HYDEL POWER PLANT

INTRODUCTION
Water energy has been the most widely used form of renewable
energy for the production of electricity. With todays emphasis on
environmental consideration and conservation of fossil fuels, other
renewable resources are being used to employ the energy sources
of the sun and the earth for electricity generation.
Some of these resources that represent a viable alternative to fossil
fuels are solar power , wind power, geothermal, biomass, and tidal
power. These resources, especially solar power and wind power,
have the capability to produce sustainable energy in definitely with
no direct emission of pollutant and greenhouse gases.
Power plants using these renewable sources of energy are
described in the following sections.
The aspiration for bulk generation of power in the future is nuclear
fusion. If nuclear fusion is harnessed economically, it would provide
clean energy from an abundant source of fuel, namely water.

CLASSIFICATIONS
CLASSIFICATION OF HYDRO POWER PLANTS
ACCORDING TO HEAD
A)LOW HEAD POWER PLANT
B)MEDIUM POWER PLANT
C)HIGH POWER PLANT
ACCORDING TO LOAD
A)BASE LOAD PLANT
B)PEAK LOAD PLANT
ACCORDING TO QUANTITY OF WATER AVAILABLE
A)RUN-OFF RIVER PLANT WITHOUT PONDAGE
B)RUN-OFF RIVER PLANT WITH PONDAGE
C)STORAGE TYPE PLANTS

ELEMENTS
The main components of a hydel power plant are:
Dam/Reservoir/Large buffer tank
Penstock
Power House
a)Turbines
b)Generators
c)Step-up Transformers

PRINCIPLE

Hydro-electric power is generated by the flow of water

through turbine, turning the blades of the turbine.
A generator shaft connected to this turbine also turns and
hence generates electricity.

DIAGRAM

Depending on the capacity, hydel power

plants are dividing into the following
categories
Category
Application
Large Hydel Plant
Small Hydel Plant
Towns
Mini Hydel Plant
Micro Hydel Plant
Pico Hydel Plant

Capacity
50 MW to 1000 MW
1 MW to 50 MW
100 kW to 1000 kW
< 100 kW
< 5 kW

Large Cities
Small cities to
Towns
Rural community
Individual home

GENERATORS
The generator can be of any of the following types

Permanent magnet DC generator (PMDC)

Alternator (Synchronous Generator)
Induction Generator
Synchronous reluctance Generator

To select the best among the listed options, we need to know the
requirement of a generator. Following list gives the requirement:

Rugged and easy to maintain

Simple to fabricate
High efficiency
Fail safe or should not fail at all.

REQUIREMENTS

Sinusoidal output
Good voltage regulation
Cost effective for given power
Ease of servicing/operation
Safety
Reliability
When we try to match the requirements to the types of
generators, Induction generator fits the bill better than others
and hence, this is the type normally used for power generation.
The only drawback with induction generators is its poor voltage
regulation.
To improve the voltage regulation, normally load governors are
used in parallel to the actual load.

TURBINE

The turbine is a device which converts the hydraulic

power from the water to rotating mechanical energy.
There are several turbines that have been developed for
specific purposes.
Turbines are classified into
a)Impulse turbines for high heads.
b)Reaction turbines for low heads.
c)Submersible propeller turbines.
Some of the turbines are Elton, cross flow, turbo,
Francis, Harris etc.

LOAD CONTROL
The speed of the turbine changes when the load
connected to the generator changes.
Since this change of speed affects the voltage and
frequency, the load on the generator must be kept
constant or the flow of water through the nozzle must be
adjusted.
The most reliable method of controlling the load and
keeping the voltage and frequency constant is by using
an electronic load controller.
The unused power of the induction generator is sent to a
ballast or dummy load so that the total load on the
generator remains constant.

LAYOUTS
Site Survey:
It is important to measure the head and the flow with
reasonable accuracy to ensure that the power
requirements are met.
It is better to under estimate the head and the flow rather thanto
over estimate them to obtain conservative hydraulic power
capability of the stream.

Measuring Head:
Three popular methods for head measurement are
Water filled plastic tube.
Altimeter.
Abney level.

Measuring Flow
The flow should be measured during the worst case
condition.
During the rainy season, the flow will be high and
will provide high power output.
However, during the dry season, the flow will be low.
It should be estimated whether the load
requirement will be met even during the worst case
dry seasons.
Therefore, the flow measurement should be done
during the dry seasons.

METHODS OF FLOW MESUREMENTS

Three simple methods of flow
measurements are
a)Bucket method
b)Float method
c)Salt Gulp Analysis

HYDEL POWER PLANTS IN

TAMILNADU
Kundah II
Location: Tamil Nadu
Operator: Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
Configuration: 5 X 35 MW Pelton
Operation: 1960-1988
T/G supplier: Dominion Engineering
Works,
Canadian General Electric
Quick facts: The Kundah project is the
largest
hydroelectric plant in the state and
was developed per the Canada India
Colombo Plan of 1956. It was the first
large-scale, cascade-type
development in the country and
utilizes the Bhavani River catchment
area in the Nilgiris Mountains.

Mettur Dam
Location: Tamil Nadu
Operator: Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
Configuration: 4 X12.5 MW Francis
Operation: 1937-1948
T/G supplier: English Electric, Williams
Works,
Metropolitan Vickers
EPC: Sir M Visweswaraiah,
Government
Engineering College
Quick facts: The multipurpose Mettur
Dam was built where the River Kaveri
enters the plains. The dam is one of
the oldest large-scale dams in India
having been built in 1934 to provide
hydroelectricity and irrigation water
to Salem, Tiruchirappali and
Thanjavur districts. The 1700m dam
creates Stanley Reservoir and
supports a hydropower complex
including the dam-based power
station.

THANK YOU