REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN

PEACE WORK FATHERLAND PAIX TRAVAIL PATRIE

Ministry of Higher Education Ministre de lenseignement Suprieur

THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA UNIVERSITE DE BAMENDA

HIGHER TECHNICAL TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGE

(H.T.T.T.C) BAMBILI BAMENDA

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND POWER ENGINEERING

OPTION: AIR CONDITIONING AND REFRIGERATION
COURSE TITLE: ACR518 Renewable energies and Env. Mgt.

LEVEL: 500

HYDROPOWER

WRITTEN BY:

N NAMES MATRICULE
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COURSE FACILITATOR :

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2016/2017

 HYDROPOWER

CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... ii
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................3
I- GENERALITIES ................................................................................................................4
I.1- Principle........................................................................................................................4
I.2- Main components of hydropower ..................................................................................5
II- HYDROPOWER CLASSIFICATION BY TYPE ................................................................6
II.1- Classification by type of scheme ................................................................................6
II.1.1- Run-of-river hydropower projects ..........................................................................6
II.1.2- Reservoir (storage) hydropower schemes ...............................................................6
II.1.3- Pumped storage hydropower schemes ....................................................................7
II.2- Classification by size (generating capacity) ...............................................................8
III- THE TURBINE ................................................................................................................8
III.1- Type of turbine ..........................................................................................................8
III.1.1- Impulse Turbines ................................................................................................8
III.1.2- Reaction Turbines ..............................................................................................9
III.2- Measurement of Head and Flow ................................................................................9
III.2.1- Measuring Head .................................................................................................9
III.2.2- Measuring Flow ............................................................................................... 11
IV- CALCULATING THE POWER IN YOUR STREAM ................................................... 13
IV.1- Forces on impulse turbine ........................................................................................ 13
IV.2- The Hydraulic Power ............................................................................................... 14
IV.3- The mechanical rotational power ............................................................................. 14
IV.4- Electrical power....................................................................................................... 15
IV.5- Angular velocity and turbine size ............................................................................. 15
V- HYDROPOWER AND THE ENVIRONMENT ................................................................ 16
V.1- Disadvantages ......................................................................................................... 16
V.2- Advantages .............................................................................................................. 16
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 17
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 17

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 HYDROPOWER

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Principle of Hydropower ..............................................................................................4
Figure 2: Run of River Hydropower scheme................................................................................6
Figure 3: Pumped-storage Plant ...................................................................................................7
Figure 4: Direct measure of Head .............................................................................................. 10
Figure 5: Container fill method ................................................................................................. 12
Figure 6: Float method .............................................................................................................. 13
Figure 7: Representation of forces on impulse turbine ............................................................... 13

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 INTRODUCTION
Hydropower is a renewable energy source based on the natural water cycle. Hydropower
schemes often have significant flexibility in their design and can be designed to meet base-load
demands with relatively high capacity factors, or have higher installed capacities and a lower
capacity factor, but meet a much larger share of peak demand.

Hydropower is the largest renewable energy source, and it produces around 16% of the
worlds electricity and over four-fifths of the worlds renewable electricity. The two largest
hydropower projects in the world are the 14 GW Itaipu project in Brazil and the Three Gorges
project in China with 22.4 GW.

Hydropower can meet load fluctuations minute-by-minute, although other plants, notably
conventional thermal power plants, can respond to load fluctuations, their response times are not
as fast and often are not as flexible over their full output band.

As a result of this flexibility, hydropower is an ideal complement to variable renewables

as, when the sun shines or the wind blows, reservoir levels can be allowed to increase for a time
when there is no wind or sunshine.

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I- GENERALITIES
I.1- Principle
Hydropower transforms the potential energy of a mass of water flowing in a river or stream
with a certain vertical fall (termed the head). The potential annual power generation of a
hydropower project is proportional to the head and flow of water. Hydropower plants use a
relatively simple concept to convert the energy potential of the flowing water to turn a turbine,
which, in turn, provides the mechanical energy required to drive a generator and produce
electricity.

