Traditional Hydropower Plant Revamping based on a

Variable-Speed Surface Permanent-Magnet High-

Torque-Density Generator
A. Tessarolo◆, F. Luise◆◆, P. Raffin◆◆ and M. Degano◆
◆ Industrial Engineering and Information Technology Dept., University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
◆◆ Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali – Motors, Generators and Drives Business Unit – R&D Dept., Monfalcone, Italy

Abstract—In today’s energy-saving and optimization II. HYDROPOWER PLANT DESCRIPTION

programs, hydroelectric power plays a key role as it is based
on a clean renewable energy source and capable of fulfilling
a significant portion of the overall power demand. However,
many hydropower plants have been in service for decades
and are built with obsolete technology. In order to better
exploit their potentialities, they often need large renewal or
revamping actions. This paper offers an example showing
how a traditional 600-kW run-of-river hydropower plant
performance and layout can be enhanced by replacing
fixed-speed induction generators with variable-speed
permanent-magnet generators suitable for direct coupling
with the hydraulic turbine and connected to the grid
through an AC/AC power converter.
The 600 kW run-of-river plant being addressed in this paper
(Fig. 1) is placed a few hundreds of meters upstream the
river outlet. Thereby the hydraulic head is subject to strong and
frequent variations due both to up- stream water level
fluctuations (Fig. 1A) and to the tides on the downstream side
(Fig. 2B).
In the previous configuration, the plant was based on
tubular Kaplan turbines with controllable blade pitch driving
grid-connected high speed (6-poles) squirrel cage induction
generators through gearboxes (Fig. 2a).

Index Terms—Surface permanent magnet machines,

Electric generators, Hydropower plants, Renewable energy
sources, Plant revamping.

I. INTRODUCTION
In today’s energy saving and optimization programs,
hydroelectric power plants play an important role because they
can simultaneously guarantee: no polluting emissions; use
of a renewable energy source; significant energy production
capability compared to other environmental-friendly power
plants like solar, photovoltaic and wind generation ones [1],
[2]. While most of photovoltaic and solar parks as well as most
of wind power plants are being built ex novo using relatively new
and advanced technologies, many electric power stations
based on hydraulic turbines have been in service for several
decades and are built with old technologies. These power
plants often need to be renewed or revamped by
replacing old equipment with new mechanical and electrical
apparatus to guarantee a better exploitation of hydroelectricity in
terms of performance, efficiency and output power quality [3]-
[5].
This paper reports on the revamping project accomplished
on a 600 kW run-of-river plant located in Northern Italy. The
project included the replacement of the previously used fixed-
frequency induction generators [6], coupled to the hydraulic
turbines through a gear-box, with a variable-speed permanent-
magnet alternator directly coupled to the turbine and connected
to the grid via an AC/AC converter. The guidelines followed in
the generator design concept are discussed along with the
advantages achieved with the new system configuration.
Fig. 1. Hydropower plant externals: (A) Upstream view; (B)
Downstream view.

978-1-4244-8930-5/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 350

 Fig. 3. Electrical schemes for: (a) the original solution; (b) the new solution.
T = turbine; GB = gear box; G = generator.

TABLE I
CHARACTERISTIC DATA OF THE ORIGINAL TURBINES
Rated power 210 kW
Rated flow 6.85 m3/s
Rated head 3.5 m
Rated speed 200 rpm

TABLE II
TURBINE OPERATING VALUES AFTER REVAMPING
Rated flow 7.4 m3/s
Maximum head 4.5 m
Minimum head 3.2 m
Fig. 2. (a) Original solution; (b) new solution.
Speed range 170 ÷ 240 rpm

Due to its considerable generator, the generator was TABLE III

suitable for a horizontal-axis mounting arrangement, while
Kaplan turbine shaft was slant in order to better exploit the
available water head (Fig. 1a). This required a quite complex
transmission system in addition to the gear-box in order to
transfer the torque between generator and turbine non-aligned
shafts.
Furthermore, except for the small speed adjustment
allowed by induction generator slip, turbines were
constrained to rotate at a fixed speed dictated by the grid
frequency. This led to poor efficiency values when the
hydraulic head deviated from the rated value, as often
occurred due to tides on one plant side and to changes in the
feeding river level on the other side.
To overcame the aforementioned issue, in the
revamping project the same tubular Kaplan turbines are used in
combination with directly-coupled variable-speed (32-poles)
Surface Permanent Magnet (SPM) generators.
On one side, using a variable-frequency solution allows
for a more flexible and effective exploitation of turbines, which
can be operated over a wider working range, as illustrated
by Table I and Table II.
On the other side, using a variable-speed generator
implies a variable output generator frequency and then
requires an AC/AC converter to interface the electric
machine to the fixed-frequency (50 Hz) grid being supplied
(Fig. 3). The dual-stage converter consists of two identical
PWM modules (rectifier and inverter)
POWER ELECTRONICS CONVERTER DATA
AC voltage 500 V
DC link voltage 675 V
AC current 510 A
Cooling fluid water
Control algorithm Sensorless
connected by a DC link; the main converter data are given
in Table III.
The characteristics of the previously-used electric
generator (induction machine) and of the new one (SPM
machine) are summarized in Table IV. It can be seen that not
only the machine type has changed, but also the power
rating has been significantly increased (from 226 to 305 kVA) so
as to fit the new turbine operating range.
III. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE NEW
POWER PLANT DESIGN
The new power plant design implemented in the
revamping project suffers from the evident drawback that some
power electronics equipment (AC/AC power converter) is
needed. Such new equipment means additional room to
be allocated for its installation, additional maintenance
activities and, moreover, it causes some power losses (in the
electronic switches) that were

