solution to the adverse impact of large hydropower on the Environment. In small hydropower, energy can be harnessed by static and kinetic method. Energy is harnessed by creating water head in static method and using flow velocity in kinetic method. Now-a-days hydrokinetic technology is growing extensively and emerging as a promising technique which utilizes the flow velocity for the energy generation. In the present study, an attempt has been made to savonious hydrokinetic turbines with the aim to develop hydropower as low head turbines. The methodology of the study comprises of five steps involving data collection from the study area, turbine designing, numerical simulation followed by post processing and analysis of the results. Keywords: low head, hydrokinetic, savonious turbines, hydropower.