4.

Types of Hydropower Plants

❑ Classification of Hydropower Plants
▪ Hydropower plants exhibit a great deal of variety.
▪ Almost every hydropower project has some special features uncommon with
other projects of the same type.
▪ Thus, hydropower plants could be classified on the basis of:

• The hydraulic features of the plant

• Operating features of the plant
• Plant Capacity
• Construction Features (layout)
• Location & topographical features
• Presence or absence of storage
• The range of operating heads
▪ A complete understanding of the types of hydropower
developments requires information under all such
categories.

▪ An important point which should be borne in mind is that

all those classifications are not mutually exclusive.

▪ Thus, the presence or absence of storage also to some

extent determines the hydraulic features of the plant.

▪ The operational features of the plant are determined

by presence or absence of storage.

 1. Classification based on hydraulic features
The basic hydraulic principle governs the type of classification in this
category.
i. Conventional Hydro-plants
▪ Use normally available hydraulic energy of the flowing water of the rivers.
▪ e.g. Run-of river plant, diversion plant, storage plant
ii. Pumped storage plants
▪ Use the concept of recycling the same water by using pumping
selectively.
▪ Normally used with areas with a shortage of water.

▪ It generates energy for peak load, and at off-peak periods water is

pumped back for future use.
▪ A pumped storage plant is an economical addition to a system which
increases the load factor of other systems and also provides additional
capacity to meet the peak load.
iii. Unconventional Hydro-plants

a) Tidal power plant

▪ Use the tidal energy of the sea water.

▪ Very few have been constructed due to structural complication.

b) Wave power plant

c) Depression power plant

▪ Hydropower generated by diverting an ample source of water (e.g. sea

water) in the natural depression which provides operating head for the
plant

▪ Water level in the depression is controlled by natural evaporation

process
2. Classification based on actual operation in meeting the demand

▪ isolated plant (SCS)- operating independently

▪ mini and small hydropower scheme serving small community

▪ interconnected into grids (ICS)

▪ Thus in a grid system, a power station may be distinguished as a

base load plant or peak load plant.

▪ Hydropower plants are best suited as peak load plants, because

hydropower plants can start relatively quickly and can thus accept
load quickly
3. Classification based on storage and pondage

▪ Storage becomes necessary when the flow is uneven

over a year.

▪ Construction of a dam usually implies a much more

efficient and controlled use of the available water.

▪ Without storage, the plant uses only the natural flow as

best as it can.

▪ In such cases, only a mini-reservoir or a pondage which

takes care of day-to-day fluctuations may be necessary.
4. Classification based on location and topography

▪ Normally plants in hilly areas are always associated with

dams;

▪ whereas plants in plain areas may have only weirs for the
main structure.

▪ For plants situated far in the interior and away from load
centers the transmission costs are relatively more.
▪ Thus the knowledge about the location and topography of a

plant helps us to appreciate these points.

5. Classification based on plant capacity
▪ Classification of hydropower plants on the basis of plant capacity changes with time as technology
improves.
▪ Classification according to Mosonyi, and present day trend are:

According to Mosonyi:
i) Midget plant up to 100 KW
ii) Low capacity plant < 1 MW
iii) Medium capacity plant < 10 MW
iv) High capacity plant > 10 MW
Present day classification:
i) Micro hydropower < 5 MW
ii) Medium capacity plants 5 to 100 MW
iii) High capacity plants 101 to 1,000 MW
iv) Super plants above 1,000 MW
6. Classification based on head
▪ While any of the above classifications could be used to describe a
power plant the most popular & convenient classification is based on
the head operating on the turbine.

▪ On this basis:

i) Low head plants < 15m

ii) Medium head plants 15-50m

iii) High head plants 50-250m

iv) Very high head plants > 250m

7. Classification based on constructional features
(layouts)

▪ In this category hydropower development could be

classified based on the dominant construction features of
the plant as:
▪ Run-off-river plants (low to medium head plants)

▪ Valley dam plants (Medium to high head plants)

▪ Diversion Canal Plants

▪ High head diversion plants

▪ Pumped storage plants

Site Selection, Layouts & Arrangements
for Low, Medium & High Head Plants
1.Run-off-river plants (low to medium head plants)
▪ The normal flow of the river is not materially disturbed due to the
construction of the plant;
▪ They have small ponds to provide the necessary pondage in order to
balance day-to-day fluctuation;
▪ Such plants neither have a significant storage nor do they have a
diversion of the water away from the main channel;
▪ A weir or barrage is built across a river & the low head created is used to
generate power.
▪ It also acts as a controlled spilling device
▪ The power house is located along the main course of the river;

