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Hydroelectricity – Hydro-electricity Production, Applications Reference
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Hydroelectricity – Hydro-electricity Production, Applications Reference
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Content derived from Wikipedia article on Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator, although less common variations use water's kinetic energy or dammed sources, such as tidal power. Hydroelectricity is a renewable energy source.
The energy extracted from water depends not only on the volume but on the difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called the head. The amount of potential energy in water is proportional to the head. To obtain very high head, water for a hydraulic turbine may be run through a large pipe called a penstock.
While many supply public electricity networks, some hydroelectric projects were created for private commercial purposes. For example, aluminium processing requires substantial amounts of electricity, and often dedicated hydroelectric projects are built to serve aluminium electrolytic plants. In the Scottish Highlands there are examples at Kinlochleven and Lochaber, constructed during the early years of the 20th century. In Suriname, the 'van Blommestein' lake, dam and power station were constructed to provide electricity for the Alcoa aluminum industry.
In parts of Canada (the provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador) hydroelectricity is used so extensively that the word "hydro" is used to refer to any electricity delivered by a power utility. The government-run power utilities in these provinces are called BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro, Hydro One (formerly "Ontario Hydro"), Hydro-Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro respectively. Hydro-Québec is the world's largest hydroelectric generating company, with a total installed capacity (2005) of 31,512 MW.
Advantages
The major advantage of hydro systems is elimination of the cost of fuel. Hydroelectric plants are immune to price increases for fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal, and do not require imported fuel. Hydroelectric plants tend to have longer lives than fuel-fired generation, with some plants now in service having been built 50 to 100 years ago. Operating labor cost is usually low since plants are automated and have few personnel on site during normal operation.
Pumped storage plants currently provide the only commercially important means for energy storage on a scale useful for a utility. Low-value generation in off-peak times occurs because fossil-fuel and nuclear plants cannot be entirely shut down on a daily basis. This energy is used to store water that can be released during high load daily peaks. Operation of pumped-storage plants improves the daily load factor of the generation system.
Reservoirs created by hydroelectric schemes often provide facilities for water sports, and become tourist attractions in themselves. Multi-use dams installed for irrigation, flood control, or recreation, may have a hydroelectric plant added with relatively low construction cost, providing a useful revenue stream to offset the cost of dam operation.
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Disadvantages
Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg (tower) A warning for boaters at O'Shaughnessy DamHydroelectric projects can be disruptive to surrounding aquatic ecosystems. For instance, studies have shown that dams along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America have reduced salmon populations by preventing access to spawning grounds upstream, even though most dams in salmon habitat have fish ladders installed. Salmon smolt are also harmed on their migration to sea when they must pass through turbines. This has led to some areas barging smolt downstream during parts of the year. Turbine and power-plant designs that are easier on aquatic life are an active area of research.
Generation of hydroelectric power impacts on the downstream river environment. Water exiting a turbine usually contains very little suspended sediment, which can lead to scouring of river beds and loss of riverbanks. Since turbines are often opened intermittently, rapid or even daily fluctuations in river flow are observed. For example, in the Grand Canyon, the daily cyclic flow variation caused by Glen Canyon Dam was found to be contributing to erosion of sand bars. Dissolved oxygen content of the water may change from pre-construction conditions. Water exiting from turbines is typically much colder than the pre-dam water, which can change aquatic faunal populations, including endangered species.
