Connecting small, private & independent hydro power plants to increase the overall power generating efficiency

In countries, where many small rivers exist, the geography can be used to implement environment-friendly small hydro power plants for the generation of energy. The smaller such hydro power plants are, the higher is the impact of environmental incidents. Usually, there are more than one small hydro power plants located alongside one river, mostly operated by different owners. To increase the overall power generating efficiency of all hydro power plants alongside one river, a good communication- and cooperating concept is needed. In our work, we propose a system concept and a prototype implementation for several small, private and independent hydro power plants to increase the energy production through a networked intelligent control system. We also show possibilities for avoiding events, which usually induce downtimes of the small hydro power plants. If these events can be minimized in number and duration, the overall energy production time is higher.