▪ Preferred in perennial rivers with moderate to high discharge, flat

slope, with low sediment and stable reach of a river.
▪ Water enters the power house through an intake structure
incorporating some or all of the following:
▪ Entrance flume separated by piers and walls for each machine
unit.
▪ The appurtenances of the entrance structure are the sill, fine rack or
screen and gate;

▪ Turbine chamber of scroll case with turbine;

▪ Concrete or steel draft tube;

▪ Power house building

 ▪ Depending on different arrangements, Mosonyi proposed the
following groupings of the run-of-river plants:
i. Block power plant,

ii. Twin power plant,

iii. Pier-head power plant,

iv. Submersible power plant

These groupings are mainly on the basis of constructional arrangements of the

power house vis-à-vis the weir.
▪ Block Power Station:
▪ is the most widely used arrangement among the above mentioned
layouts.
▪ Power house provided along one bank adjacent to weir and separated
only by a divide wall;
▪ If actual width is small it may be enlarged by excavating a bay which
may offer many advantages.
▪ Among the advantages is having sufficient weir length which can pass
the flood without obstruction.
▪ However, one side bay gives rise to curvilinear flow and adversely
affects the turbine efficiency.
▪ The eddies and vortices developed in the bay may also move the bed
load sediment which eventually enters the machines.
▪ The consideration of the choice a bay is based on the point that the width of the river left after the
accommodation of the plant should be sufficient to pass the design flood without creating
unfavorable flow conditions.

▪ Length of the weir, and also the location of the piers, thus, influences the hydraulic conditions.

Twin Power Station:

▪ is similar in arrangement with block power station except that instead of a
single power house, two power houses at the two banks are provided.

▪ If the plant discharge capacity is large at a low head, then it becomes

difficult to achieve satisfactory flow conditions in a single bay and uniform
normal flow to the racks, because of an unusually long power station and a
large bay.

▪ Under such circumstances a twin power house is preferred by dividing the

power station on either side of the central weir.
▪ Such type of arrangement is suitable on straight stretches or in
the straight short cut of a bend or in bends where the bed load
is not heavy.
▪ The main advantage of this type of layout is the existence of
more uniform current in all operating conditions compared to
block power stations.
▪ A variation of this type of power house is the island-type
arrangement in which a block type of power station is located
centrally and on both sides of it are the portions of the weir.
▪ The twin power station presents some difficulties which
outnumber the advantages of it.
▪ Higher investment cost,
▪ higher maintenance and supervision costs and
▪ the practical difficulty of carrying the cables with high voltage are
some of the factors which go against such installation.
▪ Pier head power station:

▪ is one which houses a turbine generator set in each pier (hollowed

out piers) of the weir.
▪ Under special requirements, a pier can also house two generating
sets.
▪ A pier head power station is suitable when there is no possibility of
widening the river bed and the river stretch is straight or slightly
curved.
▪ This is one of the advantages of this layout where the valley is
comparatively narrow.
▪ This layout gives the most uniform current distribution in all flow
conditions.
▪ Submersible power station:

▪ In this type of plants, the machine hall is provided under

the body of the weir.

▪ The weir floor serves practically as the roof of the

machine hall.

▪ This type of layout is selected for low heads (6 – 15 m) in

rivers with little bed load transport and large floods.
2. Valley dam plants (medium to high head plants)

▪ The dominant feature is the dam that creates the required storage (to
balance seasonal fluctuations) and necessary head for the power
house;
▪ Power house is located at the toe of the dam;

▪ No diversion of water away from the main river is involved;

▪ Water flows through the penstock embedded in the dam or diverted into
a cannel/tunnel system to deliver flow to the power house;
▪ There are different arrangements of the power house location vis-à-vis
spillway location. If the spillway is in the central portion of the dam, then
the power house may be located on one of the banks or as twin power
house, one on each bank.
Single power house

Twin power house

▪ Important components of a valley dam plant:

▪ The dam with its appurtenance structures like spillway,

energy dissipation arrangements, etc;

▪ The intake with racks, stop logs, gates & ancillaries;

▪ The penstock conveying water to the turbine with inlet

valve & anchorage;

▪ The main power house with its components.

