Water Energy

Group 5

Hydropower

• Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water or running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower from many kinds of watermills has been used as arenewable energy source for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as gristmills, sawmills, textile mills,trip hammers, dock cranes, domestic lifts, and ore mills. A trompe, which produces compressed air from falling water, is sometimes used to power other machinery at a distance.

Hydroelectricity

• Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy, accounting for 16 percent of global electricity generation – 3,427 terawatt-hours of electricity production in 2010, and is expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years.

Advantages of Hydroelectricity

• Hydroelectricity does not "use" water, all of the water is returned to its source of origin. Hydroelectric power can be created 24/7 indefinitely assuming that the body of water it is utilizing never runs dry. It is also another absolutely clean source of energy. The power plants, once in place, do not create any waste byproducts in their conversion. Dams constructed can also shut their gates and conserve the water for use when power is in higher demand.

Disadvantages of Hydroelectricity

• Like all power plants, hydroelectric plants are very expensive to build, and must be built to a very high standard. The high cost means that plants must operate for a long time to become profitable. The creation of dams can also create flooding of land, which means natural envrionment and the natural habitat of animals, and even people, may be destroyed.

• The building of dams for hydroelectric power can also cause a lot of water access problems. The creation of a dam in one location may mean that those down river no longer have control of water flow. This can create controversy in places where neighboring countries share a water supply.

The largest hydroelectric power plant in Poland

•  Żarnowiec

The biggest hydroelectric power plant in the world

The Three Gorges Dam in Hubei, China, has the world's largest instantaneous generating capacity (22,500 MW), with theItaipu Dam in Brazil/Paraguay in second place (14,000 MW). Despite large differences in installed capacity of these two power stations, during the course of an entire year they generate equal amounts of electrical energy - Itaipu 98.2 TWh in 2012[1] and Three Gorges 98.1 TWh in 2012,[2] because the Three Gorges experiences six months per year when there is very little water available to generate power, while the Paraná River that feeds the Itaipu has a much lower seasonal variance in flow. Power output of The Three Gorges reaches 125 TWh in years of high feed availability.

TYPES OF HYDROPOWER

PLANTS :

IMPOUNDMENT

• The most common type of hydroelectric power plant is an impoundment facility. An impoundment facility, typically a large hydropower system, uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir. Water released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, which in turn activates a generator to produce electricity. The water may be released either to meet changing electricity needs or to maintain a constant reservoir level.

DIVERSION

• A 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.

MICRO HYDROPOWER

• A micro hydropower plant has a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts. A small or micro-hydroelectric power system can produce enough electricity for a home, farm, ranch, or village.

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By Group5