Water in a reservoir behind a hydropower dam flows through an intake screen, which filters
out large debris, but allows fish to pass through. The water travels through a large pipe, called a
penstock. The force of the water spins a turbine at a low speed, allowing fish to pass through
unharmed. Inside the generator, the shaft spins coil of copper wire inside a ring of magnets. This
creates an electric field, producing electricity. Electricity is sent to a power lines, where a
transformer increases the voltage, allowing it to travel through the electric grid. Water flows out
of the penstock into the downstream river

Figure 1: Principle of Hydropower

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 I.2- Main components of hydropower
The main components of a conventional hydropower plant are [1]:

Dam: Most hydropower plants rely on a dam that holds back water, creating a large
water reservoir that can be used as storage. There may also be a de-silter to cope with sediment
build-up behind the dam.
Intake: is typically the highest point of your hydro system, where water is diverted
from the stream into the pipeline that feeds your turbine. A water diversion system serves two
primary purposes. The first is to provide a deep enough pool of water to create a smooth, air-free
inlet to your pipeline; the second is to removed debris and dirt.
Penstock: the pipeline, sometimes called penstock, is responsible for not only
moving water to your turbine, but is also the enclosure that creates Head pressure with increasing
vertical drop. In effect, the pipeline focuses all the water power at the bottom of the pipe where
your turbine will connect.
Surge chamber: A surge chamber or tank is used to reduce surges in water pressure
that could potentially damage or lead to increased stresses on the turbine.
Powerhouse: is simply a building that houses your turbine, generator and controls.
Proper design significantly affects system efficiency, however, especially with regard to how the
water enters and exits your turbine.
Turbine: The water strikes the turbine blades and turns the turbine, which is
attached to a generator by a shaft. There is a range of configurations possible with the generator
above or next to the turbine. The most common type of turbine for hydropower plants in use today
is the Francis Turbine, which allows a side-by-side configuration with the generator.
Generators: As the turbine blades turn, the rotor inside the generator also turns
and electric current is produced as magnets rotate inside the fixed-coil generator to produce
alternating current (AC).

The primary mechanical and electrical components of a small hydropower plant are the
turbines and generators.

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II- HYDROPOWER CLASSIFICATION BY TYPE
Hydropower plants can be constructed in a variety of sizes and with different
characteristics. In addition to the importance of the head and flow rate, hydropower schemes can
be put into the following categories:

II.1- Classification by type of scheme

II.1.1- Run-of-river hydropower projects
Have no, or very little, storage capacity behind the dam and generation is dependent on the
timing and size of river flows. The major advantage of this approach is that it can be less expensive
than a series of reservoir dams because of the lower construction costs. However, in other cases,
systems will be constrained to be run-of-river because a large reservoir at the site is not feasible
[2].

Figure 2: Run of River Hydropower scheme

II.1.2- Reservoir (storage) hydropower schemes

Have the ability to store water behind the dam in a reservoir in order to de-couple
generation from hydro inflows. Reservoir capacities can be small or very large, depending on the
characteristics of the site and the economics of dam construction. The advantage of hydropower

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plants with storage is that generation can be decoupled from the timing of rainfall or glacial melt.
For instance, in areas where snow melt provides the bulk of inflows, these can be stored through
spring and summer to meet the higher electricity demand of winter in cold climate countries, or
until summer to meet peak electricity demands for cooling. (figure 1).

II.1.3- Pumped storage hydropower schemes

Use off-peak electricity to pump water from a reservoir located after the tailrace to the top
of the reservoir, so that the pumped storage plant can generate at peak times and provide grid
stability and flexibility services. Pumped storage plants are not energy sources but instead are
storage devices. Pumped storage power plants are much less expensive than lead-acid and Li-ion
batteries. However, pumped storage plants are generally more expensive than conventional large
hydropower schemes with storage, and it is often very difficult to find good sites to develop
pumped hydro storage schemes [3].

These three types of hydropower plants are the most common and can be developed across
a broad spectrum of size and capacity from the very small to very large, depending on the
hydrology and topography of the watershed. They can be grid-connected or form part of an isolated
local network.

