ME 403: Power Plant Engineering

Hydroelectric Power Plant

Dr. Mohammad Nasim Hasan

ME, BUET
 Major Topics

 Advantages/Disadvantages of Hydro power Plants

 Important Factors for Site Selection of Hydro power
Plants
 Basic Elements of Hydro power Plants (Dam, Spillway,
Surge Tank, Draft Tube etc.)
 Classification of Hydro Power Plants
 Classification of Hydraulic Turbine
 Governing of Hydraulic Turbines
 Characteristics Curves of Hydraulic Turbines
 Hydroelectric Power: Advantages
 Hydro power is environmentally benevolent
 Hydraulic turbine can be switched on and off in a very short time
 The hydraulic power plant is relatively simple in concept and self-
contained in operation
 Its system reliability is much greater than that of other power
plants
 Modern hydro power equipment has a life of 50 years or more
 Due to its great ease of taking up and throwing off the load, the
hydro power can be used as the ideal spinning reserve in an
electrical system
 Modern hydro-generators give high efficiency over a considerable
range of load which helps improving the system efficiency
 Hydro plants provide other benefits like irrigation, flood control,
etc.
 Manpower requirement is low; also the manpower need not be
highly skilled
 Hydroelectric Power: Disadvantages
 Hydro power projects are capital intensive with a low rate of return
 The annual interest of this capital cost is a large part of the annual
cost of hydro power installations
 The gestation period of hydro projects is quite large. The gap
between the foundation and completion of a project may extend
from ten to fifteen years
 Power generation is dependent on the quantity of water available,
which may vary from season to season and year to year
 These plants are often far away from the load centre and require
long transmission lines to deliver power – thus the cost of
transmission lines and losses in them are more
 Large hydro plants disturb the ecology of the area, by way of
deforestation, destroying vegetation and uprooting people
Levelized costs represent the present value of the total cost of building and operating
a generating plant over its financial life. The calculation for levelized costs, which is a
projection of the cost of various electricity sources, compares the costs of plants
beginning operation in the same year, realizing that the construction time of each
technology differs. The levelized cost includes the capital component, the fixed and
variable operation and maintenance components, and a transmission component
 Hydroelectric Power: Site Selection

The factors to be considered for the selection of a hydro power site are:
 Availability of water
o The run-off data along with precipitation at the proposed site with
maximum and minimum quantity of water available in a year
should be made available to
o decide the capacity of the plant
o set up the peak load plant such as steam, diesel or GT plant
o provide adequate spillways or gate relief during flood period
 Water storage capacity
o Since there is a wide variation in rainfall all round the year, it is
always necessary to store the water for continuous operation of
the plant
 Hydroelectric Power: Site Selection
 Available water head
o In order to generate the desired quantity of power it is necessary
that a large quantity of water at a sufficient head should be
available
o An increase in effective head, for a given output, reduces the
quantity of water required to be supplied to the turbines
 Accessibility of the site
o The site should be easily accessible by rail or road
 Distance from the load centre
o If the site is close to the load centre, the cost of transmission
lines and the transmission losses will be reduced
 Type of the land of the site
o The dam constructed at the site should have large catchment
area to store water at high head
Hydroelectric Power: Basic Elements
 Hydroelectric Power: Basic Elements

 Catchment area – the whole area behind the dam draining into a
stream or river across which the dam has been constructed is
called the catchment area
o The bigger the catchment, steeper is the slope, higher is the
altitude, and greater is the total runoff of water
 Reservoir – is the one where water is stored
o Water stored is not only used for power generation, but also
for irrigation, flood control, water supply, and navigation
o A reservoir may be natural, like a lake on a mountain or
artificially built by erecting a dam across a river
o Water held in upstream reservoir is called storage, while that
behind the dam at the plant is called pondage
 Hydroelectric Power: Basic Elements
 A dam performs two basic functions:
o It develops a reservoir of the desired capacity to store water
o It builds up a head for power generation
 A dam can have moderate head and a large storage capacity,
like the Aswan dam in Egypt which has a storage capacity of
156 billion m3 with a height of 11.5 m, or a dam with a high
head with a small storage capacity, like the Hoover dam in the
US which is 222 m high, but has a capacity of only 38 billion m3
 Dams can be classified in various ways based on the following:
o Function
o Shape
o Material of construction
o Hydraulic and structural design
Hydroelectric Power: Basic Elements
A gravity dam is a solid concrete structure, generally having a triangular profile,
which is so designed that it can safely stand against the precalculated volume of
water by virtue of its weight.

