5/4/2014

Course Title: Power Station

Course Code: EEE-481
Hydro Power Plant
Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

INTRODUCTION TO HYDROELECTRICITY

Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of electrical power
through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used
form of renewable energy. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no
direct waste.
The essential elements of a
hydropower plant are listed below :
1. Catchment area.
2. Reservoir.
3. Dam.
4. Spillways.
5. Conduits.
6. Surge tank.
7. Prime-movers.
8. Draft tubes
9. Powerhouse.
10. Equipments.

Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

5/4/2014

CATCHMENT AREA OF ITAIPU BINATIONAL

HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT
 1.Catchment area: The
whole area behind the dam
draining into a stream or
river across the dam has
been built at a suitable
Place
2.Reservoir: it is a water
storage area employed for
further utilization to generate
power by running hydraulic
turbines.
1) natural reservoir is a
lake in high mountains.
2) artificial reservoir is
built by erecting a dam
across the river.

Nipu Kumar Das

Catchment area of Itaipu bi-national hydroelectric power plant

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CATCHMENT AREA OF KAPTAI HYDRO POWER PLANT

Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

5/4/2014

CATCHMENT AREA OF ITAIPU BINATIONAL

HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT
Dam
Spillway

 3. Dam: is a barrier to confine or raise water for

storage or diversion to create hydraulic head. In a
hydropower system, the dam direct or divert the flow
from the river to the turbine.

Nipu Kumar Das

 4. Spillway : a safeguarding structure that

must be available at site to prevent excess dam
water accumulation.

Department of EEE, CUET

Hydro Power Plant

Dam

Dam

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Department of EEE, CUET

5/4/2014

Hydro Power Plant

Power House

Dam

Generator

Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

SPILLWAY

Spillway

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Department of EEE, CUET

5/4/2014

PENSTOCK

5. Conduits : Conduits are functioning as:

iheadrace :is a channel leads water to the turbine.
ii tailrace: is a channel which discharge water out of the of the system.
Generally conduits are either open or close:
a-open conduits (canals)
b-closed conduits (tunnels, pipelines, penstock)
Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

ELEMENTS OF A HYDROPOWER PLANT

 6. Surge tank: is a small reservoir or tank in which water level rises or falls to reduce the
pressure swings (ups & downs) so that they are not transmitted in full to a closed system.
 7. Prime-movers: in a hydropower systems, primemovers(turbines)are devices that converts
the energy of the water into mechanical energy and further into electrical energy.
 8. Draft tubes: it is the downstream exit, which allows the turbine to be set above tail water
level without loss of head to facilitate inspection and maintenance.
 9. Powerhouse: this the overall buildings that accommodate the plant in such a layout that
provides adequate space for running repairing, inspection, maintenance of plant equipments
and facilities.
 10. Equipments : in general, electric power generation plant should includes, among many
parts, main equipments such as turbines, electric generators, heat exchangers, valves &
pumps, measuring & monitoring instruments, switch boards & control systems, connections &
pipes etc.

Nipu Kumar Das

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5/4/2014

HOW IT WORKS.
 Water in a high reservoir
has potential energy
The water is allowed to fall
under gravity
The water gains kinetic
energy
The kinetic energy drives
the turbines
The turbines drives the
generators
The kinetic energy of the
shafts of the generators is
converted into electrical
energy
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Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

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HYDROPOWER TO ELECTRIC POWER

Electrical
Energy

Potential
Energy

Electricity

Kinetic
Energy

Mechanical
Energy
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Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

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Hydrologic Cycle

Catchment area is the whole
area behind the dam draining into
a stream or river across which the
dam has been constructed .

The characteristics of the
catchment area includes it's size,
shape,
surface,
altitude,
topography and geology.

The bigger the catchment area,
steeper is the slope, higher is the
altitude, and greater is the total
runoff of water.
 Rain fall (precipitation) may be defined as the total condensation of moisture that reaches the
earth in any form. It includes all forms of rain, ice, snow, hail. The rainfall is measured in terms
of (cm water) over a given area over a period of time (year).
 Evaporation represent all of the rainfall that is returned to the atmosphere from the land and
water surfaces.
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Department of EEE, CUET

Hydrologic Cycle

Run-off is the portion of the
rainfall that flows through the
catchment area.

therefore run-off
= total rainfall total evaporation
Example.
Catchment area = 500sq.km
Rainfall = 100 cm/yr
Quantity of water available per
year is
q = catchment area x rainfall
q = (500 sq.km x 106 sq.m /sq.km) x (100 cm/yr / 100 cm/m) m3 /yr
q= (500x106 m2x(100/100)m q= ---?? m3
From which we can evaluate water volume flow rate from this available quantity of water, i.e
Q = (q cu.m /yr) / [ 365 day/yr x 24 hr/day x 3600 sec/hr ]= --- ?? m3/ sec
Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

5/4/2014

HEAD AND FLOW

 Head:
 Water must fall from a higher elevation to a
lower one to release its stored energy. The
difference between the maximum available
vertical fall in the water, from the upstream level to
the downstream level is called head.

