1/11/2018 Hydroelectric Power Generation

Battery and Energy Technologies

Finding your Way Hydroelectric Power

Around Hydroelectric Power
Smart Phone / Tablet Hydro-electric power, using the potential energy of rivers, now supplies 17.5% of the world's electricity (99% in Norway, 57%
Users See Canada, 55% in Switzerland, 40% in Sweden, 7% in USA). Apart from a few countries with an abundance of it, hydro capacit
Alternative Navigation normally applied to peak-load demand, because it is so readily stopped and started. It is not a major option for the future in th
Below developed countries because most major sites in these countries having potential for harnessing gravity in this way are eithe
Sponsors exploited already or are unavailable for other reasons such as environmental considerations. Growth to 2030 is expected mo
China and Latin America.

Battery Performance Hydro energy is available in many forms, potential energy from high heads of water retained in dams, kinetic energy from cur
Improvement by in rivers and tidal barrages, and kinetic energy also from the movement of waves on relatively static water masses. Many ing
Electronic Means ways have been developed for harnessing this energy but most involve directing the water flow through a turbine to generate
electricity. Those that don't usually involve using the movement of the water to drive some other form of hydraulic or pneuma
mechanism to perform the same task.

Water Turbines
Like steam turbines, water turbines may depend on the impulse of the working fluid on the turbine blades or the reaction betw
working fluid and the blades to turn the turbine shaft which in turn drives the generator. Several different families of turbines h
been developed to optimise performance for particular water supply conditions.

Turbine Power Output

In general, the turbine converts the kinetic energy of the working fluid, in this case water, into rotational motion of the turbine
Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler showed in 1754 that the torque on the shaft is equal to the change in angular momentu
water flow as it is deflected by the turbine blades and the power generated is equal to the torque on the shaft multiplied by th
rotational speed of the shaft. See following diagram.

