Exergy Analysis of ElRoseires Dam Hydropower Plant

Abstract

Renewable sources of electricity production have become a matter of priority in many countries around the world, one of the sustainable energy sources is hydropower energy, and it is environmentally friendly; so it should be utilized efficiently and effectively. Hydropower plants are widely used in Sudan grid network, El Roseires hydropower plant is considered as one of these plants. This research aims to evaluate the exergy (second law) analysis of the performance of El Roseires hydropower plant to identify the potential for improvement, using actual operational data. Exergy efficiency and exergy destruction rate of each unit in the plant were determined independently. This analysis was performed to quantify thermodynamic inefficiencies of all units of the plant in order to identify the breakthrough points for further energy savings. The results indicated that the lowest exergy destruction rate is on August, in spite, it had the lowest energy produced; this because the volumetric flow rate is less than other months which it led to less flow turbulence resulting in low exergy destruction, opposite to December which it had the greatest exergy destruction because of the great amount of volumetric flow rate for same pipe dimeter that led to more turbulent flow and resulting in more exergy destruction. This study clearly showed the effectiveness of exergy analysis for determining irreversibilities and losses occurring in El Roseires hydropower plant in order to improve its thermodynamic performances.