 The actual head seen by a turbine will be

slightly less than the gross head due to
losses incurred when transferring the water
into and away from the machine.
 This reduced head is known as the Net
Head.

 Dams: three categories

 high-head (800 or more feet)
 medium-head (100 to 800 feet)
low-head (less than 100 feet)
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HYDROGRAPH AND FLOW DURATION CURVE

The Flow Rate (Q) in the river, is the volume of water passing per second, measured in
m3/sec. For small schemes, the flow rate may also be expressed in litres/second where 1000
litres/sec is equal to 1 m3/sec.

 A hydrograph indicates the variation of discharge

or flow with time. It is plotted with flows as ordinates
and time intervals as abscissas. The flow is in
m3/sec and the time may be in hours, days, weeks
or months.
 A flow duration curve shows the relation between
flows and lengths of time during which they are
available. The flows are plotted as the ordinates and
lengths of time as abscissas. The flow duration
curve can be plotted from a hydrograph.

Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

5/4/2014

POWER CALCULATION
The power developed by a water turbine is depend on the volumetric rate of water
flow through it and the head of water this can be calculated by equation.

P =oQHo g
0

kW

Where,
Q is the flow rate in m3/sec,
Ho is the net head available in m,
g is the gravitational acceleration, and
o is the overall efficiency of the system (60% to 80%)

Nipu Kumar Das

Department of EEE, CUET

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Power Calculation
Consider a mountain stream with an effective head of 25 meters (m) and a flow r
ate of 600 m3 per minute. How much power could a hydro plant generate? As
sume plant efficiency () of 83%.
How much energy (E) will the hydro plant generate each year?
About how many people will this energy support (assume approximately 3,00 kW
h / person)?
H = 25 m
Q
=
600
Q = 0.01 m3/sec

/min

min/60sec

P 2.1 kW

m3/1000

10QH

0.83
10(0.83)(0.01)(25)

2.075

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Nipu
Kumar
Das
Boyle, Renewable
Energy,
2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2003

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Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDRO-PLANT
 1. Storage plant
 (a) High head plants
 (b) Low head plants
 (c) Medium head plants.
 2. Run-of-river power plants
 (a) With poundage
 (b) Without poundage.
 3. Pumped storage power Plants.

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Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

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5/4/2014

Run-of-river power plants

Impoundment
(With poundage )
water accumulates
in
reservoirs
created by the use
of dams

Example: Hoover
Dam, Grand Coul
ee

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Department of EEE, CUET

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Department of EEE, CUET

Without poundage :
Example: Niagara Falls

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Pumped Storage:
Two way flow
Pumped up to a storage

reservoir and returned to a

lower elevation for power
generation
 A mechanism for energy

storage, not
production

net

energy

Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

Scale of Hydropower Projects

Large-hydro
More than 100 MW feeding into a large electricity grid

Medium-hydro
15 - 100 MW usually feeding a grid

Small-hydro
1 - 15 MW - usually feeding into a grid

Mini-hydro
Above 100 kW, but below 1 MW
Either stand alone schemes or more often feeding into the grid

Micro-hydro
From 5kW up to 100 kW
Usually provided power for a small community or rural industry in remote areas
away from the grid.

Pico-hydro
From a few hundred watts up to 5kW
Remote areas away from the grid.
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Department of EEE, CUET

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5/4/2014

World hydro production

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Nipu
IEA.orgKumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

Major Hydropower Producers

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Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

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5/4/2014

Worlds Largest Dams

Name

Country

Year

Max
Generation

Annual
Production

Three Gorges

China

2009

18,200 MW

Itaip

Brazil/Paraguay

1983

12,600 MW

93.4 TW-hrs

Guri

Venezuela

1986

10,200 MW

46 TW-hrs

Grand Coulee

United States

1942/80

6,809 MW

22.6 TW-hrs

Sayano Shushenskaya

Russia

1983

6,400 MW

Robert-Bourassa

Canada

1981

5,616 MW

Churchill Falls

Canada

1971

5,429 MW

35 TW-hrs

Iron Gates

Romania/Serbia

1970

2,280 MW

11.3 TW-hrs

Ranked by maximum power.

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Nipu
Kumar Das
Hydroelectricity, Wikipedia.org

Department of EEE, CUET

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SELECTION OF TURBINE
The type, geometry and dimensions of the turbine for a particular project depends on

The net head available H

Range of discharge through the turbine Q
N

P * 1 . 358
H 5/4

Specific speed

Techno-economic considerations of the generating equipment

ns =

Head and specific speed ranges for various

types of turbine runners
Turbine type
Kaplan

Head range in
(m)
2-40

Specific speed
range
200-1000

Bulb turbine

0-10

260-360

Cross-flow

1.5-150

20-200

Francis

10-350

30-400

Pelton

60-1000

10-30

Turgo

50-250

20-70

Nipu Kumar Das

Figure: Head and flow ranges of small hydro

turbines

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THANK YOU

Nipu Kumar Das

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Department of EEE, CUET

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