Proposing sustainable small hydropower plant for rural setting: a case study of Kilondo village Ludewa

The remoteness of Kilondo village and its topography makes it difficulty to be connected from the national electric grid. A centralized stand alone hydropower plant can therefore make a sustainable solution for Kilondo village electrification. The methods used in this study included: assessing electricity demand; identifying potential hydropower sites; estimating stream flow regime; conducting preliminary design and environmental, social and economic appraisal of project. Energy demand survey for Kilondo village was done and 348 potential consumers and with a diversified market demand of 86.7 kW was identified. Kilondo river has a potential of producing electricity by using hydro turbo-generator. The proposed site has a gross head of 117m and designed flow of 19m3/s and can produce power of 15.6MW which is obtained in a 95% of the time. RETScreen module was used to validate the data calculated manually and power obtained from the module was 18 MW. Annual energy production estimated from the module was 130375MWh and the anticipated revenue to be collected is $ 6,511,445. The proposed Kilondo hydropower project has been analysed, its benefits have been maximized and negative environmental, social and economic impacts have been minimized so it is sustainable. Based on the analytical work and experimental investigation an appropriate small hydropower plant for producing electricity for rural settlement has been proposed which has negative impact on the environment and positive impact to social welfare of Kilondo people.The limitation of this project is that it isolated and anticipated power to be produced exceeds demand of Kilondo village. It requires another cost of building infrastructure of transmitting electricity to the national grid, this transmission cost will increase the payback ratio.For the Kilondo hydropower scheme to be sustainable there is a need to recognize entitlements and share benefits with directly affected people. The goal should be to ensure that all individuals and communities affected by developments gain sustainable benefits.