351
 TABLE IV
CHARACTERISTIC DATA OF THE ORIGINAL INDUCTION GENERATOR AND THE NEW SPM ONE
SPM generator Induction generator
Rated power kVA 305 226
Number of poles - 32 6
Frequency range Hz 45.3 ÷ 64.0 50
Rated voltage V 435 V 380 V
Speed range rpm 170 ÷ 240 1009
Power factor - ~ 1.00 0.87
Weight kg 4200 1700
Efficiency % 98.1 93,5
Rated torque kNm 13.9 2,0
Torque/weight ratio N m / kg 3.7 1.2

not present in the original solution. From a reliability
viewpoint, it is apparent that employing power electronics
apparatus with the relevant auxiliaries also introduces some
new possible fault sources.
On the other side, the following advantages can be
recognized in the revamped plant arrangement.
A. Hydraulic turbine efficiency
In the new configuration, the generating groups are not
constrained to rotated at a fixed speed dictated by grid
frequency. In fact, the AC/AC converter acts as an
interface which decouples generator and grid frequencies. As a
consequence, the water flow through the turbines and their
rotational speed can be changed, by blade pitch adjustment,
depending on the currently measured head. Both the water flow
and the head are measured on line and transmitted to the
automated control system which
governs turbine blade position angles.
The control algorithm used to adjust Kaplan turbine blades
is based on the so-called “hill-diagrams” for this kind of
turbines. An example is shown in Fig. 4. Setting the rotational
speed n on the x-axis and the water flow rate Q on the y-axis
and assuming a constant hydraulic
head, we can see that the turbine operating point (n, Q) lies on
a line that depends on the blade angle aR. In the same
diagram, the loci of the working points having equal
efficiency (iso-efficiency curves) can be also plot. The
maximum-efficiency operating point (with coordinates
nopt, Qopt) is then determined, for a given head, as the point
included in all the iso-efficiency curves (Fig. 4).
Based on the described “hill diagrams”, the automatic control
can adjusts the blade angle aR so that the turbine working point
remains in the neighborhood of the maximum efficiency point
regardless of the present head. Because in the energy
conversion chain the turbine is the component having the
lowest efficiency, this brings to remarkable benefits also in
terms of pay-back time for the power plant revamping
investment.
As an example, Fig. 5 shows the law with which the
generating group speed should be controlled as a function of the
currently measured head to a achieve optimal efficiency
conditions.
B. Electric generator and turbine-generator coupling
l) Original solution
In the original solution, the electric generator was
coupled to the turbine through a gear-box having a rated gear
ratio of 1:5. The reason for using a gear-box mainly derived
from the need to reduce the electric generator size. In fact, let
us call Pturb the power developed at

Fig. 4. “Hill diagram” for a Kaplan turbine with controllable blade angle Fig. 5. Speed as a function of the current hydraulic head.
aR assuming a constant head.

352
turbine shaft and passing through the gear-box, qgb the gear-
box ratio, xturb and xgen the turbine and generator speeds (in
mechanical radians per second) respectively, Tturb and Tgen the
turbine and generator torques, fgrid the grid frequency, pgen the
generator number of pole pairs. Neglecting gear-box losses,
we can write:

xturb Tgen
qgb = = (1)
xgen Tturb
Pturb = Tturbxturb = Tgenxgen (2)
x
Tgen = Tturb turb
= Tturb q gb (3)
x gen
xgen 1 xturb
f grid = pgen = pgen (4)
Fig. 7. Overall dimensions of the SPM generators.
2n 2n qgb

