Hydro-Electric Power Plant

Introduction:
One of the most widely used renewable source of energy for
generating electricity on large scale basis is hydropower

The power obtained from river or ocean water is called as

hydropower.

Hydropower is the renewable source of energy since water is

available in large quantities from rain, rivers, and oceans and this
is will be available for unlimited time to come.

30% of total power of the world is met by hydro-electric power.

Total hydro-potential of the world id 5000 GW.

 Essential features of Hydro-Electric Power
Plant:
The essential features of a water power plant are as below:
1. Catchment area.
2. Reservoir.
3. Dam and intake house.
4. water way.
5. Power house.
6. Tail race or outlet water way.

1.Catchment Area.
The catchment area of a hydro plant is the whole area behind the
dam, draining into a stream or river across which the dam has
been built at a suitable place.
2- Water reservoir:
➢ In a reservoir the water collected
from the catchment area is stored
behind a dam.
➢ Catchment area gets its water from
rain and streams.
➢ The level of water surface in the
reservoir is called Head water level.
Note : Continuous availability of
water is a basic necessity for a
hydro-electric power plant.
3- Dam :
✓ The purpose of the dam is to store
the water and to regulate the out
going flow of water.
✓ The dam helps to store all the
incoming water. It also helps to
increase the head of the water. In
order to generate a required quantity
of power it is necessary that a
sufficient head is available. 7
• Dam are classified based on following factors:
a) Function
b) Shape
c) Construction material
d) Design
a) Based on function the dam may be called as storage dam,
diversion dam or detention dam.
b) Based on the shape the dam may of trapezoidal section &
arch type.
c) The materials used for constructing dams are earth, rock
pieces, stone masonry.
d) According to structural design the dam maybe classified as:
i. Gravity dam
ii. Arch dam
iii. Buttress dam
 Types of Dam:
1. Masonry Dams.
2. Earth Dams.
The masonry dams are of three major classes:
a) Gravity dam.
b) Buttress dam.
c) Arched dam.
d) Gravity dam:
Resist the pressure of water by its weight.
Construction of material used for his dam, is solid masonry or
concrete.
b) Arch dam:
It resist the pressure of water partly due to its
weight and partly due to arch action.
c) Buttress dam:
• Buttress supporting a flat slab.
• When cost of reinforced concrete is high such
type of dam is selected.
Spillway:
➢ Excess accumulation of water endangers the stability of dam construction. Also in order to
avoid the over flow of water out of the dam especially during rainy seasons spillways are
provided. This prevents the rise of water level in the dam.
➢ Spillways are passages which allows the excess water to flow to a storage area away from the
dam.

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Gate:
✓ A gate is used to regulate or control the flow of water from the dam.

Pressure tunnel:
▪ It is a passage that carries water from the reservoir to the surge tank.

Surge tank
➢ A Surge tank is a small reservoir or tank in which the water level rises or falls due
to sudden changes in pressure.
Purpose of surge tank:
✓ To serve as a supply tank to the turbine when the water in the pipe is
accelerated during increased load conditions and as a storage tank
when the water is decelerating during reduced load conditions.
✓ To reduce the distance between the free water surface in the dam
and the turbine, thereby reducing the water-hammer effect on
penstock and also protect the upstream tunnel from high pressure
rise.
Water-hammer effect :
o The water hammer is defined as the change in pressure rapidly above or below
normal pressure caused by sudden change in the rate of water flow through the
pipe, according to the demand of prime mover i.e. turbine

13
4- Water Ways.
Water ways are the passages, through which the water is
conveyed to the turbines from the dam. These may include
tunnels, canals, flumes, forebays and penstocks and also
surge tanks.
A forebay is an enlarged passage for drawing the water
from the reservoir or the river and giving it to the pipe lines
or canals.
Penstock
A pipe between the surge tank and prime mover is known as penstock.

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 Penstock thickness:
• The thickness of penstock depend on water head and hoop
stress allowed in the material.
𝑝.𝑑
t=
2𝑓𝜂
Where,
t= Penstock thickness
d= Dia of penstock
𝑓= Permissible stress
p= Pressure due to water including water hammer.
 Number of penstock
A hydro Power Plant uses a number of turbine which are to be
supplied water through penstock.
• To use a single penstock for the whole a plant.
• To use on penstock for each turbine separately.
• To provide multiple penstock but each penstock supplying water
to at least two turbine.