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Electropaedia
Pages Note that this result does not depend on the turbine configuration or what happens inside the turbine. All that matters is the c
Alphabetical Index angular momentum of the fluid between the turbine's input and output.
About Us
AC Batteries Hydroelectric Power Generation Efficiency
Hydroelectric power generation is by far the most efficient method of large scale electric power generation. See Comparison
AC Motors
Energy flows are concentrated and can be controlled. The conversion process captures kinetic energy and converts it directly
Alkaline Batteries electric energy. There are no inefficient intermediate thermodynamic or chemical processes and no heat losses. The overall
Alternative Energy efficiency can never be 100% however since extracting 100% of the flowing water's kinetic energy means the flow would hav
Storage Methods stop.
Apollo Moon Shot The conversion efficiency of a hydroelectric power plant depends mainly on the type of water turbine employed and can be a
Authentication and as 95% for large installations. Smaller plants with output powers less than 5 MW may have efficiencies between 80 and 85 %
Identification It is however difficult to extract power from low flow rates.
Battery Applications
Battery Comparison Note: The theoretical Betz conversion efficiency limit of 59.3% which represents the maximum efficiency which can be obtain
Chart (PDF) a wind turbine, does not apply to hydraulic turbines since there are many variations in turbine designs and more possible con
Battery Life (and the water flows. This means that there are equivalent variations in potential turbine efficiency, many of which can exceed the
Death) limit.
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Systems (BMS) See more about historical hydraulic power developments and more examples.
Battery Manufacturing
Battery Pack Design Turbine Types
Battery Performance The most appropriate turbine to use depends on the rate of water flow and the head or pressure of water.
Characteristics
Battery Power Impulse Turbines
Demand Impulse turbines require tangential water flow on one side of the turbine runner (rotor) and must therefore operate w
Management only partly submerged. They are best suited to applications with a high head but a low volume flow rate such as fas
shallow water courses though it is used in a wide range of situations with heads from as low as 15 metres up to alm
Battery Protection
metres.
Methods
Pelton Turbine
Battery Quotation
Request
Battery Relability
Battery Safety
Battery Standards The Pelton turbine is an example of an impulse turbine.High pressure
Battery Storage heads give rise to very fast water jets impinging in the blades resulting in
Battery Testing very high rotational speeds of the turbine. The split bucket pairs divide the
Battery Timeline water flow ensuring balanced axial forces on the turbine runner.
Battery Types
Pelton wheels are ideal for low power installations with outputs of 10kW or
Beginners Page
less but they have also been used in installations with power outputs of up
Benefits of Custom to 200 MW.
Battery Packs Efficiencies up to 95% are possible.
Boolean Logic and
Digital Circuits
Brushless DC and
Reluctance Motors
Buying Batteries in Reaction Turbines
China (PDF) Reaction turbines are designed to operate with the turbine runner fully submerged or enclosed in a casing to contai
Carbon Footprints water pressure. They are suitable for lower heads of water of 500 metres or less and they are the most commonly u
(Humour) power turbines.
Cell Balancing Francis Turbine
Cell Chemistries
Cell Construction
The Francis turbine is an example of a reaction turbine. Water flow
Charger Specification
enters in a radial direction towards the axis and exits in the
Checklist
direction of the axis.
Chargers and
Large scale turbines used in dams are capable of delivering over
Charging
500 MW of power from a head of water of around 100 metres with
Charger Quotation
efficiencies of up to 95%
Request
Common Battery
Case Sizes (PDF) Propeller and Kaplan Turbines
Communications
Buses
Communications
The propeller turbine, is another example of a
Satellites
reaction turbine. Designed to work fully submerged,
Computer it is similar in form to a ship's propeller and is the
Architecture
most suitable design for low head water sources with
Contact Sponsors a high flow rate such as those in slow running rivers.
Contact Us Designs are optimised for a particular flow rate and
Contacts efficiencies drop of rapidly if the flow rate falls below
Conversion Table the design rating. The Kaplan version has variable
DC Motors pitch vanes to enable it to work efficiently over a
Direct Energy range of flow rates.
Conversion (AMTEC)
Discovery of the
Elements See also Steam Turbines
Electric Machines
Electric Vehicle Power from Dams (Potential Energy)
Charging Supply Characteristics
Infrastructure
Electrical Energy
Electricity Demand
Electricity from A hydroelectric dam installation uses the potential energy of the water
Biofuels retained in the dam to drive a water turbine which in turn drives an electric
Electricity from Fossil generator. The available energy therefore depends on the head of the water
Fuels above the turbine and the volume of water flowing through it. Turbines are
Electrochemical usually reaction types whose blades are fully submerged in the water flow.
Energy Generation
Electromagnetic The diagram opposite shows a typical turbine and generator configuration as
Radiation - Radio used in a dam.
Waves
Electropaedia
Source U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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Engine The civil works involved in providing hydro-power from a
Energy Efficiency dam will usually be many times the cost of the turbines an
Energy from Coal? the associated electricity generating equipment. Dams
