Hydro-Electric Power Plant

The purpose of a hydro-electric plant is to harness

power from water flowing under pressure
Water flowing under pressure has two forms of
energy:
Kinetic and,
Potential

The kinetic energy depends on the mass of water

flowing and its velocity
The potential energy exists as a result of the
difference in water level between two points which
is known as head

Hydro-Electric Power Plant

The water or hydraulic turbine, as it is sometimes
named, converts the kinetic and potential energies
possessed by water into mechanical power
The hydraulic turbine, is thus, a prime mover
which when coupled to a generator produces
electric power
The project design to produce electric power from
water are known as hydro-electric projects
Single purpose projects (power generation) and
multipurpose projects (irrigation, floods etc..)

Hydro-Electric Power Plant

Hydropower is a conventional renewable
source of energy
Clean,
Free from pollution and,
Generally has a good environmental effect

Status of Hydropower and its

potential
Next to thermal power, hydro power is important in
regard to power generation
Provide 30% of the total power of the world
Total hydro-potential of the world is about 5 000
GW
In some countries like Norway almost total power
generation is hydro based
Nepal:
Total potential is about 83 000 MW
Economical & technical feasible potential is about
42 000 MW
Total installed capacity is about 700 MW

Obstacles in the utilization of

hydropower resources

Large investments
Long gestation period
Increases cost of power transmission
Sediment erosion problem in Himalayan
Rivers

Hydropower plants

Selection of site for a hydroelectric plant

Availability of water
Water storage
Water head
Accessibility of the site
Distance from load centre
Type of the land of site

Hydropower plants

gate hoist

Intake gate
Intake trashrack

Tunnel Inlet

Surge tank

Tunnel Inlet
trashrack

Penstock inlet
Valve

Desilting basin

Headrace tunnel
Anchor block

Anchor block

Shaddle
Power house

Exp. joint

DT end gate
IV

G
Tailrace
SC

IV -inlet valve
R -turbine runner
R
SC -spiral case
G -generator

DT

Typical Power House with Francis Turbine

Hydropower plants
Inlet gate
Air inlet

Surge shaft

Penstock
Tunnel
Sand trap
Trash rack
Self closing valve

Tail water
Main valve
Turbine
Draft tube

Draft tube gate

General layout of hydropower plant

Arrangement of a small hydropower

plant

Essential elements of hydro power

plant

Catchment area
Reservoir
Dam
Spillways
Conduits
Intakes, Canals, Tunnels, Fore-bay,
Flumes etc. to control Gates and
Valves
Surge tanks
Protection device e.g. Trash racks,
Debris cleaning device and Heating
element
Prime movers
Draft tubes
Power house and equipment

Important equipment in power

house

Hydraulic turbines
Electric generators
Governors
Gate valves
Relief valves
Water circulating pumps
Flow measuring equipment
Air duct
Water circulating pumps
Switch board equipment and instruments
Oil circuit breakers
Reactors
Low tension and high tension bar
Storage batteries
Cranes etc

Classification of Hydro-electric
plants
According to availability of head
High head power plants
Medium head power plants
Low head power plants

According to nature of load

Base load power plants
Peak load power plants

According to quantity of water available

Run-of-river plant without pondage

Run-of-river with pondage
Storage type plants
Pump storage plants
Mini and micro-hydel plants

Cost of hydro-plant

Reservoir, dam, intake, tailrace : 35%

Turbines and generators: 20%
Land, building and foundations : 30%
Switching and wiring : 5%
Switchyard : 5%
Miscellaneous : 5%

Life of hydro plant components

Components Average Components
life
(years)

Reservoirs

70-80

Dams:

Average life
(years)

Power house and

equipment
Building

35-50

Earthen,
concrete or
masonry

150

Generators

25

Loose rock

60

Transformers

30

Turbines
(hydraulic)

50-100

Pumps

20-25

40-50

Concrete

25-50

Water ways:
Canals, tunnels

Penstocks:
Steel

Trash Racks

Panauti Power Plant, Nepal

Theun Hinboun Power Plant

TrashLaos
Racks

Panauti Power Plant, Nepal

Gravfoss
Power Plant
Norway
Trash Rack size:
Width: 12 meter
Height: 13 meter
Stainless Steel

CompRack
Trash Rack delivered
by VA-Tech

CompRack
Trash Rack delivered
by VA-Tech

Jhimruk Power Plant, Nepal

Flap Gate

Circular gate

Jhimruk Power Plant, Nepal

Canals

25

Shape of Tunnels

Circular Tunnel

Non-circular (Horseshoe) Tunnel

26

Spherical Valve

Spherical valve mostly applied in front of high head turbine, covering

pressure range of 160 to 1250m water head
Consist of valve housing with flanges, valve rotor, bearing and seals

Butterfly Valve

Butterfly valve normally applied in front of the low and medium head
water turbine with head range up to 200m

Mainly consist of a ring shaped housing, the valve disc, operating

mechanism and counter weight

Butterfly Valve

Dams

Rock-fill dams

1.
2.
3.
4.

