Powering a hill village: solar, wind or micro-hydro?
Choose solar panels, wind turbines or a micro-hydro plant for a 60-home village in Nepal's hills, and see how much energy each gives in winter, the dry spring and the monsoon.
Core concept
Renewable sources vary with the seasons; Nepal's rivers make micro-hydro powerful, while solar and wind can fill gaps
Topic: Energy
Renewable energy: What is needed to make things move, heat up, light up or grow. All key words comes from sources that do not run out: sunlight, wind and flowing water. Nepal has some of the world's steepest rivers fed by Himalayan snow, so hydropower is its biggest source of electricity, and many remote villages use their own small micro-hydro plants. But the energy each source gives changes with the season. Rivers are full in the monsoon and lowest in the dry spring before the rains. Sunshine is strongest in spring and weakest under monsoon clouds. Wind on hill ridges is stronger in winter and spring. Energy is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh); here each home needs 1.5 kWh a day.
What you will learn
- Compare the energy from solar, wind and micro-hydro in different seasons.
- Calculate how many homes a source can power.
- Evaluate which renewable sources suit Nepal and why.
Before you start
- Know that energy can be transferred from one form to another, and what renewable means.
Materials
- Village energy planning sheet
Equipment
- None for the virtual lab
Procedure
- In winter, record one solar panel set, one wind turbine and one micro-hydro plant.
- Record one micro-hydro plant in winter, the dry spring and the monsoon.
- Find and record a setup that powers all 60 homes in the dry spring.
How this simulation is simplified
- Energy per unit each day: a 1 kW solar set gives 4.5 kWh in winter, 5.5 in spring and 3 in the monsoon; a 1 kW wind turbine 3.5, 4 and 1.5; a 5 kW micro-hydro plant 60, 48 and 120, following the river flow.
- Each home needs 1.5 kWh a day; the village has 60 homes.