composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is essential for all forms of life. And it covers 71% of earths surface.
Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, and has a considerably lower output level of the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) than fossil fuel powered energy plants.
Hydroelectric power plants are plants that produce energy through the use of water.
Parts of the Plant Dam - A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water.
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow,
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid or air flow and convert it into useful work.
An electrical generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy, generally using electromagnetic induction.
Electrical Generator How it works: Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator. In this case the energy extracted from the water depends on the volume and 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.
Pumped storage hydroelectricity produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir. When there is higher demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine.
Advantages: Economics The major advantage of hydroelectricity is elimination of the cost of fuel. The cost of operating a hydroelectric plant is nearly immune to increases in the cost of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal, and no imports are needed.
Hydroelectric plants also tend to have longer economic life than fuel-fired generation, with some plants now in service which were built 50 to 100 years ago. Operating labor cost is also usually low, as plants are automated and have few personnel on site during normal operation.
Greenhouse gas emissions Since hydroelectric dams do not burn fossil fuels, they do not directly produce carbon dioxide(a greenhouse gas). While some carbon dioxide is produced during manufacture and construction of the project, this is a tiny fraction of the operating emissions of equivalent fossil- fuel electricity generation. Disadvantages: Very Hazardous Dam failures have been some of the largest man-made disasters in history. Also, good design and construction are not an adequate guarantee of safety. Dams are tempting industrial targets for wartime attack, sabotage and terrorism.
Limited Service Life Almost all rivers convey silt. Dams on those rivers will retain silt in their catchments, because by slowing the water, and reducing turbulence, the silt will fall to the bottom. Siltation reduces a dam's water storage so that water from a wet season cannot be stored for use in a dry season. Often at or slightly after that point, the dam becomes uneconomic. Near the end of the siltation, the basins of dams fill to the top of the lowest spillway, and even storage from a storm to the end of dry weather will fail. Some especially poor dams can fail from siltation in as little as 20 years.
Environmental damage
Hydroelectric projects can be disruptive to surrounding aquatic ecosystems both upstream and downstream of the plant site.
Population relocation Another disadvantage of hydroelectric dams is the need to relocate the people living where the reservoirs are planned. In February 2008, it was estimated that 40-80 million people worldwide had been physically displaced as a direct result of dam construction
Hydroelectricity eliminates the flue gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion, including pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, dust, and mercury in the coal. Hydroelectricity also avoids the hazards of coal mining and the indirect health effects of coal emissions. Compared to nuclear power, hydroelectricity generates no nuclear waste, has none of the dangers associated with uranium mining, nor nuclear leaks. Unlike uranium, hydroelectricity is also a renewable energy source. Compared to wind farms, hydroelectricity power plants have a more predictable load factor. If the project has a storage reservoir, it can be dispatched to generate power when needed. Hydroelectric plants can be easily regulated to follow variations in power demand. Unlike fossil-fueled combustion turbines, construction of a hydroelectric plant requires a long lead-time for site studies, hydrological studies, and environmental impact assessment.