The reservoirs of hydroelectric power plants in tropical regions may produce substantial amounts of methane and carbon dioxide. This is due to plant material in flooded areas decaying in an anaerobic environment, and forming methane, a very potent greenhouse gas. According to the World Commission on Dams report, where the reservoir is large compared to the generating capacity (less than 100 watts per square metre of surface area) and no clearing of the forests in the area was undertaken prior to impoundment of the reservoir, greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir may be higher than those of a conventional oil-fired thermal generation plant [1]. In boreal reservoirs of Canada and Northern Europe, however, greenhouse gas emissions are typically only 2 to 8% of any kind of conventional thermal generation. The contributive effect of forest decay can be mitigated by a new class of underwater logging operation targeting drowned forests.[1]
Another disadvantage of hydroelectric dams is the need to relocate the people living where the reservoirs are planned. In many cases, no amount of compensation can replace ancestral and cultural attachments to places that have spiritual value to the displaced population. Additionally, historically and culturally important sites can be flooded and lost. Such problems have arisen at the Three Gorges Dam project in China, the Clyde Dam in New Zealand and the Ilısu Dam in Southeastern Turkey.
The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (1927-32) was the centerpiece of Lenin's GOELRO plan.Recreational users of the reservoir or downstream areas are exposed to hazards due to changing water levels, and must be wary of power plant intakes and spillway operation.
The creation of a dam in a geologically inappropriate location may cause disasters like the one of the Vajont Dam in Italy, where almost 2000 people died, in 1963.
Some hydroelectric projects also utilize canals, typically to divert a river at a shallower gradient to increase the head of the scheme. In some cases, the entire river may be diverted leaving a dry riverbed. Examples include the Tekapo and Pukaki Rivers.
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Hydro-electric facts
Oldest hydro-electric power stations: Cragside, Rothbury, England completed 1870. Appleton, Wisconsin, USA completed 1882, A waterwheel on the Fox river supplied the first commercial hydroelectric power for lighting to two paper mills and a house, two years after Thomas Edison demonstrated incandescent lighting to the public. Within a matter of weeks of this installation, a power plant was also put into commercial service at Minneapolis. Duck Reach, Launceston, Tasmania. Completed 1895. The first publicly owned hydro-electric plant in the Southern Hemisphere. Supplied power to the city of Launceston for street lighting. Decew Falls 1, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada completed 25 August 1898. Owned by Ontario Power Generation. Four units are still operational. Recognized as an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering & Computing by the IEEE Executive Committee in 2002. It is believed that the oldest Hydro Power site in the United States is located on Claverack Creek, in Stottville, NY 11721 . The turbine, a Morgan Smith, was constructed in 1869 and installed 2 years later. It is one of the earliest water wheel installations in the United States and also generated electricity. It is owned today by Edison Hydro [citation needed].
Largest hydro-electric power stations The La Grande Complex in Quebec, Canada, is the world's largest hydroelectric generating system. The eight generating stations of the complex have a total generating capacity of 16,021 MW. The Robert Bourassa station alone has a capacity of 5,616 MW. A ninth station (Eastmain-1) is currently under construction and will add 480 MW to the total. Construction on an additional project on the Rupert River was started on January 11, 2007. It will add two stations with a combined capacity of 888 MW.
Name Country Time of compeletion Total Capacity Max annual electricity production Itaipú Brazil/Paraguay 1984/1991/2003 14,000 MW 93.4 TW-hours Guri Venezuela 1986 10,200 MW 46 TW-hours Three Gorges Dam China 2004* 9,800 MW(2006)18,200 MW(when complete) 84,7 TW-hours Grand Coulee United States 1942/1980 6,809 MW 22.6 TW-hours Sayano Shushenskaya Russia 1983 6,721 MW 23.6 TW-hours Krasnoyarskaya Russia 1972 6,000 MW 20.4 TW-hours Robert-Bourassa Canada 1981 5,616 MW Churchill Falls Canada 1971 5,429 MW 35 TW-hours Bratskaya Russia 1967 4,500 MW 22.6 TW-hours Ust Ilimskaya Russia 1980 4,320 MW 21.7 TW-hours Yaciretá Argentina/Paraguay 1998 4,050 MW 19.1 TW-hours Ertan Dam China 1999 3,300 MW(550MW×6) 17.0 TW-hours Gezhouba Dam China 1988 3,115 MW 17.01 TW-hours Nurek Dam Tajikistan 1979/1988 3,000 MW Volzhskaya (Volgogradskaya) Russia 1961 2,541 MW 12.3 TW-hours Atatürk Dam Turkey 1990 2,400 MW Zhiguliovskaya (Samarskaya) Russia 1957 2,300 MW 10.5 TW-hours Iron Gates Romania/Serbia 1970 2,280 MW 11.3 TW-hours Aswan Egypt 1970 2,100 MW Tarbela Dam Pakistan 1976 2,100 MW Hoover Dam United States 1936/1961 2,080 MW Cahora Bassa Mozambique 1975 2,075 MW Karun III Dam Iran 2007 2,000 MW 4,1 TW-hours
[citation needed]
* Powered first 14 water turbogenerators
These are ranked by maximum power.
