IIT Roorkee hosts two-day workshop on abrasive erosion in hydro plants
Roorkee: The Alternate Hydro Energy Centre (AHEC) at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee hosted a two-day workshop on 23rd and 24th February 2018 on ‘Abrasive erosion in Hydro Plants.’
The hydro-abrasive issues in Himalayan region, which causes a loss of about Rs. 750 Crore in a year for Indian hydropower plants due to drop in efficiency, forced outages, and repair.
A laboratory for sediment monitoring and impact analysis studies in hydropower plants has been set up at AHEC with the support of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to act as sediment depository for Himalayan region where hydropower plants are prone to hydro-abrasive erosion.
Inauguration the workshop Prof Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee spoke about the specific nature and importance of the workshop subject and informed the hydro fraternity about the holistic expertise available at IITR through departments.
Speaking about the importance of this workshop,Prof Arun Kumar, Professor and MNRE Chair Professor, Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, IIT Roorkee, said, “Knowledge sharing on the sediment erosion experience among the different hydropower operators shall help in better management”
The objective of the workshop was to create general awareness on technical measurement and financial aspects of hydro abrasive erosion among the hydropower developers, policy makers, manufacturers and academia. Academics, Private and foreign developers, turbine manufacturers and sediment monitoring equipment manufacturers participated in this function.
Over 80 senior officials including Central Electricity Authority, Chairman BBMB, Director HPSEB, NHPC, NEEPCO, UJVN, JKPDC, THDC, WBSEDCL, Druk Green Power from Bhutan, NEA from Nepal, Statkraft from Norway, JSW and Greenko, Turbine manufacturers Voith, Andritz, GE, Flovel and Academics from Kathmandu University, IIT Mandi and IIT Roorkee participated in the workshop.
Shri DK Sharma, Chairman BBMB, Shri PC Kureel, Secretary CEA, Shri BM Sud from HPPSEBL, Shri RN Misra, former CMD SJVN, Shri VS Verma, former Member CERC are some distinguished hydropower engineers participating in the workshop.
Hydropower plant owner shared their experience on the abrasive erosion in hydro plants. The manufacturers presented their technology for abrasive resistance material. It was resolved by all that Information sharing is the need of hour and AHEC IIT Roorkee has volunteered to be the depository of such work. All plant owners and turbine manufacturers were recommend to invest their resources in obtaining the real time data on incoming sediment and sharing with others.
Himalayas being the young mountain has substantial soil erosion resulting in high sediment concentration in rivers. It is likely that more than 2,500 MW power is lost every year due to hydro-abrasive erosion of Indian hydropower plants. If unattended, the erosion of critical components such as spears, guide vanes, labyrinth seal, runner blades, and seat rings can lead to loss of turbine efficiency as high as 8-10% after an operation during one monsoon season.
To create general awareness and finding out the analytical and mitigation measures on technical, measurement and financial aspects of hydro abrasive erosion among the hydropower developers, manufacturers and academic institutions, the following topics will be deliberated during the workshop:
1. Hydro abrasive erosion – experience and mitigation
2. Measurements in hydro plants for hydro-abrasive erosion studies
3. Instruments/methods of measurements for suspended sediment and hydro-abrasive erosion
4. What to be done by hydropower plants operators
5. Steps involved in optimization studies for hydro-abrasive erosion
6. Financial and economic analysis of hydro-abrasive erosion