MICRO-HYDROPOWER PROJECT

FOR
KAMPONG SRI STAMANG II
BATANG AI, SARAWAK
Site Assessment Report

by
SIRIM BERHAD
May 2009

SITE ASSESSMENT REPORT for

FOR THE DEVELOPMENTMINISTRY OF SCIENCE,
OF MICRO-HYDRO TECHNOLOGY AND
SYSTEM
INNOVATION
KG. SRI STAMANG II, BATANG AI, SARAWAK

1 General
Name of site 1: Sg. Berakit of Sg. Stamang, Batang Ai, Sarawak
Date of site visit: 27/04/09 to 29/04/09

1.1 Study team

SIRIM

Name
1 Azhar Mohamad
2 Mohamad Abdul Kadir Johari
3 Fakaruddin
4 Judee anak akaw
5 Kasvenda Kassim
6 Pandi Ahmad

LOCAL COMMUNITY

Name
1 Tuai Rumah
2 Wesley
3 Roger
4 Others (about 10)

1.2 Location of village / load centre

Village name: Sri Stamang II

Coordinates (GPS reading)
Easting ( E W): 111o 56.660’
Northing ( N S): 01o 18.708’
Sub District: Batang Ai
District: Lubok Antu
State/Province: Sarawak

Key Plan of Sri Stamang 2

1.3 Accessibility to the Location

Overland from Kuching via Serian and Engkilili to Batang Ai dam of about 275km
from Kuching (or 3 – 4 hrs drive). Travel by long boat for about one hour from the
lake jetty to the mouth of Stamang river and travel through rapid for another half
hour to the Sri Stamang II long house. The long house is situated on the right
bank of the river.

2 Sri Stamang II Long House

Sri Stamang II Long House is located at the right bank of the Sg. Stamang. The
Long house consists of 43 number of unit which houses 43 numbers of
households. The long house is constructed on concrete foundation, concrete
structure, brickwall and steel decking roof.
Village Layout
Community
Clinics &
House

Guest Toilet

Rice Long House

Thresher
House

Community Service Hall

Diesel Generator House

Sg
. St
am
an
g
The longhouse at a distance
The open corridor outside the Rawai

Typical House Unit Layout

Open
Corridor

20 ft
Rawai

Lounge

Bedroom

80 ft

Family Lounge

Bath
Kitchen

Toilet

20 ft.
 3 Existing Electricity Supply

Currently the electricity supply for the long house is provided by an existing
diesel engine generator running on diesel fuel which is housed in the
powerhouse located near to the long house.

The capacity of the diesel set is at 15KW and it is daily operated for only three
hours running from 6.30pm to 9.30pm and unable to run at full capacity. The fuel
for the diesel set and individual genset has to be transported by boat over long
distance and the sets have to be regularly maintained. The electricity generated
is mostly use for the purpose of lighting.

Some villagers however augmented their electricity need by running their own
genset and it is indicated under such circumstances their total expense for
providing their electricity need is around RM100 per month.

At the other side of the river, the community clinics consist of four residential
units and a block of clinic building. Currently the clinic has its own electricity
supply, running on it own diesel set.

Diesel generator set powerhouse The clinic and residential quarters

 4 Demand Appraisal

The power demand is required to provide base load and peak load requirement
for the need of the long house, the clinic complex and also there is a request for
power requirement for the nearby school about two kilometer from the long
house. There is also future demand for productive uses.

Recently the community was given by the authority one unit of rice thresher
machine. The machine however is supposed to run on genset supplied to the
community. The power requirement for such thresher is around 2.5 – 4.0kW.

Per Household

Type of load Power per No. of Total Remark

appliance Unit power
(W) (W)
Lighting Type 1 25 4 100 Bulb type at bedrooms,
Bath & toilet
Lighting Type 2 40 4 160 Florescence type at Rawai,
Lounges and kitchen
Radio 20 1 20
TV 60 1 60
Fan 40 2 80
Fridge 80 1 80
Total 500
No of HH @ longhouse 43
No of HH @ Clinic 4
Total # of HH 47
Total 23.5K Under full exposure of
W load

The actual peak load requirement is to be computed through power modeling at

the Feasibility Study stage.
 5 Preliminary Site Assessment
The main issues that should be considered in a preliminary investigation are:

5.1 The existence of a suitable waterfall or weir and a turbine site

Site inspection was carried out with the assistance of the village elders and
villagers. A suitable site based on waterfall on a cascade is identified and
preliminary assessment was carried out.

Location;

The GPS locator indicates the location as: Easting ( E W): 111o 56.864’
Northing ( N S): 01o 18.229’

Upper level waterfall, fall height about 16m Lower level cascade fall height about 15m
5.2 Consistent flow of water at a usable rate

T
h e

Sg. Berakit river stream which could provide the flow

Flow measurement;

In situ measurement using velocity area streamflow method was carried out for
the river stream. In the velocity-area method, stream velocity and water depth
measurements are taken along a transect perpendicular to the stream. Total
discharge (Q) is calculated by integrating the stream velocities with the cross
sectional area of the stream profile defined by the transect.

Discharge, or the volume of water flowing in a stream over a set interval of time,
can be determined with the equation:

Q = AV,

where Q is discharge (volume/unit time-e.g. m3/second, also called cumecs), A is

the cross-sectional area of the stream (e.g. m2), and V is the average velocity
(e.g. m/s).

Stream water velocity is typically measured using a current meter. Current

meters generally consist of a propeller or a horizontal wheel with small, cone-
shaped cups attached to it which fill with water and turn the wheel when placed in
flowing water.