(Humour) however provide a large water reservoir from which the flo
Energy Resources of water, and hence the power output of the generator, ca
Energy Conversion be controlled. The reservoir also serves as a supply buffe
and Heat Engines storing excess water during rainy periods and releasing it
during dry spells.
Engineering Harmony
The build up of silt behind the dam can cause maintenanc
(Humour)
problems.
Enigma’s Cryptic
Secrets
Feedback Form
Flow Batteries Source: TVA
Free Report Request
Frequently Asked Available Power
Questions - FAQ Potential energy per unit volume = ρgh
Fuel Cell Comparison Where ρ is he density of the water (103 Kg/m3 ), h is the head of water and g is the gravitational constant (10 m/sec
Chart The power P from a dam is given by
Fuel Cells P = ηρghQ
Gas Turbine Power Where Q is the volume of water flowing per second (the flow rate in m3/second) and η is the efficiency of the turbine
Generators
Generators For water flowing at one cubic metre per second from a head of one metre, the power generated is equivalent to 10
Geothermal Power assuming an energy conversion efficiency of 100% or just over 9 kW with a turbine efficiency of between 90% and 9
Generation
Glossary "Run of River" Power (Kinetic Energy)
Going Solar - Grid Supply Characteristics
Scale (PV) "Run-of-river" installations do not depend on flooding large tracts of land to form dams. Instead, the necessary cons
Graphene water supply may be derived from natural upstream lakes and reservoirs. They are typically used for smaller schem
Grätzel Cell generating less than 10 MegaWatts output power.
Water from a fast flowing river or stream is diverted through a turbine, often a Pelton wheel which drives the electric
Grid Scale Energy
generator. The local head of water may be essentially not much more than zero and the turbine is designed to conv
Storage Systems
kinetic energy of the flowing water into the rotational energy of the turbine and the generator. The available energy t
ESS
depends on the quantity of water flowing through the turbine and the square of its velocity.
Hall of Fame
Impulse turbines which are only partially submerged are more commonly employed in fast flowing run-of-river instal
High Power Batteries while In deeper, slower flowing rivers with a greater head of water, fully submerged Kaplan reaction turbines may be
High Temperature extract the energy from the water flow.
Batteries
History of Batteries Run-of-river projects are much less costly than dams because of the simpler civil works requirements. They are how
(and other things) susceptible to variations in the rainfall or water flow which reduce or even cut off potential power output during perio
Historical Themes drought. To avoid the problems of seasonal river flows, or even daily fluctuations, run-of-river installations may incor
and Characters an additional, limited amount of "man made" water storage, referred to as "pondage", to keep the plant operating du
Home Page periods.
Homebrew Battery On the other hand, during flood conditions the installation may not be able to accommodate the higher flow rates an
How to Specify must be diverted around the turbine losing the potential generating capacity of the increased water flow.
Batteries Because of these limitations, if the construction of a dam is not possible, run of river installations may also need to
Hybrid Power incorporate some form of supply back-up such as battery storage, emergency generators or even a grid connection
Generation Plants Capturing Renewable Energy for more details on back-up options.
Hydroelectric Power
Available Power
Generation
Hydrogen Power The maximum power output from a turbine used in a run of river application is equal to the kinetic energy (½mv2) of
water impinging on the blades. Taking the efficiency η of the turbine and its installation into account, the maximum o
Instructions for Using
power Pmax is given by
Batteries
Lead Acid Batteries Pmax =½ηρQv2
Leclanché Cells where v is the velocity of the water flow and Q is the volume of water flowing through the turbine per second.
Legal Statement Q is given by
Liquid Metal Batteries Q=Av
Lithium Battery where A is the swept area of the turbine blades.
Shipping Regulations Thus
Lithium Cell Failures Pmax =½ηρAv3
Lithium Primary This relationship also applies to shrouded turbines used to capture the energy of tidal flows (see below) and is direc
Batteries analogous to the equation for the theoretical power generated by wind turbines. Note that the power output is propo
Lithium Secondary the cube of the velocity of the water.
Batteries
Low Power Batteries Thus the power generated by one cubic metre of water flowing at one metre per second through a turbine with 100%
Magneto-Hydro-Dynamic efficiency will be 0.5 kW or slightly less taking into account the inefficacies in the system. This is only one twentieth
(MHD) Electricity power generated by the same volume flow from the dam above. To generate the same power with the same volume
Generation water from a run of river installation the speed of the water flow should be √20 metres per second (4.5 m/sec).
Motor Controls
MSDS - Typical Tidal Power
Material Safety Data Supply Characteristics
Sheet (PDF) Harnessing the power of the tides can be achieved by placing bi-directional turbines in the path of the tidal water flo
bays and river estuaries. To be viable, it needs a large tidal range and involves creating a barrier across the bay or e
New Cell Designs &
to funnel the water through the turbines as the tide comes in and goes out. Although tidal energy captured in tidal po
Chemistries
have been used since Roman times to power mills, there are few modern installations. The first plant to utilise tidal
Nickel Cadmium
on a large scale for electricity generation was built at Rance in France in1966. Others followed in Canada and Russ

