Hydropower Basics

Water is one of the world's most available commodities, and it can be used to generate electricity in a variety of ways. The use of falling water to spin machinery wheels has been recognized for thousands of years. Hydropower has been used to generate electricity since the end of the nineteenth century. Hydropower, or water power, is a vital natural fuel that is extensively used to generate electricity in the United States and around the world today. Hydroelectricity accounted for about 3% of overall US energy generation in 2009.

GENERATING ENERGY FROM WATER

Water in a flow that flows swiftly or descends for a long distance has a lot of available kinetic energy. The fast-moving water can be harnessed by sending it through a penstock pipe. The water inside the pipe allows a turbine's blades to rotate.

The mechanical energy from the turbine is then passed to the electric generator through a drive shaft. The rotational energy is converted to electricity in the engine. A penstock is often placed in a natural source of flowing water, such as a stream or waterfall. Dams may be used to artificially create water flow, which is then released into pipelines when energy is required. The structures may be “run-of-river” without a reservoir or with a reservoir.

TIDAL AND WAVE ENERGY

Waves and tides are two other sources of clean water resources. The forming of waves is aided by the wind and temperature fluctuations created by the ocean's uneven heating. Their motion must be moved to a swinging mechanism and converted to mechanical energy used by turbines or other hydraulic or pneumatic engines to power a generator. The amount of captured energy can be increased by directing the waves into narrow channels. Despite the fact that wave energy technology is still in its infancy, the first commercial wave farm opened in Portugal in 2008.

The interaction between gravitational waves and the rotation of the sun, moon, and planet causes tides. On the hand facing the sky, the ocean shifts toward the moon. As a result, the water around the shore moves up and down. At high tide, seawater can be caught behind a barrier in a harbor. It can be released from the bay into the water at low tide. It has the ability to transform the rotor of an electric motor when it falls. Tidal energy transfer efficiencies range from 10% to 25%.

HYDROPOWER'S BENEFITS

The most significant advantage is that it is sustainable. Moving water can be seen in many ways on the planet, and we can even establish moving water conditions on our own.

It's still a very safe way to generate energy, emitting very little emissions into the atmosphere.

In contrast to wave and tidal power, conventional hydropower is a proven technology that does not need major technical breakthroughs to advance.

It is extremely effective (about 90 percent ).

It does have an effect on the atmosphere, but not in the way that greenhouse emissions and air pollution do. The method of producing hydroelectricity kills a variety of fish and aquatic species.

For example, building an electricity-generating dam will alter the temperature, flow, and chemistry of a body of water, altering the natural balance of life.

Electricity plants find it difficult for salmon to swim upstream to spawn in places that they must.

The problem then becomes finding a responsible way to use the energy of water.

The installation of fish ladders to salmon breeding areas helps the fish to reach their natural spawning grounds while allowing the resources to be tapped and used.

This is also one example of how scientists are trying to make hydropower a more environmentally friendly energy source.

Water reserves will take up a lot of space.

A hydroelectric-based power plant is highly reliant on power transfer from other energy sources due to its vulnerability to significant fluctuations in rainfall.

The levelized cost of electricity produced by new hydropower plants is expected to be about $0.12 per kilowatt-hour.

This is 50 times more than the cost of energy from traditional combined cycle natural gas-fired plants and 20% more than the cost of electricity from conventional coal-fired plants. Note that these are national averages for the United States; there are major local differences based on market conditions and water supply.

Big hydro plants will have energy costs as low as $0.03-0.05/kWh.