HW

TW
▪ Occasionally, the power house is situated not
immediately at the toe of the dam but at some distance
downstream.

▪ Such arrangement is costlier than the more general dam-

and-power house-together-arrangement and is adopted
only when it offers some special advantages

▪ like achieving extra head (e. g. Melka Wakena HP).

▪ The arrangement, however, needs longer conveyances

with consequent losses
Storage plant (remote development):

▪ The dam structure is separated from the power station by

a considerable distance over which the water is
conveyed, generally by a tunnel and pipeline, so as to
achieve medium and high heads at the plants ;

▪ The reservoir storage upstream of the dam increases the

firm capacity of the plant substantially, and depending on
the annual run-off and power requirements, the plant may
be used as a base load and/or peak-load installation.
3. Diversion canal plants
▪ The distinguishing feature is the presence of power
canal that diverts the water away from the main stream
channel;
▪ The power house is provided at suitable location along
the stretch of the canal;
▪ The water often flowing through the turbine is
brought back to the main stream;
▪ Diversion canal plants are generally low head or
medium head plants;
▪ They don't have storage reservoir;
▪ Pondage requirement is met through a pool called
forebay located just upstream of the power house;
▪ The development of the required head in diversion canal plants may be
achieved by:
▪ The head may be made available due to the flatter bed slopes of power

canal (as compared with the river);

▪ besides, due the river meanders, the length of the river between two points

may be much greater as compared to that of the relatively straight reach of

the channel

 If the river has a natural fall, diverting the water from upstream side of the fall

& locating the power house at the downstream side of the fall provide the
required head;

 In inter-basin diversion, water may be diverted from a higher level river to a

lower river through a diversion canal to the power house located at the lower
river;
▪ The above discussions make it clear that diversion power plants are
most suitable on rivers either of steep slopes or meandering reaches.

▪ Further, due to economic considerations, discharges of such plants

have to be moderate.

▪ Run-of-river plant, almost invariably, would be more economical for a

large discharge development.
Main structures of the diversion canal plant:
1) Diversion weir with its appurtenant structures;

2) Diversion canal intake with its ancillary works such as

sills, trash racks, skimmer wall, sluices, settling basin,
de-silting canal, and silt exclusion arrangement is
needed in some sediment laden streams;

3) Bridges or culverts of the diversion canal;

4) Forebay & its appurtenant structures.

4.High head diversion plants
▪ The features of such a plant the development of high
head resulting from the diversion of water, which could be
achieved by:
▪ Diverting the river water through a system of canals and

tunnels to a downstream point of the same river;

▪ Diverting the water through canals and tunnels to a point on

another river which is at much lower level.

▪ There may be two situation concerning storage of this
arrangement:
1) A diversion weir to create pondage (and no storage). Here like
run-of-river plant the power production is governed by the
natural flow in the river.
2) Storage may be provided on the main river at the point of
diversion which feeds into the diversion system. This second
situation is advantageous since the fluctuation in reservoir level
does not materially affect the head and the power output can be
adjusted by the controlled flow release from the reservoir.
e.g. Fincha & Melka Wakana power plants.
✓ This advantage is not available to the valley dam plant in which the
power house is built on the downstream face of the dam.
✓ Under such cases, a change in reservoir level also changes the head
proportionately.
✓ If the length of the pressure tunnel is considerable, a surge tank may
be provided upstream of the power station, which may smoothen the
fluctuation of flow demand.
✓ This purpose was served in the canal plants by the forebay.
▪ Canals follow the contours of the terrain and thus
may not have the shortest route from the intake to
the power house.

▪ Tunnels, however, can make through their way by

the shortest distance and thus create enormous
heads apart from enabling to divert water of one
basin to another
❑ Main Components of high head diversion plants:
▪ Diversion weir with appurtenant structures;

▪ Canal/tunnel;

▪ Head race either open cut or tunnels with its

structures;

▪ Forebay/surge tank;

▪ Penstock;

▪ Power house;

▪ Tail race.
▪ High head diversion canal plants are more or less similar
to the low head diversion canal plants.
▪ The main point of difference is, however, the elaborate
conveyance system for the high head plants (diversion
tunnel plants).
▪ In the diversion tunnel type plant;

▪ the dam replaces a diversion weir,

▪ tunnels are used for head race,

▪ reservoir intake is used instead of a canal intake and

▪ a surge tank is employed in place of a forebay

5. Pumped-Storage Plants
▪ Pumped storage plants are special types of power
plants which work as ordinary conventional
hydropower stations for part of the time.

