Hydro Power from Existing Irrigation Reservoirs in Sri Lanka

Abstract

For over four decades from the time oil producing countries started increasing prices, the local intellectual community had been discussing and debating the subject of the use of alternate energy sources. Some progress has been achieved using mini and micro-hydro technologies to harness energy from streams which have adequate heads. However, the feasibility of harnessing the energy of water released for irrigation purposes from the many tanks that are in existence from ancient times has not been tried out. Until recent times what was technically acceptable had been that large head difference is required to generate hydropower. However, recent research work had demonstrated that it is possible to produce electricity from heads even as low as 5 m. Many of our existing reservoirs have head differences over 5 ms. The focus of this paper is on studying at a basic level the possibility of generating electrical power from the many existing reservoirs that have been used for centuries without affecting irrigation purposes that support agriculture.