Hydroelectrical Power Generation

Traditional Methods of Hydroelectric Generation

Low Head Power Generation

Medium Head Power Generation

High Head Power Generation

Large Dams (Three Gorges, Itaipu)

Environmental Effects of Large Dams
Energy in the News
Breast Shot Wheel
Breast shot wheel:
One type of traditional
Water wheel

Water wheels: source
Of power for the
Industrial revolution
Overshot Wheel
More efficient that breast shot
Wheel. Some mills using
These wheels still in operation
In rural appalachia in 1950s

Miller: Mrs. Aarendale

Typical Hydroelectrical Station
Outflow water: can be very cold. Why? (Grand Canyon)
Low Head Hydroelectrical Generators
Low head:
Propellor type
Turbines

Power =
Change in Potential
Energy per Unit time

= weight*
Vertical drop/time

Energy =
Power*time
Microhydro Installation
Small stream with
Hydroelectrical generator:
Power for one family

(Jim Keener)

Moderate Head Hydro
Head: height difference
Between water level in
Reservoir and water
Level entering turbine

Head= height in potential
Energy equation

Penstock: tube water flows
Through


Francis turbine
Turbine used for moderate
Head hydroelectrical power
statiosn
Water Flow in a Francis Turbine
Left: relative to turbine blades Right: true water path
High Head Hydro
Pelton Water Wheel
Used for high head applications:
(above 250 meters)
Are impulse turbines.

Francis and Propeller type turbine
Are reaction turbines.

Reaction turbines: run submerged.

Impulse turbines: run in normal air
Jets of Water Hitting Pelton Wheel
Jets of water are directed through a nozzle onto Pelton wheel
Cups on the wheel transfer kinetic energy from water to wheel.
Optimum Hydroelectric Turbine Type
Optimum water
Wheel: not
Just a function
Of head, also
Depends on
Water flow rate
Hydroelectrical Power Use by State
States Producing Most Hydroelectricity
Why is there
So much
Variation in the
Gallons of water
Per kilowatthour?

Hydropower Output by Nation
Lure of
Hydropower

Big Dams
Vs
Rebar


Itaipu Dam
Presently worlds largest
Hydroelectric plant

On Parana river between
Brazil and Paraguay

Capacity: 12,600 MW
(drought a problem
recently):
Provides:
25% of Brazil power
78% of Paraguay power
Three Gorges Area of Yangtze River
Under
construction

Three Gorges
Dam in China
Moving 1.2 million
People

Capacity of
18,600 MW

Will finish in 2009
Three Gorges Area
Great beauty

Many historic
Sights

Still pressing
Ahead on dam
construction

Gorge length;
~San Francisco
To LA
Environmental Problems with Dams
1) Silt buildup fills reservoir (Yangtze; levees)
2) Fish migration disrupted (Columbia)
3)Water temperature decreases (Colorado)
4) Water gets more saline (Colorado)
5) Water loses oxygen (Brazil)
6) Water slows down, increases disease
(mosquitos, schitosomiasis (Aswan))
7) Water traps pollution, slows pollution flushing
8) Induced seismicity may occur