HYDRO POWER PLANT

A plant which
uses the water
power for the
generation of
electricity ,when
water drops
through a height
is known as
hydro power
plant.
HOW HYDRO POWER WORKS
Terms related to Hydrologic cycle
Precipitation
Transpiration
Run off
Rain fall
Stream flow
 Hydro-electric plants
Hydrograph
Flow Duration Curve
Mass Curve
Pondage
Hydrograph
 Hydrograph…….
Variation of stream flow in cu-m /s for a
particular river site
Time=hour/week/month/year
Info :
 Discharge during the period
 Maximum and minimum run-off during the period
 Mean run off during the period
 Area under curve:
Total volume of flow up to that time
Flow Duration Curve
 Flow Duration Curve …….
Rearrangement of all the stream flow elements of
hydrograph in descending order
Points on curve shows----%time during period when
flow was equal to or greater than the given flow
Curve from daily flows is more accurate than mean
monthly flows
Difference between monthly and daily curves is
small for steady flow but considerable for flashy
flows
Area under curve---
total quantity of run off during that period
Mass Curve
 Mass Curve…….
Indicates total volume of run off in cu-m up to a
certain time.
X-axis: day/month/year
Y-axis: second-m-day /second-m-month
Flow collected at the rate of 1cu-m/s for one day or one month
1 s-m-day = 1*24*60*60=86400
Obtained from records of average monthly flows
Slope : rate of flow at any time.
Straight line, uniform slope: rainfall uniform
throughout the year
Estimates capacity of storage reservoir.
 Pondage
Small pond near power plant to meet
hourly changes in demand
Should be sufficient for 24 hours.
Necessity :
 Plants mostly work at a load factor less than 100%
 If 100%, no need, possible in interconnected system
HOW IT WORKS
HOW IT WORKS
MAIN COMPONENTS OF PLANT

DAM
 A BARRIER TO CREATE A RESERVOIR
 POTENTIAL ENERGY AVAILABLE FOR
CONVERSION PROPORTIONAL TO THE
VOLUME AND HEIGHT OF THE RESERVOIR
 RESERVOIR
 LAKE BEHIND THE DAM FOR STORAGE OF
WATER
MAIN COMPONENTS OF PLANT

PENSTOCK
 Large pipe that channels water from
the reservoir to the turbine
 The water flow in the penstock is
controlled by a valve called governor.
MAIN COMPONENTS OF PLANT

TURBINE
– An advanced water wheel.
– The electrical generator is mounted on
the same turbine shaft
Generator:
– It is an electromechanical converter.
MAIN COMPONENTS OF PLANT

Governor:
– The valve that regulates the flow of
water in the penstock.
SPILL WAY
It is used to discharge the water during
during flood period without passing
through the power house.It acts as a
safety valve for the dam.
MAIN COMPONENTS OF PLANT