▪ Pumped storage plant is suitable where:

▪ the natural annual run-off is insufficient to justify a

conventional hydroelectric installation;

▪ It is possible to have reservoir at head & tail water

locations.
▪ This kind of plant generates energy for peak load, & at off
peak period water is pumped back for future use.
▪ During off peak periods excess power available from some
other plants in the system is used in pumping back water from
the lower reservoir.
▪ Various arrangements are possible for higher and lower
reservoirs:
1) Both reservoirs in a single river;
2) Two reservoirs on two separate rivers close to each other and
flowing at different elevations;
3) Higher reservoir on artificially constructed pool on a high level
plateau or on a leveled hilltop and the lower reservoir on natural
river;
4) The lower reservoir in a natural lake while the higher one is on
artificially created reservoir.
▪ Another way of describing Pumped-Storage plants is to
classify them as pure or mixed operation.
▪ A pure pumped storage plant is a closed cycle plant with the

volume of water flowing to the lower reservoir being equal to the

volume pumped to the higher reservoir in one cycle of operation.
In such a system, same water is circulated again and again and
thus except for make-up quantity of water for seepage and
evaporation losses, the plant does not need any fresh water flow.

▪ In mixed plants the total generation in one cycle is greater than

the total pumping during that period. In mixed type of plants, the
higher reservoir has to be necessarily on a natural stream so as
to provide greater flow during generation.
▪ Yet another classification of the Pumped-Storage plant is
on the basis of cycle of operations.
▪ Some plants are operated on a daily cycle of pumping

and generation;

▪ Some are planned on a weekly cycle where the

pumping is confined to slack weekend periods only;

▪ A few pumped storage plants have been built on a

seasonal cycle where the pumping is done during

seasons of lean demand and generation during high
demand season.
▪ The most important basis of pumped storage plant is the
relative arrangements of turbines and pumps.
▪ Four-unit installation - pump, motor, generator, turbine;
▪ Three-unit installation - pump, turbine and generator
which can also function as a motor – both the pump and
turbine were directly coupled to the generator/motor unit.
▪ In this case, when the turbine runs, the unit operates as a
generator and when the pump is operated the same unit operates
as a motor;
▪ Two-unit installation - generator, turbine or reversible
pump-turbine installation.
▪ The modern trend is to use only a two-unit installation, namely, a
generator which operates as a motor coupled to a turbine which in
turn also operates as a pump when rotating in reverse direction.
▪ This arrangement is called reversible pump-turbine installation.
▪ In three-unit arrangement, the turbine and generator are permanently
locked together and the pump can be coupled during the pumping
phase
▪ Reversible pump-turbines: Any reaction turbine can, technically
speaking, work as a pump if the direction of rotation is reversed.
▪ Thus, the propeller and Kaplan turbines, the diagonal flow Deriaz
runners and the versatile Francis turbines, all can be used as
reversible machines.
▪ The salient design features of reversible pump-turbines are not
markedly different from those of conventional turbines.
▪ Large capacity units are usually Francis type reversible pump-
turbines. For low head developments, propeller/Kaplan turbines
are suitable
▪ The operating characteristics of the reversible machines
are different when it runs as a turbine and as a pump.
▪ If the rotational speed is kept constant during both modes,

the discharge during the pumping phase is less than the

discharge during the turbine operation.

▪ The maximum efficiency of the pump-turbine as a pump

occurs at a different speed as compared to its running as a

turbine.

▪ In order to obtain good efficiencies at the same head, some

plants have gone in for different speeds in the two phases.

▪ Many designs, however, from the simplicity point of
view, keep the same rotational speed during both
phases.

▪ In such a case, maximum efficiency occurs at

different heads.
▪ Problems of operation: The main problem of a high head
pump is cavitation.
▪ Cavitation is the phenomenon which manifests in the flow when

the pressures are nearing vapour pressure of water.

▪ Thoma has suggested a cavitation parameter, s, for turbines and
pumps as;

▪ Where hb, hs, and h are the barometric head, the suction head (or
the height of the pump above tailwater level) and the total effective
head on the pump, respectively.
▪ According to Thoma, for cavitation free running, s, has to be greater
than a critical value given by;

▪ For high values of head h, hs comes out to be negative and hence it

becomes necessary to provide the pump with negative suction head.
▪ In other words, the power house location has to be so
fixed that the pump operates under submerged condition.