The value of flow is measured and computed at 0.060m3/sec. However it should

be noted that this value is one of the value of the flow and does not represent the
true flow parameters of the river unless such measurement is taken regularly at
fixed interval over time, let say for more than a year.
However for preliminary assessment such figure could be use as a guide,
bearing in mind, from the information given by the villager that heavy rain (2
hours duration) did occur one week before the measurement is made.

5.3 The likely acceptability of diverting water to a turbine

The possible configuration of the hydro system is as follows;

Weir, ponding and intake

Low pressure
conduit Upper waterfall

Surgetank

Lower waterfall
HDPE Penstock

Power station

The water from the river main course can be diverted by raising the water level
by the weir. The diverted water enters the intake and flow through low pressure
conduit to a surgetank if necessary. The level of the surgetank is somewhat
about the same level of the weir with the provision of gradient for the low
pressure pipe. Water from the surgetank than moves down the penstock and
reaches the turbine at the powerhouse at a pressure, thus turning the hydro
turbine.

5.4 Suitable site access for construction equipment

The current access to the site is by walk path made by the villagers to get to their
rice planting areas. The path is not suitable for access to the site in view of it
steep incline and very narrow. The route follows the ridges of the hill and at
steep hillside.
A new route for access needs to be made in order for construction vehicles and
equipment to reach the side. These new road must take consideration of having
the proper incline and width. This new access may be longer in distance

Current walking path

Proposed road access

Easy access is required for not only during construction period but also for
operation and maintenance. Experience indicates that difficult access may lead
to poor operation and maintenance. The new access will also act as the route for
the transmission line. The new access proposed is about 1.3km in length.
 The current walking path is made through difficult terrain

5.5 A nearby demand for electricity, or the prospect of a grid connection

at reasonable cost

Currently there is another settlement about 3.0km on the right bank (on the same
side as the Sri Stamang II long house). There is a school complex at this village
and the villagers informed that the school needs electricity. However the
requirement of the nearby settlement including the school needs to be assessed.
However the nearby village may have a separate hydro resource which needs to
be identified.

5.6 The social and environmental impact on the local area

Generally, micro-hydro project has very low environmental impact especially of

run-of-river type. However the socio-economical benefits may be tremendous.
The proposed micro-hydro will replace the existing polluting diesel engine set in
term of air and noise pollution. The electricity could provide refrigeration of foods,
thus surplus food and food raw materials could be kept for longer period and not
wasted.

5.7 Land ownership and/or the prospect of securing or leasing land for the
scheme at a reasonable cost

The installation of the power system, the weir, intake, low pressure conduit,
surge tank, penstock and the powerhouse are normally sited along the river
corridor or the river reserve. Examination at the site, the position and the
alignment is within the forested reserve and do not involve individual title.
However the proposed access road and transmission line, customary or
individual land titles may be involved. However it should be noted that such
provision of road access will be a plus to such inaccessible lands.

5.8 An initial indication of design power and annual energy output

The accuracy of the information may only be plus or minus 25%,
however, this should be sufficient for deciding whether to proceed to a
more detailed feasibility study.

Simplified equation of calculating power for a particular hydro scheme at the

assessment stage can be as follows;

Power P (in kW) = 7 x Flow (Q in m3/sec) x Head (H in meter)

For the project above, the flow obtain by measurement based on velocity area
method is 0.06m3/sec

The gross head obtain by using the GPS altimeter is 40m (the different between
the reading at the proposed weir and the location of the powerhouse)

P = 7 x 0.06 x 40
P = 16.8kW
However it should be noted that the water flow is not always constant at the
measured figure of 0.06m3/sec. It is important to determine the firm flow and the
Flow Duration Curve of the river.

The total energy generated of the proposed project depends on the capacity
factor of the plant. The nature of isolated load indicates low utilization in the
daytime but peaking in the early evening.

However the above calculated figure is sufficient to warrant feasibility study to be

carried out.

5.9 Estimated preliminary project cost

Based on the configuration of the proposed micro-hydro power project the

following cost preliminary cost estimate for 17kW plant;

Project Costs and Savings

Initial Costs
Resource Assessment 1.02 $ 10,000
30,00
Feasibility study 3.07 $ 0
125,00
Development 12.79 $ 0
80,00
Engineering 8.19 $ 0
179,14
RE equipment 18.34 $ 7
407,50
Balance of plant 41.71 $ 0
145,32
Miscellaneous 14.87 $ 4
100.0 976,9
Initial Costs - Total % $ 71

The cost of the civil and structural work is estimated at RM400, 000 representing
41.7% of the project cost. This cost however will increase only marginally as the
size of the project increases. Project cost per kW = RM57,000

Assume that the project capacity is increased to 30kW;

Project Costs and Savings

Initial Costs
Resource Assessment 0.87 $ 10,000
Feasibility study 2.61 $ 30,000
Development 10.86 $ 125,000
Engineering 6.95 $ 80,000
 RE equipment 28.54 $ 328,435
Balance of plant 35.41 $ 407,500
Miscellaneous 14.77 $ 169,957
100.0 1,150,89
Initial Costs - Total % $ 2

There is no increase in the civil and structural cost but the percentage goes down
to 35.4%. Project cost per kW = RM38, 000

5.10 Conclusion and recommendations

The above assessment carried out is preliminary and further study need to be
carried out to ascertain the viability and feasibility of the project. From the
assessment, the project is technically feasible where by putting the micro-hydro
plant in place; it is possible to meet the power and energy requirement of the
longhouse and replacing the power and energy supplied by the current diesel
engine generation mode. Further configuring and evaluating other alternatives,
the technical solution of the project can be further optimized.

The financial viability of the project required further study and refinement of all
the parameters and factors.

The socio-economic benefit in term or EIRR (economic return) required further

study.

It is thus recommended that a feasibility study be carried out so as for the project
could reached its full potential and benefits.