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1/11/2018 Hydroelectric Power Generation
(NiCad) Batteries
Nickel Hydrogen
Batteries
Nickel Iron (NiFe)
Batteries
Nickel Metal Hydride
(NiMH) Batteries
Nickel Zinc Batteries
Nuclear Power - The
Practice
Nuclear Power - The
Theory
Other Galvanic Cell Tidal power comes closest of all the intermittent renewable sources to being able to provide an unlimited, continuou
Chemistries predictable power output but unfortunately there are few suitable sites in the world and environmental constraints ha
Page Quality Rating far prevented their general acceptance.
Piston Engined Power Shrouded water turbines placed in deep water tidal currents show better potential for exploitation, though the assoc
Generators civil works are more complicated, and several projects are under development.
Primary Batteries Power is available for only six to twelve hours per day depending on the ebb and flow of the tides.
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Recycling Available Power
The maximum power output from a shrouded water turbine used in tidal energy applications is equal to the kinetic e
Redox Batteries
the water impinging on the blades, similar to the "run of river" calculation above. Taking the efficiency η of the turbin
Reference Books
installation into account, the maximum output power Pmax is given by
Reserve Batteries
Rocket Science Pmax =½ηρAv3
Satellite Technologies where v is the velocity of the water flow and A is the swept area of the blades.
Secondary Batteries
Semiconductor A turbine one metre in diameter with a water current of one metre per second flowing through it would generate 0.4
Primer electricity assuming 100% efficiency. Similarly a 3 meter diameter turbine with a water current of 3 metres per secon
Shocking Batteries produce 32 Kw of power.
Silver Oxide / Silver
Wave Power
Zinc Batteries
Supply Characteristics
Site Map More Pages
The energy available from the ocean's surface wave motion is almost in limited, but it has proved frustratingly difficu
Here
capture. Many ingenious systems have been proposed but, except for very small installations, very few are generat
Site Search Engine electricity commercially and most have been thwarted by practical problems.
Small Scale Electricity Some of these proposals are outlined below. Most are still in an experimental phase and many are not scalable into
Generation capacity systems.
Software
Configurable Battery Energy Conversion Systems
Solar Batteries Oscillating Float System
Solar Power One of the simplest and most common solutions is the oscillating float system in which a float is h
Generation inside an cylinder shaped buoy which is open at the bottom and moored to the seabed. Inside the
Special Purpose cylinder the float moves up and down on the surface of the waves as they pass through the buoy
Motors Various methods have been employed to turn the motion of the float into electrical energy. These
Sponsors include:-
State of Charge Hydraulic systems in which air is compressed in a pneumatic reservoir above the float d
(SOC) Determination upward movement on the crests of the waves. After the crests have passed, the air expa
and forces the float downwards into the following troughs of the waves. A hydraulic syst
State of Health (SOH)
uses the reciprocating movement of the float to pump water through a water turbine whi
Determination
drives a rotary electrical generator..
Steam Turbine Power
Pneumatic systems in which the air displaced in the cylinder is used to power an air turb
Generators
which drives the generator.
Stirling Engine Power Linear generators to turn the reciprocating motion of the float directly into electrical powe
Generator Instead of generating the electricity on board the buoy, some systems pump the hydraul
Supercapacitors ashore to power shore based generators.
Technical Library - Oscillating Paddle System
White Papers This system uses large paddles moored to the ocean floor to mimic the swaying motion of sea pla
Thermal Batteries the presence of ocean waves. The paddles are fixed to special hinged joints at the base which us
Thermal Management swaying motion of the paddles to pump water through a turbine generator.
Thermoelectricity Oscillating Snake System
Generators The snake system uses a series of floating cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The floatin
Timekeepers is tethered to the sea bed and maintains a position head on into the waves. The wave-induced m
Traction Batteries the hinges is used to pump high-pressure oil through hydraulic motors via smoothing accumulato
hydraulic motors in turn drive electrical generators to produce the electrical power.
Typical Cylindrical
Oscillating Water Column
Cells (PDF)
Typical High Power
Cells (PDF)
Typical Prismatic
Cells (PDF)
Uninterruptible Power
Supplies (UPS)
V2G Energy Transfer
Water Activated
Batteries
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Water columns are formed within large concrete structures built on the shore line or on rafts. The
Do You Agree?
structure is open at both the top and the bottom. The lower end is submerged in the sea and an a
Is The Information turbine fills the aperture at the top. The rising and falling of the water column inside the structure
Correct? the air column above it driving the air through the turbine generator. The turbine has movable van
Can We Make It which rotate to maintain unidirectional rotation when the movement of the air column reverses.
Better?
Rate This Page Pressure Transducer System
The hydraulic pump system uses a submerged gas-filled tank with rigid sides and base and a flex
bellows-like, top. The gas in the tank compresses and expands in response to pressure changes
More Sponsors waves passing overhead causing the top to rise and fall. A lever attached to centre of the top driv
pistons, which pump pressurized water ashore for driving hydraulic generators.