▪ The magnitude of submergence depends upon the

specific speed and the net head.

▪ If the submergence required is high, the power house

has to be located in underground rock caverns.

▪ As a result, many of the pumped-storage plants have

underground power houses.
▪ Desirable site characteristics

1. In order to be cost-effective, an off-stream pumped storage

site should have most or all of the following characteristics:

▪ geologic conditions should be suitable for water-tight reservoirs

▪ head should be as high as possible;

▪ length of water conduit (intake tunnel, penstock, and discharge

tunnel) should be as short as possible;

▪ reservoir sites should require minimum excavation and

embankment
▪ use existing reservoir for lower reservoir, if possible;

▪ both reservoirs should have suitable drawdown

characteristics;

▪ site should be suitable for a large power installation;

▪ site should be located reasonably close to load

centers or transmission corridors;

▪ source(s) of relatively low cost pumping energy

should be available
2. Head: Reservoir storage requirements are inversely
proportional to head (Figure below),
▪ so reservoir costs can be minimized by selecting a site with
a high head.
▪ Hydraulic capacity is also inversely proportional to head.
▪ so penstock diameter, and hence penstock costs, can also
be minimized by maximizing head.
▪ For a given plant capacity, powerhouse costs are lower for
high head plants.
▪ This is because the units run at higher speeds and high-
speed machines are smaller than low-speed machines.
▪ Because smaller water volumes are required at high head
plants, reservoir drawdowns are usually smaller at both
reservoirs.
Figure. Reservoir storage required vs. head for 1000 MW plant with 14
hours of storage
3. Length of water conduits: Costs of water conduits (intake tunnels,
penstocks, and discharge tunnels) can represent one-quarter or
more of a pumped-storage project’s costs,

▪ so sites should be sought which will require minimum penstock

and discharge tunnel lengths.

▪ This is particularly important at the lower head sites, because of

the larger penstock and tunnel diameters involved.

▪ The economic limits to length of water conduits is a function of

head and can be expressed in terms of the length between the

two pools along the water passage to head (L/H) ratios.
▪ The less the value of this ratio, the more
economic is the pumped-storage project.

▪ Recent experience suggests that maximum

acceptable L/H ratios range
▪ from 10 to 12 for high-head (370-460 m.) projects

▪ down to 4 to 5 for low-head (150-180 m.) sites.

4. Upper Reservoirs: Upper reservoirs are usually constructed
either with a dam across a natural valley or with an enclosure
dike around a flat area, often on a hilltop.

▪ To minimize costs, sites should be sought where minimum

excavation and embankment volumes are required, and

▪ sites having natural depressions are particularly desirable

▪ Large drawdown may cause slope instability,

▪ so sites with large, relatively shallow reservoirs are usually

preferred to narrow, steep reservoirs.
5. Lower Reservoirs: Project costs can often be reduced
by using existing reservoirs as lower reservoirs.
▪ However, care should be taken to insure that sufficient storage
is available to handle fluctuations due to pumped-storage
operation in addition to fluctuations resulting from existing
reservoir operations.

▪ Because of the limited head range for efficient pump-turbine

operation and submergence requirements, caution should be
exercised when considering the use of existing multiple-
purpose reservoirs with large fluctuation ranges.
❑ Efficiency of pumped-storage plants
▪ It is customary to state that for every 3 kW input, you
may expect 2 kW output in pumped storage plants.
▪ The normally attainable overall plant efficiency is
around 70%.
▪ It should be worked out as below, for closed cycle
operation:
Now if Q is the discharge and H is the gross head,
Then,

Where ht = the overall efficiency of generation (including

turbine, generator and transformer efficiency).
And

Where hp = overall efficiency of pumping operation.

Then,
hf = kH
then

Average values of ht, hp, and k are respectively 0.88,

0.85, and 0.02 to 0.03. With these values, the overall
efficiency comes out to be 72%.
Example
A closed cycle pumping-storage plant with a gross head of
350 m, has a head race tunnel 4 m diameter and 700 m
long. The power house discharges directly into the lower
reservoir. The flow velocity is 6.5 m/s and the friction factor
f = 0.018. If the overall efficiencies of the pumping and
generation are 85% and 88%, respectively, estimate the
plant efficiency.
Solution
Friction head loss

= 6.8 m
Therefore, hf = kH
6.8 = k x 350
K = 0.0194 ≈ 0.02
Plant efficiency,

= 71.86%