Buttress dams are derived from gravity dams. This type of dams are supported uses
thin concrete slab which is supported from downstream side by buttresses.
Arch dam is arch – shaped solid structure made up of concrete which is designed in
such a way that a major part of the thrust forces acting on the dam are transmitted to
arch.
There are mainly two types of ach dams:
o Constant radius arch dams : radius of curvature throughout the structure is
constant and upstream face is vertical.
o Variable radius dams : curvatures are different on upstream and downstream sides.
These types of dames are best suited for narrow valleys.
Embankment Dam: These are non rigid structures which are build over wide valleys
with varying foundations. These are trapezoidal in shape and are build of single type
of material(such as earth fill or rock fill) or combination of more than one material.
• The main advantage of these dams is that it can be constructed on weak
foundation.
• Impervious core is placed in the middle of the embankment body.
Composite dams are combinations of one or more dam types.
Most often a large section of a dam will be either an embankment or
gravity dam, with the section responsible for power generation being a
buttress or arch.
 Spillways – when the water level in
the reservoir basin rises, the
stability of the dam structure is
endangered
o To relieve the reservoir of this
excess water, a structure is
provided in the body of a dam or
close to it – this safeguarding
structure is called a spillway
o It provides structural stability to
the dam under conditions of floods
without raising reservoir level
above HFL (high flood level)

 Requirements of Spillway:
o Provide structural stability to dam under all conditions.
o Able to pass the designed flood without raising the water level above
H.F.L.
o Safe disposal of water without toe erosion.
o Should have an efficient operation.
o Should be economical.
 Location of Spillway:
 Within the body of the dam
 At one end of dam.
 Entirely away from it,
independently in a saddle.
 Component parts of Spillway:
 Approach channel
 Control structure
 Discharge carrier
 Discharge channel
 Energy dissipators.

Approach channel
 Entrance structure or the path to draw
water from reservoir and convey it to
the control structure.
 It may be straight or curved in plan.
 Its banks may be parallel, convergent,
divergent or combination of these and
may be vertical or sloping.
 It may insure minimum head loss through
the channel and to obtain uniformity of
flow over the control structure.
Control structure
 Major component of spillway
provided with bridge and gates.
 Regulates and controls the surplus
water from the reservoir.
 It does not allow discharge of water
below the fixed reservoir level.
Discharge carrier
 It is the waterway provided to convey
the flows released from the control
structure to the downstream side of
spillway.
 The cross section may be rectangular,
trapezoidal or of other shape.
 Waterway may be wide or narrow,
long or short.
Discharge channel
 Provided to convey the water from bottom of the discharge carrier to the
downstream flowing river.
 It may be the downstream face of spillway itself.
 The width of discharge channel depends on amount of water to be conveyed.
Energy dissipators
 At the end of discharge carrier, the water released from control
structure has great velocities enough to cause scour.
 Energy dissipators are provided to avoid the scouring of downstream
side of spillway.
 These are to be provided before water entering the discharge
channel.
 May be of different types such as:
o Bucket type energy dissipators
o Stilling basin type dissipators
o Baffle type dissipators.
Bucket type dissipators:
• The high kinetic energy of water
is reduced by providing a
hydraulic jump at the end of
spillway.
• The hydraulic jump can be
achieved by providing bucket
type dissipators.
• By hydraulic jump of water some
part of energy is dissipated by
aeration.
Stilling basin
 Stilling basins are usually provided after
the buckets.
 Due to the hydraulic jump of water, the
water falling on the ground may cause
cavitations on the ground. These
cavitations can be avoided by providing
the stilling basin.
 The stilling basin consists of water
which reduces some part of energy of
water.
Baffle type dissipators
 After passing the stilling basin water has still some energy.
 If any amount of energy exist, it can be fully dissipated by providing baffle
dissipators.
 In this, baffle type structures are provided in a number of series depending on the
amount of energy.
 The various types of spillways are
o Straight drop spillway
o Overall spillway
o Chute or trough spillway
o Side channel spillway
o Saddle spillway
o Shaft spillway
o Siphon spillway

Straight drop Spillway

 In this type of spillway, the water
freely drops down from the crest.
 It is a low weir and simple vertical fall
type structures. The water falls freely
from the crest under the action of
gravity.
 To prevent scouring at the downstream,
an auxiliary dam of artificial pool is to
be constructed at the place of fall of
water.
 Conduits – a headrace is a channel
which leads water to a turbine and a
tailrace is a channel which carries
water from the turbine
 The conduit may be open or closed;
canals and flumes are open, while
tunnels, pipelines and penstocks are
closed
 Surge tanks – is a small reservoir in which the water level rises or falls to
reduce the pressure fluctuations so that they are not transmitted to the
closed conduit (act as a relief valve)
o Reduces Water hammer effect: Water hammer is a pressure surge or
wave caused when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in
motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly (momentum
change)
o Also acts as a temporary reservoir in case of load variation
o If the power house is located within a short distance of the headworks,
surge tanks are not necessary – thus for run off plants and medium head
schemes no surge tank is needed
 Draft tubes – The draft tube is a conduit which connects the runner exit
to the tail race where the water is being finally discharged from the
turbine.
o The primary function of the draft tube is to reduce the velocity of the
discharged water to minimize the loss of kinetic energy at the outlet.
o It allows the turbine to be set above the tailrace to facilitate inspection
and maintenance.
 Classification of Hydraulic Power Plants
The hydroelectric powerplants can be classified as:
 According to the availability of head – high head (>100m), medium
head (30m to 100m), or low head
 According to the nature of load – base load or peak load plants