For a given generator technology, it is well known that the
machine volume Vgen (as far as the active parts are
concerned) is roughly proportional to its torque [7], so (3) yields:
Vgen a qgb
Along with the generator volume, the gear ratio
selection also determines generator number of poles in case of
direct connection to a fixed-frequency grid; in fact from (4) we
have:
2n f grid
pgen = qgb (6)
xturb
Based on the equation written above, the choice of
qgb=1/5 led to a 6-pole machine which could be realized
as an induction generator with acceptable weight and size
[6].
However, the relatively high axial length of the
generator made it unfit for a slant-axis installation.
Compared to the wound-field synchronous generator
solution, the induction machine alternative offered the benefit
of no excitation system. This advantage was yet
paid in terms of poor efficiency and power fact values (Table
III).
2) New solution
In the revamping project, the use of permanent-magnet
technology allows to significantly increase the torque density
(5) in generator design. This makes it possible to both increase
the generator power rating (by over 30%)
and choose a direct coupling solution ( qgb=1) while
retaining machine volume and weight within acceptable limits.
In quantitative terms, from Table III one can see that for the
SPM generator solution, the torque over weight
ratio is nearly three times higher than for the induction
generator. A picture of the manufactured SPM generators and a
sketch showing their overall dimensions are given
in Figs. 6 and 7.
Various design provisions have been taken in the
machine concept and development stage in order to
increase the power density and performance. The most
significant ones are listed next.
a) Electromagnetic design
The machine electromagnetic design is the result of a multi-
objective optimization process aiming at different targets. In
addition to reducing active part volumes and weights, these
further objectives are taken into account:
• a high efficiency (greater than 98%);
• low noise and vibration levels;
• low active part temperature to increase machine
expected lifetime;
• good no-load electromotive force waveform to avoid
generating low-frequency voltage disturbances;
• an axially-compact generator shape tailored on the slant-
axis mounting arrangement requirement (Fig. 2b).
The use of permanent magnets as a source of rotor
magneto-motive force is a solution that intrinsically leads to
reduce machine dimensions and increase machine efficiency
as it eliminates the room needed for rotor excitation
windings and the joule losses that originate in them.

Fig. 6. Picture of the manufactured PM generators ready for installation.

353

Fig. 7. Generator cross-section analyzed by Finite Element Method (FEM)
during machine development stage.
The high-pole-number design (32 poles) resulting from the
direct coupling solution is also favorable in terms of torque
density minimization as the output coefficient is known to
increase as the number of pole grows [7]. This is especially due
to the possibility to use very thin yoke thicknesses on both
stator and rotor side (Fig. 7) thanks to the small flux per pole.
Minimization of electromagnetic noise and vibrations is
pursued by a proper combination of the number of stator
slots and rotor poles to contain cogging torque effects as
much as possible. A fractional-slot stator winding design is
adopted for this purpose.
A further issue faced in the generator electromagnetic
development is connected with the rectangular stator slots
(required by the preformed coil winding technology). In fact, this
slot shape is characterized by large slot openings which induce
important slot harmonics in the air-gap field. Slot harmonics
are detrimental both as a possible source of electromagnetic
noise and due to the eddy- current losses they generate
inside rotor permanent magnets. To minimize such effects,
magnetic wedges (with appropriate magnetic permeability) are
employed, which significantly reduce the dips caused by
slot openings in the air-gap flux-density profile and then
make machine flux distribution much smoother that it would
be with non-magnetic wedges.
A good harmonic quality of the no-load electromotive force is
mainly achieved by an optimal selection of the permanent-
magnet pole coverage and geometric shape.
As concerns the cooling system, a heat exchanger
integrated into the generator frame is adopted as the most
effective solution. The heat exchanger consists of a
refrigerating coil mounted directly inside the machine frame,
which is directly in contact with the stator yoke.
Thanks to the thin stator yoke and to the high thermal
conductivity of the laminated core in the radial direction, the heat
which originates due to stator core losses and
354
Fig. 8. Cooling system based on a refrigerating coil integrated into the generator
frame.
stator joule losses can very effectively flow as shown in Fig. 8
and be transferred to the cooling water (this is taken directly
from the river stream and returned to it after usage). Of
course, the described cooling system is particularly beneficial
also with regard to the machine compactness if compared to
traditional top-mounted heat exchanger solution.
Finally, it is essential to observe that the choice of a high
pole number is not only necessary for a direct turbine-
generator coupling, but it turns out very advantageous for the
machine axial compactness required by its slant-axis installation.
Having a large diameter and a short axial length (Fig. 7), in fact,
is crucial for making the generator mechanically fit to be fixed
with its rotor aligned to Kaplan turbine axis as depicted in Fig.
2.
The high pole number also helps significantly reduce
machine weight thanks to the thin rotor yoke. This allows for a
spider rotor type which is very light and has a low moment of
inertia.
IV. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FROM SYSTEM TESTING
The performance of the new generation equipment to be
installed in the revamping project is assessed by means of a
system test which involves both the SPM generator and the
AC/AC converter according to the layout shown in Fig. 9.
The SPM generator is driven by an electric motor at
different speeds and supplies the rectifying stage of the AC/AC
converter. The inverter stage of the latter is connected to a
resistive load.
The measurement taken are: the speed x and the torque
T at generator shaft (thereby the input mechanical power
Pin=Tx); the active power on the resistive load (thereby the
output electric power Pout). The overall efficiency of the
generating system (generator plus converter) is then
computed as:
Pout
y= (7)
Pin
Fig. 9. Test layout used for system testing.

