Hydroelectric

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BY Brandy Law Tommy Ward Rebecca
Heyse Marcus Gibaldi
Hydroelectric
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Hydroelectric

• pertaining to the generation and distribution of
  electricity derived from the energy of falling
  water or any other hydraulic source.

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Types of Hydropower

• Impoundment-A huge hydropower system, uses a dam
  to store river water in a reservoir. The water
  may be released either to meet changing
  electricity needs or to maintain a constant
  reservoir level.
• Diversion- Sometimes called run-of-river,
  facility channels a portion of a river through a
  canal or penstock. It may not require the use of
  a dam.
• Pumped Storage- When the demand for electricity
  is low, a pumped storage facility stores energy
  by pumping water from a lower reservoir to an
  upper reservoir. During periods of high
  electrical demand, the water is released back to
  the lower reservoir to generate electricity.

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Impoundment

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Pumped Storage
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Diversion
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Sizes of Hydropower Plants

• Large Hydropower- DOE defines large hydropower as
  faculties that have a capacity of more than 30
  megawatts.
• Small Hydropower- DOE defines small hydropower as
  faculties that have a capacity of 0.1 to 30
  megawatts
• Micro Hydropower- A micro hydropower plant has a
  capacity of up to 100 kilowatts (0.1 megawatts.

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What is hydropower?

• Currently, the main source of energy for America
  is fossil fuels, however, we have a limited
  amount of this resource and the burning of coal,
  oil and natural gas is extremely harmful to the
  environment. Hydropower is an alternate energy
  source utilizing water. Moving water possesses a
  vast amount of energy. Hydropower depends upon
  the movement of water from areas of higher
  elevation to areas of lower elevation. As water
  evaporates from bodies of water at lower
  elevations, it is collected in clouds in the
  atmosphere. That moisture eventually precipitates
  from the clouds and falls back to the earth,
  flowing over the land through streams and rivers
  until it returns to a stable body of water. It is
  during this flow over land that the power of the
  moving water is captured, either directly from a
  river, or by using a system of dams.

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Facts about hydropower

• Hydropower is emissions-free (it produces no
  carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides,
  or any other air emissions) and produces no
  liquid or solid waste. It is also one of the
  least expensive sources of electricity in the US,
  despite a high initial cost. For every
  kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by a
  hydropower plant, only .6 cents is needed to
  finance its operation and maintenance. This is
  extremely low.

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How does hydropower work?

• Hydropower plants capture the energy of falling
  water to generate electricity. A turbine converts
  the kinetic energy of falling water into
  mechanical energy. Then the generator converts
  the mechanical energy of the turbine into
  electrical energy. Most conventional
  hydroelectric plants include four major
  components
• Dam It raises the water level of the river to
  create falling water. It also controls the flow
  of water. The reservoir that is formed is, in
  effect, stored energy.
• Turbine The force of the falling water pushing
  against the turbine's blades causes the turbine
  to spin. A water turbine is much like a windmill,
  except the energy is provided by falling water
  instead of wind. The turbine converts the kinetic
  energy of falling water into mechanical energy.
• Generator It's connected to the turbine by
  shafts and possibly gears so when the turbine
  spins it causes the generator to spin also. It
  converts the mechanical energy from the turbine
  into electric energy. Generators in hydropower
  plants work just like the generators in other
  types of power plants.
• Transmission lines These conduct electricity
  from the hydropower plants to homes and business.

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Cost

• Hydropower is the most efficient way to generate
  electricity. Modern hydro turbines can convert as
  much as 90 of the available energy into
  electricity. The best fossil fuel plants are only
  about 50 efficient. (1) In the U.S., hydropower
  is produced for an average of 0.7 cents per
  kilowatt-hour (kwh). This is about one-third the
  cost of using fossil fuel or nuclear and
  one-sixth the cost of using natural gas

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Environment

• Hydropower is clean. It prevents the burning of
  22 billion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of
  coal each year. (1)
• Hydropower does not produce greenhouse gasses or
  other air pollution. (1)
• Hydropower leaves behind no waste. (1)
• Reservoirs formed by hydropower projects in
  Wisconsin have expanded water-based recreation
  resources, and they support diverse, healthy, and
  productive fisheries. In fact, catch rates for
  game-fish like walleye and smallmouth bass are
  substantially higher on hydropower reservoirs
  than natural lakes. (3)

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Major Producers of HydroPower in the USA

• Hydropower, including pumped storage, supplies
  about 12 percent of the electrical generating
  capacity of the United States. In 1998
  conventional hydropower generation accounted for
  9 percent of the electricity produced in the
  United States. The following graph illustrates
  the top 20 organizations ranked by hydroelectric
  generating capacity including pumped storage
  units as of January 1, 1999.

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Advantages Disadvantages
Disadvantages to power plants that use coal, oil,
and gas fuel
They use up valuable and limited natural
resourcesThey can produce a lot of
pollutionCompanies have to dig up the earth or
drill wells to get the coal, oil, and gas For
nuclear power plants there are waste-disposal
problems
Advantages to hydroelectric power
Fuel is not burned so there is minimal
pollutionWater to run the power plant is
provided free by natureIt's renewable - rainfall
renews the water in the reservoir, so the fuel is
almost always there
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!Thank You!
For watching our presentation on Hydroelectric
Power