TAILRACE
The main purpose of surge tank is
to reduce the distance between the
water surface and turbine.
It also act as a supply tank to the
turbine.
INSIDE A HYDRO POWER PLANT
 SITE SELECTION
HYDROLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
• Water availability
• Water storage
• Water head
• Geological investigations
• Water pollution
• Sedimentation
• Environmental effects and access to
site
 CLASSIFICATION
According to availability of head:
o Low head plants
o Medium head plants
o High head plants
 CLASSIFICATION
According to nature of load:
o Base load plants
o Peak load plants
 CLASSIFICATION
According to quantity of water
avaiable:
• Run –off river plant without
pondage
• Run – off river plant with pondage
• Reservoir plant
 Necessity and advantages
The large size hydro electric plants provide a cheap
and permanent source of energy but long construction
periods.
The rising fuel cost for thermal plants has greatly
expanded the possibilities of developing small hydro
electric plants.
Advantages of small hydro plants:
 Save fuel as their operating time is longer than larger plants
 Simple to operate
 Reliable
 Minimum maintenance
Types :
 Mini hydroplants
 Micro hydroplants
Mini hydroplants: 1-5MW rating
Micro hydroplants: less than 1 MW rating
Head: few metres
India has a potential of about 5000MW of small
hydro power, 200MW developed.
e.g., (operating): HP, J&K, North Eastern states
Under construction: Punjab, Haryana, MP, AP.
China : 8000 small hydro plants
Germany: 3000 small hydro plants
ECONOMICS OF SMALL HYDRO
SCHEMES
Civil works: up to 80% of the total project
cost.
Equipment cost - major portion of the total
project cost in small hydro scheme.
Market standardised packaged units of
machinery-intake valve, hydraulic turbine,
alternator, electronic governor system,
switchgear.
 BULB TURBINES
Disadvantage of small hydro plants:
 The large fluctuation in head with changing river flow.
 High machinery cost per KW.
Solution:
 Adjustable blade Kaplan turbine: high efficiency at all
heads.
 Axial flow unit to reduce cost
Useful for low heads-Bulb turbines
Suitable for tidal schemes.
e.g., France, Sweden, Austria, Canada, USA, Japan.
 BULB TURBINES…
Advantages:
 Used at varying heads
 High efficiency
 Cost of civil engineering works less
 Smaller
 Faster
 Easier to build
 Less capital cost than Kaplan turbine
universally used for small hydro schemes
 BULB TURBINES…
Disadvantages:
 Generator unaccessible for maintenance
 Low inertia
 PUMPED STORAGE PLANTS

Water is used again and again and extra water

is needed only take care of evaporation and
seepage.
Supply Peak load
 Water drawn from head race trough penstock and
power is generated
Off-peak
 Water pumped back from tail race to head race, to be
used at next peak load period (done at night).
Capacity to supply peak load for 4 to 11 hours.
 Pumped storage plants…
Separate pump
Reversible turbine pump:
 Peak load: turbine drives alternator
 Low lads: alternator runs as motor and
drives turbine (pump)
Reduce capital cost.
Efficiency : 60 – 70%
Pumped plants at peak loads
Steam and nuclear economical when run
continuously at or near full load.
Low loads: their excess energy for driving
motor and pumped plants in turn supply peak
loads.
Steam and nuclear plants only for supplying
base loads than to meet whole of the
demand.
Steam and nuclear at unity load factor.
 Advantages
Peak loads supplied at lesser cost than steam
and nuclear.
Standby at short notice.
Forced and maintenance outages of other plants
reduced.
Immediately switch on to meet extra demand
Less spinning reserve, take up loads in small
time.
Increased Load factor of steam and nuclear
plant
PUMPED STORAGE PLANT
Sizes of Hydropower Plants
Definitions may vary.
Large plants : capacity >30 MW
Small Plants : capacity b/w 100 kW to
30 MW
Micro Plants : capacity up to 100 kW
MINI AND MICRO POWER PLANT
Many creeks and rivers are permanent, i.e.,
they never dry up, and these are the most
suitable for micro-hydro power production
Micro hydro turbine could be a waterwheel
Newer turbines : Pelton wheel (most
common)
Others : Turgo, Crossflow and various axial
flow turbines
Generating Technologies
Types of Hydro Turbines:
 Impulse turbines

Pelton Wheel
Cross Flow Turbines
 Reaction turbines
 Horizontal configuration
More accessible
Operate at Higher speeds
Therefore require smaller and lighter
alternator
 Vertical configuration
Preferable if greater variations in tailrace
level
Horizontal configuration –keep the turbine
house floor above the highest tail race
Classification according to head
and specific speed
Above 200m and 10-50metric units
specific speed- PELTON.
30m- 200m and 60-300metric units
specific speed- FRANCIS.
Less than 30m and 300-1000metric units
specific speed- PROPELLER.
 Specific speed
Speed of turbine which develops 1 metric
h.p. under a head of 1 metre.

