Hydroelectric Power

THE NAME COMES FROM "HYDRO", THE GREEK WORD FOR WATER.

Hydroelectric power and energy

Hydroelectric power is the use of flowing water to

create electricity. The water pressure that is created by water is used to turn the blades of a turbine. The

turbine is connected to a generator, which converts

the mechanical energy into electricity.
Hydroelectric energy is electrical energy derived

from falling or running water.

Sources of Hydroelectric Power

Hydroelectric power relies on water which is a clean,

renewable energy source. Water is renewable because the water cycle is continually recycling itself. Water

evaporates, forms clouds, and then rains down on

Earth, starting the cycle again.
Tidal power is another form of hydropower, it uses the

energy of tides to create electricity.

Uses of Hydroelectric power

Billions of people depend on hydroelectricity everyday. It

powers homes, offices, factories, hospitals, and schools. It is one of the first methods a developing country uses to bring affordable electricity to rural areas.
It helps improve hygiene, education, and employment

opportunities available to a community. China and India for instance, have built dozens of dams over the past decade, as their development has quickly grown.

Advantages of Hydroelectric power

Hydroelectricity does not "use" water, all of the water is

returned to its source of origin. Hydroelectric power can be

created 24/7 indefinitely assuming that the body of water it is utilizing never runs dry. It is also another absolutely clean source of energy. The power plants, once in place, do not create any waste byproducts in their conversion. Dams

constructed can also shut their gates and conserve the

water for use when power is in higher demand.

Disadvantages of Hydroelectric power

Like all power plants, hydroelectric plants are very

expensive to build, and must be built to a very high standard. The high cost means that plants must operate for a long time to become profitable. The creation of dams can also create flooding of land, which means natural environment and the natural habitat of animals, and even people, may be destroyed.

 The building of dams for hydroelectric power can also

cause a lot of water access problems. The creation of a dam in one location may mean that those down river no longer have control of water flow. This can create controversy in places where neighboring countries share a water supply.

Application and Utilization of Hydroelectric power

The most common type of hydroelectric plant uses a dam on a

river to store water in a reservoir. Water released from the

reservoir flows through a pipe and into a turbine, which spins to drive a generator, producing electricity.
Pumped storage plants use a two-reservoir system,

pumping water from a river or a reservoir to a higher reservoir when electricity prices are low during the night. When the

value of electricity on the grid is higher during the day, water

is released from the upper reservoir, spinning the turbines to produce electricity

 Watermills provide another source of hydroelectric

energy. Water mills which were common until the Industrial Revolution, are large wheels usually

located on the banks of moderately flowing rivers.

Water mills generate energy that powers such

diverse activities as grinding grain, cutting lumber

or creating hot fires to create steel.

 Hydroelectric power is produced as water passes through a

dam, and into a river below. The more water that passes
through a dam, the more energy is produced. Once a dam is built, an artificial man-made lake is created behind the dam.
Electricity is produced by a device called a turbine. Turbines

contain metal coils surrounded by magnets. When the magnets spin over the metal coils, electricity is produced. Turbines are located inside dams. The falling water spins the magnets.

 Hydroelectric power is also utilized by large scale

companies as a private use. Many large mining

companies or aluminum manufacturers use vast amounts of electrical so rather than buying from the state they can generate their own power by using hydro power generation.
The utilized energy in the process is called

Hydroelectric energy.

Examples of Hydroelectric power

In the Philippines
ANGAT DAM AND MAGAT DAM

ANGAT DAM

 Angat Dam is a concrete water

reservoir embankment hydroelectric dam that supplies

the Manila metropolitan area water. It was a part of the Angat-Ipo-La Mesa water system. The reservoir supplies

about 90 percent of raw water requirements for Metro

Manila through the facilities of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and it irrigates about

28,000 hectares of farmland in the provinces

of Bulacan and Pampanga.

 This dam supplies potable water and energy to Metro

Manila and nearby areas. Super Typhoon Emma (Welming) (1967 Pacific typhoon season) Super Typhoon Rita (Kading) (1978 Pacific typhoon season)

MAGAT DAM

MAGAT DAM
Magat Dam is a large rock-fill dam on the island of

Luzon in the Philippines. The dam is located on Magat River, a major tributary of Cagayan River. Construction of the dam started in 1975 and completed in 1982. Magat Dam is one of the largest dams in the Philippines and has two primary

purposes: as a source of irrigation water and as a

provider of hydroelectric power.

History

It was Southeast Asia's first large multipurpose dam.

The dam is part of the Magat River Multipurpose Project (MRMP) which was financed by the World Bank and whose purpose is to improve on the existing Magat River Irrigation System (MARIS) and to triple the production of rice in the Cagayan River basin.

Other countries
THREE GORGES DAM AND NIAGRA FALLS

Three Gorges Dam

 The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans

the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW). In 2012, the amount of electricity the dam generated was similar to

the amount generated by the Itaipu Dam.

Niagra Falls

 Niagara is the collective name for three waterfalls that

straddle the international border between the Canadian

province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge.
The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and

as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century.