ME165-1

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY RESOURCES

Week-6 Hydroelectric Power (Part 2)
2015-2016 / 3T

Prepared By:
Engr. Estelito V. Mamuyac
10 February 2016

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Hydraulic Power
The hydraulic power is a naturally available renewable
energy source given by: P = r ghQ
where:
P is the hydraulic power in watts,
r is the density of water (~1000 kg/m3),
g is the acceleration due to gravity of 9.81 m/s2,
h is height of water or net head of water in meters, and
Q is the flow rate or discharge in m3/s.

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Other Formula
Volume flowrate, Q
The volume flow rate of water is the product of the
velocity and the cross sectional area of the penstock.

Q = vA
where: v is the velocity of water in the penstock in
m/s
A is the x-sectional area of the penstock in m2

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Other Formula

Gross head, hg
Gross head is the difference between head water
and tail water elevation.
hg = hw - ht
where: hw is the head water elevation in m
ht is the tailwater elevation in m

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Other Formula
Friction Head Loss, hf
Friction head loss is the head lost by flow in a stream or
conduit due to frictional disturbances
hf= fLV2/(2gd)
where:
f-is the coefficient of friction,
L-is the penstock total length in m,
V-is the velocity of water in m/s,
G-is the pull of gravity, 9.81 m/s2,
D-inside diameter of penstock in m

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Other Formula
Net head or effective head, h
Net head or effective head is the difference
between the gross head and the friction
head loss.

h = hg - hf

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Other Formula

Penstock efficiency, ep
Penstock efficiency is the ratio of the net head to the gross
head

ep = h / hg

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Calculating available power
A simple formula for approximating electric power production at
a hydroelectric plant is: P = r ghQk
where:
P is Power in watts,
r is the density of water (~1000 kg/m3),
g is acceleration due to gravity of 9.8 m/s2,
h is height in meters,
Q is flow rate in cubic meters per second,
k is a coefficient of efficiency ranging from 0 to 1.
Efficiency is often higher (that is, closer to 1) with larger and more modern turbines.
Annual electric energy production depends on the available water supply. In some
installations the water flow rate can vary by a factor of 10:1 over the course of a year.

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Example problem no.1:

Calculate the available power for a turbine that is
85% efficient, with water at 998 kg/cubic meter and
a flow rate of 79.3 cubic-meters/second, gravity of
9.80 meters per second squared and with a net head
of 146.3 m.

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Solution:

P = gr hQk

kg/m3
h = 146.3 m
Q = 79.3 m3/s
g = 9.80 m/s2
k = .85
P = 998 kg/m3 x 146.3 m x 79.3 m3/s x 9.80 m/s2 x .85
= 96.4 MW
r = 998

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Calculating available power
The electrical energy produced in kWh can be written in

the form:

W = r ghQkt
where:
t

is the operating time in hours (8760

hrs/year)

AVAILABLE POWER CALCULATIONS

Seat Works:
1. A hydraulic turbine receives water from a reservoir at an
elevation of 120 m above it. What is the minimum water flow
in kg/s to produce a steady water power of 55 MW.
2. Water flows steadily with a velocity of 3.0 m/s in a 300 m
long horizontal pipe having an inside diameter of 15.24 cm.
The inlet and outlet pressures of the pipe are 690 kPa and
520 kPa, respectively. Find the friction in the pipe.

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS

According to the Availability of Head

High head power plants
Medium head power plants
Low head power plants

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS

According to the Nature of Load

Base load plants
Peak load plants

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS

According to the Quantity of Water Available

Run-of-river-plant without pondage
Run-of-river-plant with pondage

Hydroelectric plants with storage reservoirs

Pump storage plants
Mini and micro hydroelectric plants

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

High head power plants

These plants work under a head of 100 meter and above.
Water is stored in lakes or high mountains during rainy
season or when snow melts.
Surplus water is discharged by a spillway.
Tunnel through the mountain has a surge chamber and
regulating valves at its exit.
Pelton wheel is the common prime mover.
http://energie.edf.com/html/video/production/hydro/en/01/index.html

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

High head power plants (contd.)

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Medium head power plants

These plants operate under heads varying from 30m to 100 m.
Forebay before the penstock acts as the water reservoir and also as
a surge tank.
Francis turbine is the common prime mover.
http://energie.edf.com/html/video/production/hydro/en/02/index.html

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Medium head power plants (contd.)

