HYDROELECTRIC

POWER
(HYDROPOWER)
 What are the Why does
What is
Advantages and hydroelectric
hydroelectric power
disadvantages of
power? important?
hydroelectric
power?
What is hydroelectric power?

 Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated

by hydropower; the production of electrical power through
the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water.
 Rain or melted snow, usually originating in hills and
mountains, create streams and rivers that eventually run to
the ocean.
FOUR HYDROELECTRICITY STATIONS

The Three Gorges Dam Xiluodu Dam in China

Itaipu Dam Guri Dam

In the late 19th century, hydropower
became a source for generating
electricity. The first hydroelectric
power plant was built at Niagara
Falls in 1879. In 1881, street lamps
in the city of Niagara Falls were
powered by hydropower. In 1882 the
world’s first hydroelectric power
plant began operating in the United
States in Appleton; Wisconsin.
A typical hydro plant is a system with
three parts;
 an electric plant where the electricity is
produced;
 a dam that can be opened or closed to control
water flow;
 and a reservoir where water can be stored.
Hydroelectric power provides almost one-fifth of the world's electricity. China,
Canada, Brazil, the United States, and Russia what were the five largest
producers of hydropower in 2004?
 Advantages of Hydroelectricity
1. Once a dam is constructed, electricity can be produced at a
constant rate.
2. If electricity is not needed, the sluice gates can be shut,
stopping electricity generation. The water can be saved for use
another time when electricity demand is high.
3. Dams are designed to last many decades and so can
contribute to the generation of electricity for many years /
decades.
4. The lake that forms behind the dam can be used for water
sports and leisure / pleasure activities. Often large dams become
tourist attractions in their own right.
5. The lake's water can be used for irrigation purposes.
6. The buildup of water in the lake means that energy can be
stored until needed, when the water is released to produce
electricity.
7. When in use, electricity produced by dam systems do not
produce green house gases. They do not pollute the atmosphere.
8. Renewable: Hydroelectric energy is renewable.
This means that we cannot use up. However, there are
only a limited number of suitable reservoirs where
hydroelectric power plants can be built and even less
places where such projects are profitable.
9. Green: Generating electricity with hydro energy is not
polluting itself. The only pollution occurs during the
construction of these massive power plants.
 10- Reliable: Hydroelectricity is very reliable energy. There are
very little fluctuations in terms of the electric power that is
being by the plants, unless a different output is desired.
Countries that have large resources of hydropower use
hydroelectricity as a base load energy source. As long as there
is water in the magazines electricity can be generated.
 11. Flexible: As previously mentioned, adjusting water flow
and output of electricity is easy. At times where power
consumption is low, water flow is reduced and the magazine
levels are being conserved for times when the power
consumption is high.
 12- Safe: Compared to among others fossil fuels and nuclear energy,
hydroelectricity is much safer. There is no fuel involved (other than water
that is).

Hydropower is clean. It prevents the burning of 22 billion gallons of oil or 120

million tons of coal each year.
Hydropower does not produce greenhouse gasses or other air pollution.
Hydropower leaves behind no waste.
Reservoirs formed by hydropower projects in Wisconsin have expanded water-based
recreation resources, and they support diverse, healthy, and productive fisheries. In
fact, catch rates for game fish like walleye and smallmouth bass are substantially
higher on hydropower reservoirs than natural lakes.
 Disadvantages of Hydroelectricity
1. Dams are extremely expensive to build and must be built to a very high
standard.
2. The high cost of dam construction means that they must operate for
many decades to become profitable.
3. The flooding of large areas of land means that the natural environment
is destroyed.
4. People living in villages and towns that are in the valley to be flooded,
must move out. This means that they lose their farms and businesses. In
some countries, people are forcibly removed so that hydro-power schemes
can go ahead.
5. The building of large dams can cause serious
geological damage. For example, the building of the
Hoover Dam in the USA triggered a number of earth
quakes and has depressed the earth’s surface at its
location.
6. Although modern planning and design of dams is
good, in the past old dams have been known to be
breached (the dam gives under the weight of water in
the lake). This has led to deaths and flooding.
7. Dams built blocking the progress of a river in one
country usually means that the water supply from the
same river in the following country is out of their
control. This can lead to serious problems between
neighboring countries.
8. Building a large dam alters the natural water table
level. For example, the building of the Aswan Dam
in Egypt has altered the level of the water table.
This is slowly leading to damage of many of its
ancient monuments as salts and destructive minerals
are deposited in the stone work from ‘rising damp’
caused by the changing water table level.
9. Environmental Consequences: The environmental
consequences of hydropower are related to
interventions in nature due to damming of water,
changed water flow and the construction of roads
and power lines.
 10. Expensive: Building power plants in general is expensive. Hydroelectric
power plants are not an exception to this. On the other hand, these plants do
not require a lot of workers and maintenance costs are usually low.
 11. Droughts: Electricity generation and energy prices are directly related to
how much water is available. A drought could potentially affect this.
 12. Limited Reservoirs: We have already started using up suitable reservoirs
for hydroelectric power plants. There are currently about 30 major power
plants that are expected to generate more than 2.000 MW under
construction. Only one of these projects was started in the last two years. [8]
Why does hydroelectric power important?

 it is important to our Nation. Growing populations and modern technologies

require vast amounts of electricity for creating, building, and expanding. In the
1920's, hydroelectric plants supplied as much as 40 percent of the electric energy
produced. Although the amount of energy produced by this means has steadily
increased, the amount produced by other types of powerplants has increased at a
faster rate and hydroelectric power presently supplies about 10 percent of the
electrical generating capacity of the United States. Hydropower is an essential
contributor in the national power grid because of its ability to respond quickly to
rapidly varying loads or system disturbances, which base load plants with steam
systems powered by combustion or nuclear processes cannot accommodate
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Meeting the growing demands for electricity creates
difficult decisions for many countries. The context for
decision-making is also changing, particularly in light of
climate change imperatives encouraging a move away
from greenhouse gas emitting energy sources.
 Hydropower is renewable, and has low
greenhouse gas emissions. It is a premium
energy source, providing a range of services.
These include base load and peak load
generation, and support for other forms of
electricity generation, particularly renewables.
 A challenge for hydropower developers and operators,
as well as government planners and regulators, has
been to develop tools that promote good practice and
sustainable hydropower projects. Financiers and
development partners have similarly developed their
own approaches. Importantly, there has been some
convergence in these efforts to assess and guide
hydropower sustainability. At this point in time there
is a good global understanding of the key
sustainability issues that must be addressed by the
hydropower sector, and also of the pathways towards