Hydropower Plant

1. Fluid Power Engineering
Hydro Power Plant

2. Index
• Introduction
• Major Applications of hydropower plant
• Classification of hydropower plant
• Essential components of hydropower plant
• Advantages and disadvantages of hydropower
plant
• Selection of site for a hydropower plant

3. Major Applications
• Generation of electric power
• Storage of irrigation water
• Control of the floods in the river
• Storage of drinking water supply

4. Classification of hydropower plant
Classification of hydropower plants
According to
Capacity
Large
Medium
Small
Mini
Micro
Pico
According to
head
High
Medium
Low
According to
nature of
head
Base load
plants
Peak load
plants
According to
facility types
Run-of-
River
Reservoirs
In-stream
Pumped
storage

5. Classification according to capacity
• LARGE: >100 MW
• MEDIUM: 25 – 100 MW
• SMALL: 1-25 MW
• MINI: 100 KW - 1MW
• MICRO: 5 – 100 KW
• PICO: < 5 KW

6. Classification according to head
LOW HEAD:
 Low head hydro power applications use river current
or tidal flows of 30 meters or less to produce energy.
 These applications do not need to dam or retain water
to create hydraulic head, the head is only a few
meters.
MEDIUM HEAD:
 A power station operating under heads from 30m to
300m

7. Classification according to head
HIGH HEAD:
 A power station operating under heads above about
300m.
 A head of 200m/250m is considered as the limit
between medium and high head power stations.

8. Classification according to quality of
water available
RUN-OF-RIVER TYPE
• These are hydro power plants that utilize the
stream flow as it comes , without any storage
being provided.
RUN-OF-RIVER TYPE WITH RESERVOIR
• The utility of run-off river plant is increased by
providing a reservoir in the plant.

9. Classification according to quality of
water available
STORAGE (RESERVOIR) TYPE
• Hydropower plants with storage are supplied with
water from large storage reservoir that have been
• developed by constructing dams across rivers.
PUMPED STORAGE TYPE
• Pumped storage type hydropower plants are those
which utilize the flow of water from a reservoir at
higher potential to one at lower potential.

10. Classification according to nature of
load
Base load plants
• This type of power plant generate power output
continuously.
Peak load plants
• This type of power plant generate power output
during peak hours.
• It generates power to meet demand of electricity.

11. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• The catchment area and water reservoir
• Dam and intake
• Inlet water ways
• Power house and equipments
• The tail race

12. Essential components of hydropower
plant

13. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• The catchment area and water reservoir
▫ A drainage basin or catchment area is an
extent or an area of land where surface water from
rain, melting snow, or ice converges to a single
point at a lower elevation, usually the exit of the
basin, where the waters join another waterbody,
such as a river, lake, reservoir, wetland, sea or
ocean.

14. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• Inlet water ways
▫ Penstock:- It is a gate or intake structure that
controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that
delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage
systems

15. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• Inlet water ways
▫ Surge Tanks:- A surge tank (or surge drum) is
a standpipe or storage reservoir at the
downstream end of a closed aqueduct or feeder or
a dam or barrage pipe to absorb sudden rises of
pressure, as well as to quickly provide extra water
during a brief drop in pressure.
▫ Forebay:- It is an artificial pool of water in front
of a larger body of water. The larger body of water
may be natural or man-made.

16. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• Inlet water ways
▫ Spillway:- It is a structure used to provide the
controlled release of flows from a dam or levee
into a downstream area, typically being the river
that was dammed.

17. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• Powerhouse and equipments:- It is a building in which the
turbine, alternators and auxiliary plant are housed
• Main equipments provided in a power plant:
▫ Relief valve for penstock fittings
▫ Gate valves
▫ Water circulating pumps
▫ Flow measuring devices
▫ Prime mover coupled with generators
▫ Air ducts
▫ Transformers
▫ Reactors
▫ Oil circuit breakers
▫ Switch board equipments and instruments

18. Essential components of hydropower
plant
• Tail race and outer water ways
▫ Tail race:- A race for conveying water away from
a point of industrial application (as a waterwheel
or turbine) after use.

19. Advantages
• No fuel required
• Prevents floods
• Water sports and gardens
• Irrigation of farms
• Can easily work during high peak daily loads
• Long life
• No air-pollution is created
• Cost of electricity is constant

20. Disadvantages
• Safety of the dams
• Effects on environment
• Site specific
• High quality construction
• Very high capital cost or investment
• Large scale human displacement
• Requires large areas
• Disruption in the surrounding areas
• Disrupts the aquatic ecosystems

21. Selection of site for a hydropower
plant
• Availability of water:
▫ The availability of water at the site is the most
important aspect of hydro power plant because all
other designs are base on it.
• Water storage:
▫ Since storage of water in a suitable reservoir at a
higher level is essential in order to have continuous
supply during the dry season.
• Water head:
▫ An increase in effective head reduces the quantity of
water to be stored and handled by penstocks, turbine,
etc. and therefore capital cost is reduced.

22. Selection of site for a hydropower
plant
• Catchment area:
▫ The reservoir must have a large catchment area so that
level of water in the reservoir may not fall below the
minimum limit required in dry season.
• Availability of land and type of land:
▫ The land to be selected for the site should be cheap
and rocky in order to withstand the weight of the dam
large building and heavy machinery.
• Accessibility of the site:
▫ Adequate transportation facilities must be available so
that necessary equipment and machinery could be
easily transported.

23. Selection of site for a hydropower
plant
• Distance from load centre:
▫ The site where hydro electric power plant is to be
constructed should be near to the load enter so
that the cost of power transmission is minimized
and less power loss is done.

24. Hydropower plant

25. Thank you…………