In progress
The hydroelectric power station of Aswan Dam, Egypt Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, LuxembourgIlısu Dam, one of the Southeastern Anatolia Project Dams in Turkey, Construction started on August 5, 2006. Three Gorges Dam, China. First power in July 2003, with 9,800MW installed until 2006, scheduled completion 2009, total power 22,400 MW including the Underground Power Station (6×700MW) Xiangjiaba Dam,China.Construction started in November 26 2006, scheduled completion 2015, 6,000 MW Xiluodu Dam, China. Construction started in December 26 2005, scheduled completion 2015, 12,600 MW Xiaowan Dam, China.Construction started January 1 2002,first generator will begin to work in 2010, scheduled completion December2012, 4,200 MW Jinping 1 Hydropower Station, China.Construction started November 11 2005, scheduled completion 2014, 3,600 MW Jinping 2 Hydropower Station,China.Construction started December 2006, scheduled completion 2014, 4,800 MW To build this dam, only 23 families and 129 local residents need to be moved. It works with Jinping 1 Hydropower Station as a group.
Goupitan Dam, China.Construction started November 8 2003, scheduled completion 2011, 3,000 MW Longtan Dam, China.Construction started July 1 2001 ,first generator will begin to work in July 2007, scheduled completion December2009, 6,300 MW(9×700MW) Pubugou Dam, China.Construction started March 30 2004, scheduled completion 2010, 3,300 MW Those 9 dams in China will have total generating capacity of 66,200MW (66.2 GW) when completed. For comparison purposes, in 1999 the total capacity of hydroelectric generators in Brazil, the third country by hydroelectric capacity, was 57.52GW.
Countries with the most hydro-electric capacity
Country, total annual hydroelectricity production, total capacity installed
People's Republic of China, 416,700 GWh (128,570 MW installed)(2006)[2] Canada, 396,700 GWh (68,974 MW installed) Brazil, 285,603 GWh (57,517 MW installed)(1999) USA, 260,400 GWh (79,511 MW installed) Russia, 169,700 GWh (46,100 MW installed)(1999) India, 125,126 GWh (33,600 MW installed)(2006) Norway, 180,800 GWh (27,528 MW installed) Japan, 88,500 GWh (27,229 MW installed) France, 56,100 GWh (25,335 MW installed)
Hydroelectric plant in Costa Rica.These are 2005 figures and include pumped-storage hydroelectricity schemes. GWh means giga-watt-hour, which equal to 1 million kWh (kilo-watt-hour) equal to 3.6×10^12 Joule, equal to 123.0 tons(1000 kilogram) of standard coal, equal to 86 ton of standard oil.
References
New Scientist report on greenhouse gas production by hydroelectric dams. International Water Power and Dam Construction Venezuela country profile International Water Power and Dam Construction Canada country profile Tremblay, Varfalvy, Roehm and Garneau. 2005. Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Fluxes and Processes, Springer, 732 p.
Related topics
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hydroelectric powerHydropower List of energy topics Wave power Tidal power List of reservoirs and dams Tennessee Valley Authority Small hydro Pumped-storage hydroelectricity Environmental concerns with electricity generation William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong an early private hydro-electric station
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity
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