Hydropower
Hydropower
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WHAT IS
HYDROPOWER
• Hydropower is the electricity or power that is generated from
the energy of moving water. Hydro means “water.”
• It is a renewable source of energy. It is constantly being refilled by the
water cycle, specifically precipitation.
HISTORY OF
HYDROPOWER
• Ancient Greek farmers have used water wheels to grind wheat into flour.
• In the early 1800’s, American and European factories made use of
water
the wheel to run machines.
• In the late 19th century, hydropower was used for generating electricity.
• Waterwheels and mills were used for irrigation and mining.
• Hydropower was the foremost source of energy for new inventions
HISTORY OF
• HYDROPOWER
In the 1830’s, hydropower provided the energy for transportation up and
down steep hills.
• In 1848, the turbine was created, improving the waterwheels and
mills which were bulky and slow. Turbines are specific to each site.
• The first hydroelectric power plant was built at the Niagara Falls in 1879.
• In the late 1940’s, big dams for hydropower had been built.
Hydropower plant
Advantages
• Less operational cost
•Reliable, starting and stopping is easy compared to thermal and other power plant
• No pollutant of any kind
• Life is high..more than 50 years
• Part load efficiency is high
• Can be used as base or peak load, less staff required
• Plant is useful for irrigation , flood control, Fishery
• No fuel required
Disadvantages:
Power developed depends on water availability. Plant located always from load
Time required to build such power plant (Dam) is high. High capital cost
CLASSIFICATION OF HYDROPOWER
PLANTS :
Classification of hydropower plants According to According to
According to According to According to According to hydrological
Capacity head purpose facility relation transmission
types system
Large
High Run-of-River
Isolated
Single
Single purpose
Medium
Reservoirs Connected to
Medium
grid
Cascade
Small
Multi purpose
In-stream
Mini Low
Micro Pumped
storage
Pico
LARGE: >100 MW
MEDIUM: 25 – 100 MW
SMALL: 1-25 MW
MINI: 100 KW - 1MW
MICRO: 5 – 100 KW
PICO: < 5 KW
LOW HEAD:
Low head hydro power applications use river current or tidal flows of 30 meters or less to produce energy.
These applications do not need to dam or retain water to create hydraulic head, the head is only a few
meters.
Using the current of a river or the naturally occurring tidal flow to create electricity may provide
a
renewable energy source that will have a minimal impact on the environment.
Figure-sectional view er
MEDIUM HEAD:
A power station operating under heads from
30m to 300m.
CASCADE SYSTEM-
When two or more hydropower plants are
used in series such that the run off discharge of
one hydro power plant is used as the intake of
the second hydro power plant such a system is
known as CASCADE hydropower plant.
RUN-OFF-RIVER TYPE
These are hydro power plants that utilize the stream flow as it comes ,
without any storage being provided.
Run-of-River hydropo
STORAGE (RESERVOIR) TYPE
Hydropower plants with storage are supplied with water from large storage reservoir
that have been
developed by constructing dams across rivers.
Assured flow for hydro power generation is more certain for the storage schemes than
the run-of-river schemes.
The higher the height of water, the more its potential energy.
The high position of water in the reservoir also enables it to
move downwards effortlessly.
These are the gates built on the inside of the dam. The water
from reservoir is released and controlled through these gates.
These are called inlet gates because water enters the power
generation unit through these gates.
When the control gates are opened the water flows due to
gravity through the penstock and towards the turbines.
The water flowing through the gates possesses potential as well
as
kinetic energy.
PENSTO
CK
Francis turbine:
This type turbine is used for medium head and
medium discharge (head 40 to 400 meters.)
Globa Pumpin
lpotential pgowe
small-scale
for rincreases
hydro system
power reliability