News in SHP

NEW TURNKEY PACKAGE FOR MTNT HYDRO LAUNCHED

Alstom Power's Hydro division on 22 June launched its Mini-Aqua range, as a turnkey approach to mini hydropower installation. .Extensive work over the previous year- and-a-half has contributed to the development of an integrated package, comprising turbine, generator and a PC-based control system. The company noted that there was a 'rapid growth' in the mini hydro market, caused by 'the development of distributed power.., and by the political will in many countries to increase significantly the share of renewable energy produced.'

Using standardized components, the package is designed to be suitable for a variety of heads, with applications rated from 0.5MW (the minimum end of the 'very low head' range) up to 15MW (the top of the 'high head' range). The standardized design can be automatically scaled to a given site by computer, with the turbine type varying with the different levels of head; Kaplan for very low (2-6 metre) and low (6-30 metre) heads, Francis for medium (20-300 metre) heads, and Pelton for high (150- 1000 metre) heads. Alstom foresees that Mini-Aqua will cover 80-85% of its targeted hydro market. Orders for 15 systems have already come from Brazil, and two from Morocco.

Iran funds dam completion
Iran has signed a contract with unnamed foreign financiers for US$300M to fund two half-finished dam schemes, according to Tehran radio. The schemes are the Ostur dam in Mianeh in East Azerbaijan province and the Molla Sadra dam in Fars province. The Ostur dam will have a storage capacity of 2B m3 and a 160 MW hydro power station. The dam will be completed by an Iranian company working with Swiss and Austrian assistance.
Molla Sadra will store up to 400M ms of water and generate 100MW. This dam will be completed by an Iranian company with Chinese assistance.
The Deputy Energy Minister, Rasul Zargar, said that the US$300M will be used to fund a water supply scheme in Kerman.

.. ..