N Pt
Ns 
H 1.25
Ns=Specific speed in metric units
N=Speed of turbine in rpm
Pt=output in metric h.p.
H= effective head in metres
 Pelton Turbine
Rotor or runner-cast steel
Buckets of cast iron
For low head-diameter of runner becomes
large
Not suitable for heads below 200m
 PELTON TURBINE
Works under large head and
low quantity of water
P.E. of water in penstock is
converted into kinetic energy
in a jet of water issuing from
nozzle.
Water impinges on buckets
fixed on the periphery of
rotor and causes the motion
of rotor.
After performing work, water
discharges in tail race.
 FRANCIS TURBINE
Develops power partly due to
velocity of water and partly due
to difference in pressure.
Built in large sizes
Vertical type generally to effect
economy in space
Alternator mounted above
turbine, free from flooding.
Inward mixed flow reaction
turbine.
Water under pressure enters
the runner from guided vanes
radially and discharges out of
runner axially.
Cavitation problem
 POPELLER AND KAPLAN
TURBINE
Reaction turbine
Suitable for low head and large
quantity of water.
Kaplan is a propeller turbine
with adjustable blades.
Therefore operates at high
efficiency even under part load
conditions.
Spiral casing, guide mechanism
and draft tube similar to francis
turbine.
Kaplan runner has 3-6 blades
compared to 16-24 of francis.
Vertical
Cavitation more
Propeller Type Runner
Kaplan..
TYPES OF REACTION TURBINES
 Reaction turbines
Propeller Turbines : Bulb
turbine, Straflo, Tube Turbine,
Kaplan Turbine

Francis Turbines
Kinetic Turbines
Governor and Speed Regulation
Function:
 Keep speed constant when turbine load changes
 Governor changes the rate of flow of water to bring the speed back
to normal speed
Good governor:
 Sensitive to changes in shaft speed
 Rapid in action
 Shouldn’t close the pipe so quickly, to cause water hammer in the
penstock
Elements of Speed regulating system:
 Flyball mechanism
 Relay valve
 Servo motor
 Restoring mechanism
 Oil pressure supply for servomotor action
 Speed Regulation of Pelton
Turbines
Double regulating system:
Spear + Deflector
Load on turbine
 Speed
 Balls fly outward
 Piston in Relay valve
 Piston in servo motor
 Spear to reduce the
nozzle outlet
 Cam
 Relay valve to original
position
 Speed Regulation of reaction
turbine (Francis)
Similar as Pelton wheel
Relief valve known as
pressure regulator, in
penstock
 When load decreases,
 Relief valve opens
 Diverting water directly
to tail race
 Avoiding water hammer
in penstock
 Similar to deflector in
pelton turbine
 Speed Regulation of reaction
turbine (Kaplan)
Double regulation- motion of guide vanes
and runner blade adjustment
 Motion of guide vanes-controls the flow of
water.

Independent servo motor adjusts the

runner blade angle
 To achieve high efficiency operation (even at
low loads)
Benefits
Environmental Benefits of Hydro
• No operational greenhouse gas emissions
• Savings (kg of CO2 per MWh of electricity):
– Coal 1000 kg
– Oil 800 kg
– Gas 400 kg
• No SO2 or NOX
Non-environmental benefits
– flood control, irrigation, transportation, fisheries
and
– tourism.
Benefits
Operating cost is low
No fuel costs
Low O&M cost
Life time is more
No problem of handling fuel and ash
Machines used are robust and there are no
specialised mechanical problems
Quick response to load
Efficiency do not change with load
No standby losses
Disadvantages:
Capital cost is more
Hydro costs are highly site specific
Dams are very expensive
Civil works form two-thirds of total cost
– Varies 25 to 80%
Power generation depends on natural phenomenon of rain
Interstate disputes
Resettlement problems
Geological and technical problems
Sites are away from load centres, so there are large
transmission losses
Takes long time for erection