At home in Roorkee

AT HOME IN ROORKEE SEPT 3, 2007

In this note I will describe my life style working and living on the campus of Indian Institute of Technology - Roorkee (I.I.T. Roorkee for short).

First of all: about work. I work as a consultant for the Alternate Hydro Energy Centre (AHEC). I am working on the preparation of standards and guidelines for the small hydro design and planning. To start with the definition of small hydro is very broad ranging from 25 kW to 25 MW. I am primarily responsible for the Civil Engineering Sections of the Standard. Given the diversity of site specific problems and the wide scope of application, standard (or prescriptive) solutions are seldom possible so the focus is more on guidelines than standards per se. At present I am the only person working on this project but ultimately the draft documents I prepare will be reviewed and revised by others so that at the end of the day we will have a truly consensus based document. Indian engineers rely on standards to a greater extent than engineers in Canada. Some of the available standards can be incorporated in our SHP standard but for the most part new standards and guidelines are required. The work is not particularly exciting but it forces me to go back to basics which will ultimately enhance my own understanding especially on designs particular to Indian conditions, typically involving sediment problems. Standards writers must be correct and up-to-date!

AHEC has a dual role, firstly: it is responsible for graduate programs in small hydro technology and river and lake environmental studies and secondly: it offers consulting services for small hydro developers. At present AHEC has twenty plus projects on the go, mostly mini hydro projects (<>

Hope this finds you all well and flourishing,

Phil Helwig