HYDRO POWER

XII-C (RJ)
Mazin Saiyed
INDEX:

• WHAT IS HYDRO POWER?

• HISTORY OF HYDRO POWER.
• HOW DOES IT WORKS?
• ADVANTAGES OF HYDRO POWER
• DISADVANTAGES OF HYDRO POWER
• FAMOUS PROJECTS
- Three Gorges, China
- Itaipu, Brazil & Paraguay
-Xiluodu, China
-Guri, Venezuela
-Tehri Hydropower Complex
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
❖ WHAT IS HYDRO
POWER?
• Hydropower is the use of falling
or fast running water to produce
electricity or to power machines.
This is achieved
by converting the gravitational or
kinetic energy of a water source
to produce power. Hydropower is
a method of sustainable energy
production. Hydropower is now
used principally for hydroelectric
power generator, and is also
applied as one half of an energy
storage system known
as pumped-storage
hydroelectricity.
• Hydroelectric power is one of the
oldest and largest sources of
renewable energy, which uses
the natural flow of moving water
to generate electricity
❖ HISTORY OF
HYDROPOWER
• Humans have been harnessing water to perform
work for thousands of years. The Greeks used
water wheels for grinding wheat into flour more
than 2,000 years ago, while the Egyptians used
Archimedes water screws for irrigation during
the third century B.C.
• In 1827, French engineer Benoit Fourneyron
developed a turbine capable of producing around
6 horsepower – the earliest version of the
Fourneyron reaction turbine.
• In 1849, British–American engineer James
Francis developed the first modern water turbine
– the Francis turbine – which remains the most
widely-used water turbine in the world today.
• The world’s first hydroelectric project was used
to power a single lamp in the Cragside country
house in Northumberland, England, in 1878. Four
years later, the first plant to serve a system of
private and commercial customers was opened
in Wisconsin, USA, and within a decade, hundreds
of hydropower plants were in operation.
❖ HOW DOES IT
WORKS?

• There are many types of hydropower

facilities, though they are all powered by
the kinetic energy of flowing water as it
moves downstream. Hydropower
utilizes turbines and generators to
convert that kinetic energy into
electricity, which is then fed into the
electrical grid to power homes,
businesses, and industries.
• The amount of precipitation that drains
into rivers and streams in a geographic
area determines the amount of water
available for producing hydropower.
Seasonal variations in precipitation and
long-term changes in precipitation
patterns, such as droughts, can have
significant effects on the availability of
hydropower production.
• Dams are just one component of a
complete hydroelectric facility, but
are one major, visible component in
the system. The purpose of a
hydroelectric dam is to provide a
place to convert the potential
and kinetic energy of water
to electrical energy by using a
turbine and generator. Dams act as
the place where water is held back
and released in a controlled manner
through hydraulic turbines, enabling
the mechanical energy of the water
to be transformed to electrical
energy
• Typical dams work to create a
reservoir where water is stored at a
given height. This height and the rate
at which the water flows from the
reservoir through the turbines
determines how much electricity can
be generated.
• As the height of the dam
increases, the amount of
electricity generated increases
as well. At the top of the dam is
a gate that is used for blocking
or allowing the release of water
from the reservoir. This gate is
opened or closed to meet
electricity requirements
❖ ADVANTAGES OF
HYDROPOWER:
• Hydropower provides benefits beyond
electricity generation by providing
flood control, irrigation support, and
clean drinking water.
• Hydropower is affordable.
Hydropower provides low-cost
electricity and durability over time
compared to other sources of energy.
Construction costs can even be
mitigated by using preexisting
structures such as bridges, tunnels,
and dams
• Hydroelectric power is flexible. Some
hydropower facilities can quickly go
from zero power to maximum output.
Because hydropower plants can
generate power to the grid
immediately, they provide essential
backup power during major electricity
outages or disruptions.
❖ DISADVANTAGES OF
HYDROPOWER:
• While no power plant is easy to
build, hydro plants do require you
to build a dam to stop running
water. As a result, they cost more
than similarly sized fossil fuel
plants.
• Although, they will not need to
worry about purchasing fuel later
on. So it does even out over the
long-term.
• While hydropower is renewable,
there are limited places in the
world that are suitable for plant
construction. On top of this, some
of these places are not close to
major cities that could fully benefit
from the energy.
• When dams are built at higher
elevations, they pose a serious
risk to any town nearby that is
below it. While these dams are
built very strong, there are still
risks. The biggest dam failure in
history is the Banqiao Dam
failure. Due to excess rainfall
from a typhoon, the dam
collapsed. This resulted in the
deaths of 171,000 people.
❖ FAMOUS PROJECTS:
1. Three Gorges, China – 22.5GW
• The 22.5GW Three Gorges
hydroelectric power plant in Yichang,
Hubei province, China, is the world’s
biggest hydropower station. It is a
conventional impoundment
hydropower facility exploiting the
water resource of the Yangtze River.
The project is owned and operated by
China Three Gorges Corporation
(CTGC) through its subsidiary China
Yangtze Power.
2. Itaipu, Brazil & Paraguay –
14GW
• The 14GW Itaipu hydroelectric power
plant is located on the Parana River, at
the border between Brazil and
Paraguay. The facility is operated by
Itaipu Binacional.
• Construction of the $19.6bn plant
began in 1975 and was completed in
1982. A consortium of US-based IECO
and Italy based ELC Electroconsult
carried out the construction. Power
production at Itaipu was started in May
1984.
3. Xiluodu, China – 13.86GW
• The Xiluodu hydropower plant built on
the Jinsha River in central Sichuan
Province of China has an installed
capacity of 13.86GW. Developed by
CTGC, it was officially inaugurated in
2013 and connected to the grid in June
2014.
• The power plant features the world’s
first ultra-high concrete double-
curvature arch dam at an elevation of
610m. The maximum height of the dam
is 285.05m and the reservoir area is
454,400km².
4. Guri, Venezuela –10.2GW
• Construction of the power project
started in 1963. It was carried out in
two phases, with the first phase
completed in 1978 and the second
phase in 1986. The power plant
consists of 20 generating units of
different capacities ranging between
130MW and 770MW.
• Alstom was awarded two contracts in
2007 and 2009 to refurbish four
400MW units and five 630MW
respectively. Andritz received a
contract to supply five 770MW Francis
turbines for the powerhouse II of Guri
in 2007. The Guri power station
supplies approximately 12,900GW/h of
energy for Venezuela.
 5.Tehri Hydropower Complex –
2,400MW
• It is also the eighth-tallest dam in the world
and the second-tallest in Asia. The length of the
dam is 575 metres, while the base width is 1,128
metres and the crest width is 20 metres.
• With a maximum planned capacity of 2,400MW,
the Tehri Hydropower Complex consists of the
Tehri Dam and the Tehri Pumped Storage
Hydroelectric Power Plant, and also includes
the 400MW Koteshwar Dam.
• Its reservoir stores water not just for the
generation of hydroelectricity (which is about
1,000MW in addition to 1,000MW of pumped
storage hydroelectricity) but also for irrigation
and municipal water supply to other states of
North India too, such as Uttar Pradesh,
Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan.
.
❖ BIBILOGRAPHY
- WIKIPEDIA
- energy.gov
- energy education
- NS energy