Figure 3: Pumped-storage Plant

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 II.2- Classification by size (generating capacity)
There is no agreed definition, the following bands are typical to describe the size of
hydropower projects [4]:

Large-hydro: 100 MW or more of capacity feeding into a large electricity grid;

Medium-hydro: From 20 MW to 100 MW almost always feeding a grid;
Small-hydro: From 1 MW to 20 MW usually feeding into a grid;
Mini-hydro: From 100 kW to 1 MW that can be either stand-alone, mini-grid or
grid-connected;
Micro-hydro: From 5 kW to 100 kW that provide power for a small community
or rural industry in remote areas away from the grid; and
Pico-hydro: From a few hundred watts up to 5 kW (often used in remote areas
away from the grid).

However, there is no agreed classification of small and large hydro and what
constitutes small varies from country to country.

III- THE TURBINE

Turbines are devices that convert the energy from falling water into rotating shaft power.
In this section we are going to talk about the different types of turbine [1].

III.1- Type of turbine

There are two main turbine categories: reactionary and impulse.

III.1.1- Impulse Turbines

Impulse turbines extract the energy from the momentum of the flowing water, as opposed
to the weight of the water. The different types of impulse turbine are:

The Pelton turbine which is the most commonly used turbine with high heads.
Banki-Michell or Ossberger turbines (sometimes referred to as Turgo or cross-
flow) have lower efficiencies but are less dependent on discharge and have lower maintenance
requirements.

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 III.1.2- Reaction Turbines
Reaction turbines extract energy from the pressure of the water head. In the reactionary
turbine, we have:

The Francis turbine is the most widely used hydropower turbine in existence.
Francis turbines are highly efficient and can be used for a wide range of head and flow rates.
The Kaplan turbine was derived from the Francis turbine but allows efficient
hydropower production at heads between 10 and 70 meters, much lower than for a Francis turbine.

The most suitable and efficient turbine for a hydropower project will depend on the site
and hydropower scheme design, with the key considerations being the head and flow rate.

III.2- Measurement of Head and Flow

The two most important facts you need to know about your site are:

Head (the vertical distance between your intake and turbine);

Flow (how much water comes down the stream).

You simply cannot move forward without these measurements. Your Head and Flow will
determine everything about your hydro system pipeline size, turbine type, rotational speed,
generator size everything.

III.2.1- Measuring Head

HEAD is pressure, created by difference in elevation between the intake of your pipeline,
and your water turbine. Head can be measured as vertical distance (feet or meters) or as pressure
(pounds per square inch, newton per square meter, etc.). Regardless of the size of your stream,
higher HEAD will produce greater pressure and therefore power at the turbine [3].

The following conversions may be helpful:

1 vertical foot = 0.33 pounds per square inch (psi) pressure

1 psi = 2.31 vertical feet

Accuracy is critical when measuring HEAD. It not only affects power, but also determines
the type of turbine to use (such as a Francis or Pelton design), as well as the hydrodynamic design
of the turbine buckets or blades. An altimeter can be useful in estimating Head for preliminary

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site evaluation, but should not be used for the final measurement. It is quite common for low cost
barometric altimeters to reflect errors of 50 feet or more, even when calibrated. GPS altimeters
are often even less accurate.

There are two accurate methods for measuring HEAD: direct distance measurement, and
water pressure.

a- Direct Distance Measurement

You can use a surveyors transit, a contractors level on a tripod, or a level taped to a
straight board to measure head. You will also require a pole with graduated measurements. (A
measuring tape affixed to a 20 section of PVC pipe works well.) Direct measurement requires an
assistant.

Makes a series of vertical measurements using the transit level and the vertical measuring
pole is vertical. Keep detailed notes at each step, and then add up the series of measurements (A,
B, C, D, etc.) to find total HEAD [3].

Figure 4: Direct measure of Head

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 b- Water pressure Measurement
If the distance is short enough, you can use one or more garden to measure Head. This
method relies on the constant that each vertical foot of HEAD creates 0.433 psi of water pressure.
(10 vertical feet would create 4.33 psi.) By measuring the pressure in the hose, you can calculate
elevation change of your system.