Factors for Selecting number of penstocks:

• Economy.
• Operational safety.
• Transportation facilities.
Draft tube:
The draft tube is a essential part of a reaction turbine installation. It
supplements the action of the runner by utilizing most of the
remaining kinetic energy of the water at the discharge end of the
runner.
❖ It is connected to the outlet of the turbine.
❖ It allows the turbine to be placed above the tail water level.
6- Tail water level or Tail race:
o Tail water level is the water level after the discharge from the
turbine. The discharged water is sent to the river, thus the level of
the river is the tail water level.
5- Power House.
The power house is a building in which the turbines, alternators
and the auxiliary plant are housed. Some important items of
equipment provided in the power house are as follows:
i. Turbines
ii. Generators
iii. Governors
iv. Relief valve for penstock setting
v. Gate valve
vi. Transformer
vii. Switch board equipment and instruments
viii. Oil circuit breaker
ix. Storage batteries
x. Outgoing connections
xi. Cranes
xii. Shops & offices
 SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDRO-ELECTRIC
POWER PLANT
The ideal site will be one where the dam will have the largest
catchment area to store water at high head and will be economical in
construction.
The following factors should be given careful consideration
while selecting a site for a hydro-electric power plant:
1. Water Available.
The recorded observation should be taken over a number of years to
know within reasonable, limits the maximum and minimum
variations from the average discharge. the river flow data should be
based on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly flow ever a number of
years. Then the curves or graphs can be plotted between tile river
flow and time. These are known as hygrographs and flow
duration curves.
2. Water-Storage.
The output of a hydropower plant is not uniform due to wide
variations of rain fall. To have a uniform power output, a water
storage is needed so that excess flow at certain times may be stored
to make it available at the times of low flow. To select the site of the
Dam, careful study should be made of the geology and topography of
the catchment area to see if the natural foundations could be found
and put to the best use.
3. Head of Water.
Water in large quantities and at a sufficient head should be available.
4. Distance from Load Center.
It is desirable that the power plant should be set up near the load
centers, so that costs of erection of the transmission lines and
their maintenance are low.
5. Access to Site.
It is always a desirable factor to have a good access to the site of
the plant. This factor is very important if the electric power
generated is to be utilized at or near the plant site. The transport
facilities must also be given due consideration.
6. Type of the land of the site
The land of the site should be cheap and rocky. The foundation
rocks of the masonry dam should be strong enough to withstand
the stresses in the structure and the trust of water when the
reservoir is full.
Classification of hydro-Electric power plant
The classification of hydro electric power plant depend on the following
factors:
1) Quantity of water:
It is following types.
i. Run of river plant.
ii. Storage plant.
iii. Pumped storage.

2) Availability of Head of Water:

a) Low head plant. Operating head < 15m.
b) Medium head plant. Operating head 15 to 50m.
c) High head plants Operating head > 50m.
a) Low head plant
• Operating head is less than 15m.
• Vertical shaft Francis turbine or Kaplan turbine.
• Small dam is required.
a) Medium head plant
• Operating head is less than 15 to 50m.
• Francis turbines.
• Forebay is provided at the beginning of the penstock.
a) High head plant
• Operating head exceed 50m.
• Pelton turbines.
• surge tank is attached to the penstock to reduce water hammer effect on the
penstock.
3. Classification according to topography:
i. Low land
ii. Hilly area
iii. Mountainous region

4. Classification according to load supplied:

a) Base load plant.
b) Peak load plant.

5. Classification according to capacity of plant:

a) Micro hydel plants: up to 5 MW
b) Medium capacity plants: 5 to 100 MW
c) High capacity plants: 101 to 1000MW
d) Super plants: above 1000MW

6. Classification according to turbine characteristic:

a) High specific speed
b) Medium specific speed
Advantages of hydroelectric power plant :
Disadvantages of Hydro-electric power plant :

✓ The initial cost of the plant is very high.

✓ Since they are located far away from the load centre, cost of
transmission lines and transmission losses will be more.
✓ During drought season the power production may be reduced
or even stopped due to insufficient water in the reservoir.
✓ Water in the reservoir is lost by evaporation.
 Hydrology
It is the science that encompasses the occurrence, distribution, movement and
properties of the waters of the earth and their relationship with the environment within
each phase of the hydrologic cycle. The water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, is a continuous
process by which water is purified by evaporation and transported from the earth's
surface (including the oceans) to the atmosphere and back to the land and oceans.

Hydrologic cycle:
The various processes involved in the transfer of moisture from the sea to the land and
back to the sea again constitute which is called hydrologic cycle.
Hydrologic eq. is expressed as follows:
P=R+E
Where,
P = Precipitation
R = Run-off
E = Evaporation.
Precipitation:
It includes all the water that falls from atm. To the earth surface. Mostly
perspiration is of two types.
Liquid perspiration (rainfall)
Solid perspiration (Snow, Hail storm)

Run-off:
It is that portion of the precipitation which makes its way towards stream,
lakes or ocean.
Run-off occur only if the rate of precipitation exceed the rate at which
water infiltrate into the soil & after depression small and large on the soil
surface get filled in the water.

Evaporation:
Transfer of water from liquid to vapor state is called evaporation

Transpiration:
It is a process by which water is released to the atmosphere by the plant.
Hydrograph
It is a graphical representation between discharge (Cubic metres per sec) through a river
and time. A hydrograph indicates the power available from the stream at different times
of the day, week and year.