The test results are reported for different rotating speeds

and loads in Table V. It can be seen from Table V that the
overall efficiency of the electric generation apparatus
around the turbine rated working points is higher than it was
before the revamping, when the induction generator was
used (Table IV).
As a further testing result, Figs. 10 and 11 show the
harmonic spectrum of the generator voltage at no-load. It can be
seen that all the high order harmonic amplitudes are less than
2% of the fundamental.
Fig. 10. No-load electromotive force spectrum.
V. INSTALLATION AND COMMISSIONING
The electric generation system has been recently
installed and commissioned (Fig. 12). Its performance over
the first working period has been in full accordance with design
expectations and requirements.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper the revamping project of a 600 kW run- of-
river hydropower plant based on tubular Kaplan turbines
has been described. In the revamping project, the mechanical and
hydraulic equipment of the power plant has been left
essentially unchanged, while the electric generation
equipment has been renewed replacing the previously used 6- Fig. 11. No-load electromotive force spectrum excluding the fundamental.
pole induction generator with a 32-pole

TABLE V
CHARACTERISTIC DATA OF THE ORIGINAL INDUCTION GENERATOR AND
THE NEW SPM ONE

n T y
[rpm] [Nm] [%]
230.8 12707 94.8
230.4 11397 94.6
229.8 8507 94.5
221.5 5799 94.2
199.8 10620 94.3
201.5 8297 94.1
206.1 5287 93.7
200.5 8947 94.2
190.4 7643 94.4
189 4808 90.8 Fig. 12. Electric generator after installation and commissioning.

355
SPM alternator. The connection of the SPM alternator to the
grid through an AC/AC converter makes it possible to operate it
at variable speed. As a consequence, the automatic control
system can adjust the turbine speed and flow-rate depending on
the measured hydraulic head so that the turbine always operates
in the neighborhood of its maximum efficiency working point. In
the paper it has been shown how the adoption of the
permanent-magnet technology, combined with various design
optimization provisions, has led to realize a high-power
density generator which very well fits application requirements.
In fact, thanks to its size, weight and shape, the generator can be
coupled directly to the slant turbine shaft, removing the
complex gear box and transmission system employed in the
original layout. System test results have been reported showing
that the overall electric generation system (alternator plus
AC/AC converter) exhibits a higher efficiency at rated
conditions than the previously used induction generator.
356
REFERENCES
[1] Xia Yang, Yonghua Song, Guanghui Wang, Weisheng Wang, “A
Comprehensive Review on the Development of Sustainable Energy Strategy
and Implementation in China”, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable
Energy, vol. 1, no. 2, July 2010, pp. 57-65.
[2] E. D. Castelnuovo, J. A. P. Lopes, “On the optimization of the daily
operation of a wind-hydro power plant”, IEEE Transactions on
Power Systems, vol. 19, no. 3, Aug. 2004, pp. 1599-1606.
[3] X. Cui, A. Binder, E. Schlemmer, ”Straight-Flow Permanent Magnet
Synchronous Generator Design for Small Hydro Power Plants”,
International Conference on Clean Electrical Power (ICCEP), 21-
23 May 2007, Capri, Italy, pp. 323-328.
[4] Binder, T. Schneider, “Permanent magnet synchronous generators for
regenerative energy conversion - a survey”, European
Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, 11-14
September 2005, Dresden, Germany, pp. 10.
[5] S. Breban, A. Ansel, M. Nasser, B. Robyns, M. M. Radulescu,
“Experimental results on a variable-speed small hydro power station
feeding isolated loads or connected to power grid”, International
Aegean Conference on Electrical Machines and Power
Electronics (ACEMP), 10-12 September 2007, Bodrum, Turkey, pp.
760-765.
[6] J. B. Ekanayake, “Induction generators for small hydro schemes”, Power
Engineering Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, 2002, pp. 61-67.
[7] S. Huang, J. Luo, F. Leonardi, T. A. Lipo, “A general approach to sizing
and power density equations for comparison of electrical machines”,
IEEE Trans. on Industry Applications, vol. 34, Jan./Feb. ’98, pp. 92-
97.