Run the hose (or hoses) from your proposed intake site to your proposed turbine location.
If you attach multiple hoses together, ensure each connection is tight and leak-free. Attach an
accurate pressure meter to the bottom end of the hose and completely fill the hose with water.
Make sure there are no high spots in the hose that could trap air.

If necessary, you can measure total HEAD over longer distances by moving the hoses and
taking multiple readings. Keep in mind, however, that there is less than a half-psi difference for
every vertical foot. Except for very steep hillsides, even a hundred-foot hose may drop only a few
vertical feet. The chance for error significantly increases with a series of low Head readings. Use
the meter must be graduated so that measurement is taken in the middle of the pressure gauges
range. Dont use a 0 800 PSI gauge to measure 5-15 PSI pressure. Select instead a 0 30 PSI
gauge.

c- Gross Head vs. Net Head

By recording these actual measurements, you have determined Gross Head. As described
later in computing Net Head, however, the effective Head at the nozzle is actually lower when
water begins to flow, due to pipeline (penstock) friction. A properly designed pipeline will yield a
Net Head of about 85% - 90% of the Gross Head you measured.

III.2.2- Measuring Flow

The second major step in evaluating your sites hydro potential is measuring the flow of
the stream. Stream levels change through the seasons, so it is important to measure flow at various
times of the year. Flow is typically expressed as volume per second or minute.

a- Container Fill Method

The container fill method is the most common method for determining flow in micro hydro
systems. Find a location along the stream where all the water can be caught in a bucket. If such as
pot doesnt exist, build a temporary dam that forces all of the water to flow through a single outlet.

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Using a bucket or larger container of a known volume, use a stopwatch to time how long it takes
to fill the container. Then divide the container size by the number of seconds.

Figure 5: Container fill method

b- Float Method
The float method is useful for large streams if you can locate a section about 10 feet (3 m)
long where the stream is fairly consistent in width and depth.

Step1. Measure the average depth of the stream. Select a board able to span the width of
the stream and mark it at 1-foot(0.3m) intervals. Lay the board across the stream, and measure the
stream depth a teach 1-foot interval. To compute the average depth, add all of your measurements
together and divide by the number of measurements you made.
Step2. Compute the area of the cross-section ou just measured by multiplying the average
depth you just computed by the width of the stream. For example, a 6-foot-wide stream with an
average depth of 1.5 feet would yield a cross-sectional area of 9 square feet.
Step 3. Measure the speed. A good way to measure speed is to mark off a 10-foot (3 m)
length of the stream that includes the point where you measured the cross-section. Remember, you
only want to know the speed of the water where you measured the cross-section, so the shorter the
length of stream you measure, the better.

Use a weighted float that can be clearly seenan orange or grapefruit works well. Place it
well upstream of your measurement area, and use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to travel
the length of your measurement section. The stream speed probably varies across its width, so
record the times for various locations and average them.

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 Figure 6: Float method

IV- CALCULATING THE POWER IN YOUR STREAM

IV.1- Forces on impulse turbine
The resulting deflection of the fluid constitutes a change in momentum of the fluid. The
cup has exerted a force on the fluid, and therefore the fluid has likewise exerted a force on the cup.
This tangential force applied to the wheel causes it to rotate [4].

Figure 7: Representation of forces on impulse turbine

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 The cup moves to the right with steady relative jet speed (uj uc); the change in momentum
per unit time, and hence the force F experienced by the cup, is:

= ( ) Eq. IV-1

This force is in the direction of the jet.