 According to the quantity

of water available
o Run-of-river plant without
pondage (No control over
river flow)
o Run-of-river plant with
pondage
o Hydroelectric plants with
storage reservoirs
o Pumped storage plants
o Mini (Up to 2 MW) and
micro hydel plants (Up to
100 kW) Pumped storage plants
 Classification of Hydraulic Turbines
 Head and quantity of water available
Turbines work under a wide range of heads varying from 2m to 2000m
Low head 2-15m Kaplan or propeller turbines
Medium head 16-70m Kaplan or Francis turbines
High head 71-500m Francis or Pelton turbines
Very high head >500m Pelton turbines
 Nature of working Principle
o Impulse turbines
o Reaction turbines
 Direction of flow of water
Directions in the turbine flow can be radial, axial, tangential, or mixed
flow
 Axis of the turbine shaft
The turbine shaft can be either horizontal or vertical
 Specific speed (Ns)
o The range of specific speed for the hydraulic turbines is from 4 to
1100
o Lower specific speed machines are denoted as slow runners, while
high specific speed machines are known as fast runners
Pelton Wheel

Main Components:
 Guide mechanism
 Runner and bucket
 Casing
 Breaking jet or
nozzle
Franchise Turbine

Main Components:
 Penstock
 Scroll/ Spiral Casing
 Guide Mechanism
 Runner
 Draft tube
 Kaplan Turbine
• Axial Flow turbine
• No of Blades is less (4-8)
• Adjustable rotor blades
 Propeller Turbine
• Non-adjustable (fixed) rotor blades
Bulb Turbines
The bulb turbine is a variation of the propeller-type turbine (similar to the Kaplan
turbine). In the bulb turbine arrangement, the generator is encapsulated and sealed
within a streamlined watertight steel housing mounted in the center of the water
passageway. The generator is driven by a variable-pitch propeller located on the
downstream end of the bulb.

Unlike the Kaplan turbine, water

enters and exits this unit with very
little change in direction. The
compact nature of this design
allows for more flexibility in
powerhouse design. Bulb turbines
can, however, be somewhat more
difficult to access for service, and
they require special air circulation
and cooling within the bulb.

Bulb turbines for a wide variety of

applications world-wide, with sizes
ranging from 450 kW to 400 MW.
 Governing of Hydraulic Turbine
 Hydraulic turbines are directly coupled to electric generators which are
always required to run at a constant speed which is given by

N  120 f / p
f : Frequency of Electricity generated
p : Number of poles in the generator

 In order to maintain constant generator speed governing mechanism is

used in hydraulic turbines.
 In a Pelton wheel, water flow to the runner is regulated by the
combined action of the spear and the deflector plate while in case of
reaction turbine it is done by changing the flow area in the guide vanes
 There is a centrifugal governor where its sensitivity to load variation is
augmented by an oil-operated servo mechanism
Governing of a Pelton Wheel
Governing of a Reaction Turbine
 Performance analysis of Hydraulic Turbines

 Turbines are often required to work under varying conditions of head,

speed, output and gate opening. As such, in order to predict their
behavior, it is essential to study the performance of the turbine under
varying conditions.
 The head and output of the turbine may change. In this case,
keeping the discharge constant, the speed is adjusted so that the
efficiency remains constant.

 Keeping the speed constant, the output may vary by adjusting the
discharge. These are the normal operating conditions, and the curves
drawn for these conditions are called operating characteristics curves
(Constant Speed Curve).

 Keeping the head constant, the speed may vary by adjusting the load on
the turbine. These conditions are possible only in the laboratories. The
curves so obtained for such conditions are known as main characteristics
curves (Constant Head Curve).
Unit speed (Nu): The speed of the turbine, working under unit head (say 1m)
is known as unit speed of the turbine.
Unit Power (Pu): The power developed by a turbine, working under a unit
head (say 1m) is known as unit power of the turbine.
Unit discharge (Qu): The discharge of the turbine working under a unit head
(say 1m) is known as unit discharge.

P  QH P : Power developed kW  Similarity Laws

N1 N2
Nu 
N Q : Flow rate (m 3 / s ) Nu  
H H1 H2
H : Head (m)
P1 P2
P N : Rotational Speed Pu  
Pu  3 / 2 H1
3/ 2
H2
3/ 2
H
Q1 Q
Qu 
Q Qu   2
H H1 H2
Main Characteristics Curve
of Pelton Wheel
 Main Characteristics Curve of Reaction Turbine

Kaplan Turbine Franchise Turbine

The specific speed (Ns) for a turbine is the speed of a geometrically similar turbine
which would produce unit power (one kilowatt) under unit head (one meter). The
specific speed of a turbine is given by the manufacturer (along with other ratings)
and will always refer to the point of maximum efficiency.

N P
N s  5/ 4
H

P : Power developed kW 

H : Head (m)
N : Rotational Speed