Core
Filter zone
Transition zone
Supporting shell

Moraine, crushed soft rock, concrete, asphalt

Sandy gravel
Fine blasted rock
Blasted rock

Slab concrete dam

Hoover Dam, USA; concrete arch

type gravity dam

Redridge Timber Crib Dam,

Michigan, USA

A Rockfill dam, Harbaqa Dam,

Syria

Grand coulee Dam, Washington,

USA, a solid gravity dam

Kulekhani Dam, An embankment

dam

Koshi Barrage Nepal

Canyon Dam, an earthen dam

Arc dam

Steel pipes
Glomfjord
Power Plant

Steel pipes in penstock

Nore Power Plant, Norway

GUP-Pipe
Raubergfossen Power Plant, Norway

Wood Pipes

Breivikbotn Power Plant, Norway

vre Porsa Power Plant, Norway

Calculation of the forces acting on the

anchors
Anchors represent the fixed supports of the penstock and are located at
either vertical or horizontal bend in the line which is very important
structure as the stability of penstock is concerned

Impulse turbines
(Partial turbines)
Turgo

Pelton

Jostedal, Norway

Kvrner

Reaction turbines
(Full turbines)
Francis

Kaplan

Bulb

Catchment area
The whole area behind the dam draining into
a stream or river across which the dam has
been built at a suitable place

Reservoir
A reservoir is employed to store water which
is further utilized to generate power by
running the hydraulic turbines
Two types: Natural and Artificial
An artificial reservoir is built by erecting a dam
across the river
Water held in upstream reservoir is called
storage whereas water behind the dam at the
plant is called poundage

Dam
Dam is a barrier to confine or raise water for
storage or diversion to create a hydraulic
head
An hydro-electric dam diverts the flow from
the river to the turbines and usually increases
the head
A reservoir dam stores water by raising its
level
Dams are built of concrete or stone masonry,
earth or rock fill, or timber

Dam contd..
Masonry dams may be the solid-gravity,
buttress or arch type
A barrage is a diversion dam, especially at
a tidal power project
A weir is a low overflow dam across a
stream for measuring flow or maintain
water level, as at a lake outlet

Types of dams
Fill dams
Earth dams
Rock-fill dams

Masonry dams
Solid gravity dams
Buttress dams
Arch dams

Timber dams

Selection site for dams

For achieving economy the water storage
should be largest for the minimum possible
height and length. Naturally site should be
located in a narrow valley
For safe and cheap construction good
foundation should be available at moderate
depth
Good and suitable basin should be available
Material for construction should be available
at a dam site or near by

Selection site for dams contd..

For passing surplus water, after the reservoir has been
filled up to its maximum capacity, a spillway is to be
provided. There should be good and suitable site
available for spillway construction. It may be in dam
itself or near the dam on the periphery of the basin
The site of the dam should be easily accessible in all
the seasons. There should be a good catchment on
the upstream side of the site
There should be suitable site available for providing
living accommodation to the labors and engineering
staffs
Overall cost of constructions and maintenance of the
dam should be taken into consideration

Selection of type of dam

Nature of foundation
Sound rock formation in the foundation :- any type of dam
can be adopted
Poor rock and earth foundation:- Earth dam

Nature of valley

Narrow valleys (with good rock abutments) : Arch dam

If george with rocky bed available:- Solid gravity dam
If valley is wide and foundation is weak:- Buttress dam
For any width of valley with good foundations:- Steel dam
For ay with of valley with any foundations and low height of
the water to be stored: - Timber dam
For wide valley with gentle side slopes:- Earth dam or rock
fill dam

Selection of type of dam contd..

Permeability of foundation material
When uplift pressure exerted on the base of the
dam is excessive :- Arch dam
When the foundations are pervious:- Earth dam

In addition to these factors the following

points should be given consideration
Suitable site for locating spillways sometimes
affects the selection of the type of the dam
The availability of construction material may
sometimes dictate the choice

Spillways
When the water enters the reservoir basin,
the level of water in basin rises. This rise is
arranged to be of temporary nature because
excess accumulation of water endangers the
stability of dam structure
To relieve reservoir of this excess water
contribution, a structure is provided in the
body of a dam or near the dam or on the
periphery of a basin
This safeguarding structure is called a
spillway

Spillways contd..
A spillway should fulfill the following
requirements
It should provide structural stability to the dam
under all conditions of floods
It should be able to pass the designed flood
without raising reservoir level above high
flood level (H.F.L)
It should have an efficient operation
It should have an economical selection

Types of spillways

Over fall spillway or solid gravity spillway

Chute or trough spillway
Side channel spillway
Saddle spillway
Emergency spillway
Shaft or glory hole spillway
Siphon spillway

Selection of spillway
Based on the type of dam
Quantity of flood water to be discharged
below
It also depends on the site conditions

Conduits
A headrace is a channel which leads water
to a turbine and a tailrace is a channel
which conducts water from the wheels
Two types:
Open conduits:- Canals and flumes
Close conduits:- Tunnels, pipelines and
penstocks

Surge tanks
Small reservoir or tank in which the water level is rises
or falls to reduce the pressure swings so that they are
not transmitted in full to a closed circuit
Server the following purposes:
To reduce the distance between the free water surface and
turbine thereby reducing the water-hammer effect ( the
water hammer is defined as the change in pressure rapidly
above or below normal pressure caused by sudden
changes in the rate of water flow through the pipe
according to the demand of prime mover) on penstock and
also protect upstream tunnel from high pressure rises
To serve as a supply tank to the turbine when the water in
the pipe is accelerating during increased load conditions
and as a storage tank when the water is decelerating
during reduced load conditions

Prime movers
Converts the energy of water into mechanical
energy and further in to electrical energy
Classified on the basis of the action of water on
moving blades
Impulse turbine:- here the pressure energy of water is
converted into kinetic energy when passed through
the nozzle and forms the high velocity of jet of water
Reaction turbine:- in this case water pressure
combined with the velocity works on the runner. The
power in this turbine is developed from the combined
action of pressure and velocity of water that
completely fills the runner and water passage

Draft tubes
Draft tubes serves the following two
purposes:
It allows the turbine to be set above tail-water
level, without loss of head, to facilitate
inspection and maintenance
It regains, by diffuser action, the major portion
of the kinetic energy delivered to it from the
runner