Flow duration Curve:

It is a method to represent the run off
graphically. This curve is plotted between flow
available during a period versus the fraction of
time.
Mass curve
A mass cure is a plot of accumulated flow against time, made from the
records of mean monthly flows of a stream.
 Hydraulic Turbines
Hydraulic turbines convert the potential energy of water into shaft work,
which, in turn, rotates the electric generator coupled to it in producing
electric power. Historically, hydraulic turbines of today are derived from the
waterwheels of the middle ages used for flour mills (to grind wheat) and ore-
crushing.
Advantages:
Simple in construction.
Easily controllable.
Efficient.
Ability to work at peak load.
Work on load variation.
Start from cold conditions & pick up load at short time.
Types of turbines:
a) Impulse
b) Reaction
Impulse Turbine:
The passages are not completely filled, water acting on a wheel
buckets is at atmospheric pressure and is supplied at few points at the
periphery of wheel & kinetic energy is supplied to the wheel.
Casing
Penstock
Nozzle
Runner
Buckets
Needle Valve
shaft

Pelton Wheel
Reaction Turbine:
Water passages are completely filled with water, water acting on
wheel vanes is under pressure greater than atmospheric, water enter
all around the periphery of wheel and energy is in the form of both
pressure & kinetic energy is utilized by the wheel.
Essential parts:
Spiral casing
Guide wheel
Runner
Draft tube
Direction of flow of water:
I. Tangential flow turbine
II. Radial flow turbine.
III. Axial flow turbine.
IV. Mixed flow turbine.

Types of turbine Flow direction

Kaplan turbine Axial flow

Franics Turbine Radial inward or mixed flow

Pelton wheel Tangential flow

Position of shaft:
I. Vertical shaft turbine.
II. Horizontal shaft turbine.

Head of water:
I. High head turbines.
II. Medium head turbines.
III. Low head turbines.

Impulse turbines high head.

Reaction turbines low & medium heads.
Classification based on speed:
Turbine & generator are directly coupled, the speed of
turbine is same as the synchronous speed of the generator.
60𝑓
N=
𝑃
Where,
N = Speed in R.P.M.
f= Frequency of generation.
P= no. of pairs of poles of the generator.
Performance of water turbine:
Important parameter for any particular turbine are:
• Discharge
• Head
• Efficiency
• Speed
• Power

The turbine characteristic like unit power, unit speed & unit discharge
help in studying the performance of turbines.
Unit speed.
This is defined as the speed of the turbine under a head of 1 meter.
πDN
V=
60
N= Speed of turbine in R.P.M.
60V
N=
πD

V =√2gH
πDN
=√2gH
60
N∝√H
N = K2 H

where K2 is the coefficient which varies with the conditions of running.

If H = 1, then N = K2 = Nu (unit speed by its definition)
∴ N = Nu √ H
𝑁
∴ Nu =
√𝐻
Specific Speed:
The specific speed of a turbine is defined as the speed at which the
turbine runs developing one B.H.P. under a head of one meter.
The equation for the specific speed of a turbine can be obtained by
using the principle of similarity.

where D and N are diameter and speed of a turbine and H is the head
acting on the turbine.

where B is the height of the blade and Vf is the velocity of flow.

Substituting the value of D in the above equation.

where P is the power developed.

Substituting the value of Q in the above equation, we get

where C is constant depending upon the type of the turbine.

If the turbine develops 1 B.H.P. under one meter head then
C = N = NS
where Ns is the specific speed as per the definition.
Substituting the value of C in the above equation, we get
Choice of turbines
Governing of hydraulic turbine
Governing of impulse turbine
Governing of Reaction turbine
Efficiencies:
a) Volumetric efficiency.
b) Hydraulic efficiency.
c) Mechanical efficiency.
d) Overall efficiency.

a) Volumetric efficiency.
Some of the water flowing in the turbine may leak through the
joints. The leakage of water reduces the efficiency of the turbine.
∅−∅𝐿
𝜂𝑉 =
∅
𝜂𝑉 =Volumetric efficiency
∅=Discharge doing useful work
∅L=Leakage from turbine
Hydraulic efficiency:
Loss of head takes place in the turbine due to incomplete conversion
of head over the blade into the useful work.
𝐻−ℎ
𝜂𝐻 = 𝐻
𝜂𝐻 =Hydraulic efficiency.
H=Net head utilised.
h=Head not efficiency utilised.
Mechanical efficiency:
Mechanical efficiency takes into account the power loss due to
𝑃1−𝑃2
friction. 𝜂𝑀 =
𝑃
P = Power produced by turbine
P1 = Shaft power
P2 = Power loss
Overall efficiency (𝜂):
Overall efficiency of the hydraulic turbine is about 90%.
𝜂 = 𝜂𝑣 ×
𝜂𝐻 × 𝜂 M