ASSESMENT OF TIGRIS RIVER HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL

MURATOGLU, Abdullah

M.Sc. in Civil Eng.

Supervisor:  Assist. Prof. Dr. M. İshak YÜCE

Jan 2011, 102 pages

ABSTRACT

In this study, the energy from water, hydropower, the most reliable, efficient and common type renewable energy resource among the others was assessed. Various ways of harnessing energy from water are discussed and the attention is drawn to the new approaches in hydropower extraction by comparing the conventional water energy conversion techniques. The small scale hydroelectric power plants (SHPP), run off river systems, tidal and wave energy conversion systems were introduced. Then, the hydrokinetic energy conversion systems were discussed in details which has become much more popular in the last decade. Various types of hydrokinetic turbines, their specialties and power curves were given and the new technologies for the hydrokinetic turbines were introduced. The hydropower (hydrostatic and hydrokinetic) energy potential of Tigris River Basin was evaluated by proposing different techniques on the estimation of average annual discharge, velocity and hydraulic geometry.  An equation which shows the relationship between the discharge and basin area for Tigris River was proposed by employing various flow measurement stations' data. In addition, three equations were proposed to estimate the hydraulic geometry parameters of Tigris River and its tributaries for width, depth and velocity as a function of discharge. Using these equations, one can obtain the discharge, velocity and hydraulic geometry parameters in every section of Tigris River. The discharges of various river channels within Tigris River Basin were evaluated and a discharge map was generated then, the hydropower potential of the channels was calculated and a power map was achieved. Finally, extractable hydrokinetic power potential of Tigris River was estimated via Verdant Power and Gorlov Helical Turbines.

Key Words: renewable energy, hydropower, hydrostatic, hydrokinetic, Tigris River Basin, hydraulic geometry, discharge, power, water turbine, hydroelectricity.