IV.2- The Hydraulic Power

The power Pi transferred to the single cup is:

P = FUC so the power transferred to the cup is therefore:

P = 2Q i (Uj UC )UC . Eq. IV-2

Where Qj is the flow through the jet. By differentiation with respect to u c this is a maximum
for constant uj when = . , So substituting for uc:
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P = Q i U2 Eq. IV-3
2

The pressure is atmospheric both at the top of the supply pipe and at the jet. Therefore
Bernoullis theorem implies that, in the absence of friction in the pipe, = . That is imply:
P = Q Eq. IV-4
In practice the size of the pipes is chosen so that u j is independent of the nozzle area. If
there are n nozzles, each of area a, then the total flow from all jets is:

Q = n*a*Uj = n*Qi and the total hydraulic power is:

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P = 2 na (2 )3/2 Eq. IV-5

IV.3- The mechanical rotational power

If the efficiency of transforming the water jet power into mechanical rotational power is
m, then the mechanical power output Pm from the turbine with n jets is:

= = ( )/

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 IV.4- Electrical power
If the efficiency of transforming the mechanical rotational power into electrical power is
g, then the electrical power output Pe:

= = ( )/

IV.5- Angular velocity and turbine size

If the wheel has radius R and turns at angular velocity ,

= =

Thus for a given output power, the larger the wheel the smaller its angular velocity. Since
uc = R, and uc = 0,5uj by, also we have:

. ( )/
=

The nozzles usually give circular cross-section jets of area a and radius r. So = 2 and
from

=
( )/

= . ( )/

/

= /( / is a non-dimensional measure of the operating conditions, called the shape
)

number of the turbine. Such non-dimensional factors are powerful functions in engineering,
allowing scaling up from smaller-scale laboratory measurements.

IV.6- Application exercise:

A propeller turbine has shape number = 4 and produces 100 kW (mechanical) at a
working head of 6 m . Its efficiency is about 70%. Calculate

a. The flow rate

b. The angular speed of the shaft

Solution

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 a- Let us determine the flow rate: Q

P = Ph = Q =

100. 103
NA: Q= = 2.42 = .
0.70 1000 9.8 6

b- Let us determine the angular speed of the shaft

P1/2 / ( )/
= =
1/2 (gHa )5/4 /

4 10001/2 (9.8 6)5/4

: = = 65.13 = . /
(100 103 )1/2

V- HYDROPOWER AND THE ENVIRONMENT

V.1- Disadvantages
Hydropower dams can cause several environmental problems, even though they burn no
fuel. Damming rivers may permanently alter river systems and wildlife habitats. Fish, for one, may
no longer be able to swim upstream. Hydro plant operations may also affect water quality by
churning up dissolved metals that may have been deposited by industry long ago. Hydropower
operations may increase silting, change water temperatures, and change the levels of dissolved
oxygen. Some of these problems can be managed by constructing fish ladders, dredging the silt,
and carefully regulating plant operations [4].

V.2- Advantages
Hydropower has advantages, too. Hydropowers fuel supply (flowing water) is clean and
is renewed yearly by snow and rainfall. Furthermore, hydro plants do not emit pollutants into the
air because they burn no fuel. With growing concern over greenhouse gas emissions and increased
demand for electricity, hydropower may become more important in the future. Hydropower
facilities offer a range of additional benefits. Many dams are used to control flooding and regulate
water supply, and reservoirs provide lakes for recreational purposes, such as boating and fishing.

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 CONCLUSION
Hydropower is largest form of alternative energy used today; it is a form of solar energy,
as the sun drives water evaporation from the ocean and winds carry the moisture overland.
Industrialized countries have already tapped most of their potential in the order hand, non-
industrialized countries have most of the untapped potential. Its principle is: Energy is converted
from potential energy of water at some height to other forms of energy as water drops mechanical
energy, electrical energy.

REFERENCES

[1] C. Hydro, Guide to Hydro Power: An Introduction to Hydropower concepts and Planning,
Canyon Industrie.

[2] C. t. S. R. R. E. S. (SRREN), Chapter 5 HYDROPOWER, IPCC, 2009.

[3] S. E. Infobook, "NEED," 2016. [Online]. Available: www.NEED.org. [Accessed 21 09 2016].

[4] I. R. E. A. R. E. Agency, RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES: COST ANALYSIS

SERIES;Hydropower, GERMANY: IRENA, 2012.

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