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Low head power plants

A dam is constructed across a river and a sideway stream diverges
from the river at the dam.
Later this channel joins the river further downstream.

Francis turbine or Kaplan turbine is used for power generation.

http://energie.edf.com/html/video/production/hydro/en/03/index.html

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Low head power plants (contd.)

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Pelton wheel
The Pelton wheel is a water
impulse turbine.
It was invented by Lester Allan
Pelton in the 1870s.
The Pelton wheel extracts energy
from the impulse of moving water,
as opposed to its weight like
traditional overshot water wheel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbyL--6q7_4

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Francis turbine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD4VkzHk6rk

Francis turbines are the most common water

turbine in use today. It was developed by James B.
Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts.
It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines
radial and axial flow concepts.
Guide vanes around the outside of the turbine's
rotating runner adjust the water flow rate through
the turbine for different water flow rates and power
production rates.
Francis turbines are almost always mounted with
the shaft vertical to keep water away from the
attached generator and to facilitate installation and
maintenance access to it and the turbine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BCiFeykRzo

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF HEAD

Kaplan turbine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eLufvzh5HU

The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water

turbine which has adjustable blades. It was
developed in 1913 by the Austrian professor
Viktor Kaplan.

The Kaplan turbine is an inward flow reaction

turbine, which means that the working fluid
changes pressure as it moves through the turbine
and gives up its energy.
Power is recovered from both the hydrostatic
head and from the kinetic energy of the flowing
water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0BLOKEZ3KU

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF LOAD

Base load plants

These plants are required to supply constant power to
the grid.
They run continuously without any interruption and are
mostly remote controlled.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF LOAD

Peak load plants

They only work during certain hours of a day when the
load is more than the average.

Thermal stations work with hydel plants in tandem to

meet the base load and peak load during various
seasons.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE

Run-of-river-plant without pondage

As the name indicates, it does not store water and uses
the water as it comes.
Such plants can be built at a considerably low cost but
the head available and the amount of power generated
are usually very low.

During the high flow periods such plants can be

employed to supply a substantial portion of base load.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE

Run-of-river-plant with pondage

Run-off river power plants with pondage have increased usefulness
because of pondage which usually refers to the collection of water
behind a dam at the plant and increases the firm capacity for a
short-period; say a week or more depending on the size of pondage.
Such power plants are comparatively more reliable and its
generating capacity is less dependent on available rate of flow of
water.
Such power plants can serve as base load or peak load power plants
depending on the flow of stream (during high flow periods-as base
load plants and during low flow periods as peak load plants).

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE

Hydroelectric plants with storage reservoirs

Reservoir power plants are with reservoirs of sufficiently large size to
permit carry-over storage form the wet season to the dry season,
and thus to supply firm flow substantially more than the minimum
natural flow.
Such plants can be used as base load plants or peak load plants as
per requirement.

Most of the hydro-electric power plants everywhere in the world are

of this type.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE

Pumped storage plants (PSP)

Although the losses of the pumping process makes the plant a net
consumer of energy overall, the system increases revenue by selling
more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity
prices are highest.
The method stores energy in the form of potential energy of water,
pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE
Pumped storage plants (PSP) (contd.)
Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps. During
periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released
through turbines to produce electric power.
Pumped storage is the largest-capacity form of grid energy storage
available, and, as of March 2012, the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) reports that PSP accounts for more than 99% of bulk
storage capacity worldwide, representing around 127,000 MW.
PSP reported energy efficiency varies in practice between 70% and
80%, with some claiming up to 87%.

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE
Pumped storage plants (contd.)

CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE QUANTITY

OF WATER AVAILABLE

Mini and micro hydroelectric plants

More emphasis is now being given on such plants.
The natural water source in hilly terrain can be
utilized for power generation with low-head
standardized turbo-generator units.
Its adverse affect on ecology is minimal.
The mini-plants operate with 5m-20m head
producing about 100 kW 500 kW of power, while
micro-plants are still smaller and work under a
head of less than 5m and generate electricity up
to 100 kW.

SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT

Factors to be considered in selecting the site for

hydroelectric power plant:
Availability of water
Water storage capacity
Available water head

Accessability of the site

Distance from the load center
Type of land site

SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT

Factors to be considered.
Availability of water
The design and capacity of the hydro-plant greatly depends on
the amount of water available at the site.
The run-off data along with precipitation at the proposed site
with maximum and minimum quantity of water available in a
year should be made available
a) decide the capacity of the plant.
b) set up the peak load plant such as a steam, diesel or gas turbine
plant.
c) provide adequate spillways or gate relief during flood period.

SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT

Factors to be considered.
Water storage capacity
Since there is a wide variation in rainfall all around the
year, it is always necessary to store the water for
continuous generation of power.
The storage capacity can be estimated with the help of
mass curve.

SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT

Factors to be considered.
Available water head
In order generate the desired quantity of power, it is
necessary that a large quantity of water at a sufficient
head should be available.
An increase in effective head, for a given output,
reduces the quantity of water required to be supplied
to the turbines.

SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT

Factors to be considered.
Accessability of the site
The site should be easily accessible by rail and road.
An inaccessible terrain will jeopardize the movement of men
and material.

Distance from the load center

If the site is close to the load center, the cost of transmission
lines and the transmission losses will be reduced.

SELECTION OF SITE FOR A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT

Factors to be considered.
Type of land site
The land of the site should be cheap and rocky.

The dam constructed at the site should have large

catchment area to store water at high head.
The foundation rocks of the masonry dam should be
strong enough to withstand the stresses in the structure
and the thrust of water when the reservoir is full.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Air Emissions
A few recent studies of large reservoirs created behind hydro dams
have suggested that decaying vegetation, submerged by flooding,
may give off quantities of greenhouse gases equivalent to those from
other sources of electricity.
If this turns out to be true, hydroelectric facilities such as the James
Bay project in Quebec that flood large areas of land might be
significant contributors to global warming.
Run of the river hydro plants without dams and reservoirs would not
be a source of these greenhouse gases (e.g. methane a potent
greenhouse gas).

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Land Resource Use
The most obvious impact of hydroelectric dams is the flooding of vast
areas of land, much of it previously forested or used for agriculture.
The size of reservoirs created can be extremely large. The La Grande
project in the James Bay region of Quebec has already submerged over
10000 square kilometres of land; and if future plans are carried out,
the eventual area of flooding in northern Quebec will be larger than
the country of Switzerland.
Reservoirs can be used for ensuring adequate water supplies, providing
irrigation, and recreation; but in several cases they have flooded the
homelands of native peoples, whose way of life has then been
destroyed. Many rare ecosystems are also threatened by hydroelectric
development.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Natural river system, fish and wildlife
Large dams and reservoirs can have other impacts on a
watershed. Damming a river can alter the amount and
quality of water in the river downstream of the dam, as
well as preventing fish from migrating upstream to spawn.
These impacts can be reduced by requiring minimum flows
downstream of a dam, and by creating fish ladders, which
allow fish to move upstream past the dam.
Silt, normally carried downstream to the lower reaches of a
river, is trapped by a dam and deposited on the bed of the
reservoir.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Natural river system, fish and wildlife

This silt can slowly fill up a reservoir, decreasing the
amount of water, which can be stored and used for
electrical generation.
The river downstream of the dam is also deprived of silt,
which fertilizes the river's flood plain during high water
periods.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Water Resource Use
Bacteria present in decaying vegetation can also change mercury,
present in rocks underlying a reservoir, into a form, which is soluble
in water.
The mercury accumulates in the bodies of fish and poses a health
hazard to those who depend on these fish for food.
The water quality of many reservoirs also poses a health hazard due
to new forms of bacteria, which grow in many of the hydro rivers.
Therefore, run of the river type hydro plants generally have a smaller
impact on the environment.

REFERENCES
Textbooks

Renewable Energy Technologies, Jean-Claude Sabonnadiere, 2009

Energy Conversion, D. Yogi Goswami, Frank Kreith, 2008

Power Plant Engineering, 3rd Edition, PK Nag, 2008, Tata McGraw Hill

Web

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/tech/home

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy

http://www.waterwideweb.org/hydroelectricity.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity

http://www.groept.be/www/dam/HYDROpower.htm#H4

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/hydro.html