Wave Capture Systems

Wave capture systems use a narrowing ramp to funnel

waves into an elevated reservoir. Waves entering the
Book Free funnel over a wide front are concentrated into a
narrowing channel which causes the amplitude of the
Demo at wave to increase. The increased wave height coupled
with the momentum of the water is sufficient to raise a
Home quantity of water up a ramp and into a reservoir situated
above the sea level. Water form the reservoir can then be
released through a hydroelectric turbine located below
the reservoir to generate electricity.

Ensure That the Overtopping Wave Systems

These are floating systems similar to the land based system described above. They focus waves
Water You Drink is
tapered ramp which causes their amplitude to increase. The crests of the waves overtop the ram
Free from Dissolved
spill into a low dam. Water from the low dam then flows through hydroelectric turbines back into in
Impurities
sea beneath the floating structure.

Lever Systems
Various lever based energy capture systems have been developed. Long levers may be mounted
steel piles or on floating platforms. Large floats or buoys are attached to the extremities of the lev
which move up and down with the waves.
Movement of the lever arms forces fluid into a central hydraulic accumulator and through to a gen
turbine. Alternatively high-pressure water can be pumped ashore to power shore based generato

Technical Challenges
Formidable technical challenges are involved in designing practical systems for capturing wave energy.
Variability of the sea conditions
Sea conditions are notoriously variable and the system must be able to cope with a wide range o
amplitudes and frequencies as well as changes in the directions of currents.
Matching the generating equipment the wave characteristics
Mechanisms are required to convert the power of the irregular oscillating mechanical forces induc
the waves into electrical power synchronised with the grid. This could involve some expensive po
electronics.
Typical rotating machines used for power generation operate at a synchronous speed of 1200 r.p
revolutions per second) whereas the frequency of waves driving the generator is likely to be betw
and 10 seconds per cycle. A mechanical gearing system is needed to match this 200:1 ratio in op
speeds, possibly combined with special purpose, slow speed generators, incorporating a large nu
pole pairs.
One way around all of these problems is to use hydraulic accumulators either in situ or on shore t
smooth out the energy delivery to the generator.
Equipment construction
For reasonable sized systems, very high mechanical forces will be involved converting the wave
into mechanical energy for driving the electrical generator.
Housing and mooring the equipment
Substantial housings must be provided to protect the generating equipment from the harsh enviro
Holding the installation in place is also particularly difficult in deep water.
Energy transmission
Low loss armoured and insulated cables or high pressure pipes must be developed for delivering
electrical or hydraulic energy back to the shore.
Resistance to storm damage
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1/11/2018 Hydroelectric Power Generation
Storm damage is a major threat. The frequency of occurrence of waves of any particular amplitud
follows a Rayleigh distribution similar to that which applies to wind speeds. Though the frequency
serious storms may be rather small, a wave of ten times the average amplitude may be expected
every 50 years. From the power calculation below, the wave power is proportional to the square o
wave amplitude. This means that the installation must be designed to withstand forces one hundr
greater than the normal working level. This adds considerably to the costs.

Available Power
The wave power per unit length of the wave front PL is given by (Twiddel & Weir. Renewable Energy Resources) as
PL =ρga2λ/4T
Where ρ is he density of the water (103 Kg/m3 ), a is the wave amplitude (half of the wave height), g is the gravitatio
constant (10 m/sec2), λ is the wave length of the oscillation and T the period of the wave.
Thus for a wave with amplitude 1.5 metres, length 100 metres and period 5 seconds, the power per metre of wavefr
be 75 kW.

Ocean Thermal Energy

The boundless thermal energy of the warmer oceans of the world can also be used to generate electricity in much the same
geothermal heat is used for electrical energy generation. Unfortunately conversion efficiencies are very low and economic via
difficult to justify with current energy prices. The process and potential are described in more detail in the section on Ocean T
Energy Conversion (OTEC) on the Geothermal Energy pages.

See also Generators

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