Hydro Power plant

Potential energy is the energy which a substance has due to its position or state. The water behind a
dam has potential energy because of its position. The water can fall from this position and exert a
force over a distance and therefore do work. In a Hydro-electric power plant the force is used to
drive a turbine, which in turn drives the electric generator. Because gravity provides the force which
makes the water fall, the energy stored in the water is called gravitational potential energy.
 Layout of Hydro electric power plant
In a reservoir the water collected from the catchment area is stored behind a dam. Catchment area gets
its water from rain and streams. The level of water surface in the reservoir is called Head water level.
Continuous availability of water is a basic necessity for a hydro-electric power plant.
Dam : The purpose of the dam is to store the water and to regulate the out going flow of water. The
dam helps to store all the incoming water. It also helps to increase the head of the water. In order to
generate a required quantity of power it is necessary that a sufficient head is available.
Spillway: Excess accumulation of water endangers the stability of dam construction. Also in order to
avoid the over flow of water out of the dam especially during rainy season’s spillways are provided.
This prevents the rise of water level in the dam. Spillways are passages which allow the excess water
to flow to a storage area away from the dam.
Gate : A gate is used to regulate or control the flow of water from the dam.
Pressure tunnel: It is a passage that carries water from the reservoir to the surge tank.
Surge tank: A Surge tank is a small reservoir or tank in which the water level rises or falls due to
sudden changes in pressure.
Purpose of surge tank:
 To serve as a supply tank to the turbine when the water in the pipe is accelerated during
increased load conditions and as a storage tank when the water is decelerating during reduced
load conditions.
 To reduce the distance between the free water surface in the dam and the turbine, thereby
reducing the water-hammer effect on penstock and also protect the upstream tunnel from high
pressure rise.
Water-hammer effect :
The water hammer is defined as the change in pressure rapidly above or below normal pressure
caused by sudden change in the rate of water flow through the pipe, according to the demand of
prime mover i.e. turbine.

Penstock: Penstock is a closed pipe of steel or concrete for supplying water under pressure
to the turbine.
Water from the penstock flows to the turbine through the inlet valve. The valve
Inlet valve : may be partially closed or open thereby regulating the pressure of water flowing
to the turbine.

Hydraulic turbine (Prime mover) :

The hydraulic turbine converts the energy of water into mechanical energy. The mechanical
energy (rotation) available on the turbine shaft is coupled to the shaft of an electric generator
and electricity is produced. The water after performing the work on turbine blades is
discharged through the draft tube.
The prime movers which are in common use are Pelton wheel, Francis turbine and Kaplan
turbine.
Draft tube:
It is connected to the outlet of the turbine. It allows the turbine to be placed above the tail water
level. Tail water level is the water level after the discharge from the turbine. The discharged water is
sent to the river, thus the level of the river is the tail water level.
Electric generator, Step-up transformer and Pylon :
As the water rushes through the turbine, it spins the turbine shaft, which is coupled to the electric
generator. The generator has a rotating electromagnet called a rotor and a stationary part called a
stator. The rotor creates a magnetic field that produces an electric charge in the stator. The charge
is transmitted as electricity. The step-up transformer increases the voltage of the current coming
from the stator. The electricity is distributed through power lines also called as pylon.

Hydro –electric power plants are usually classified according to the available head of water.

 High head power plants : Head of water is more than 500 metres. The turbine used in such
plants is Pelton wheel.
 Medium head power plants : Head of water ranges from 80 to 500 metres. The turbine used in
such plants is Francis turbine.
 Low head power plants : Head of water ranges from 1.5 to 80 metres. The turbine used in
such plants is Kaplan turbine and Francis turbine.
 Advantages of hydel power plant :

 Water is a renewable energy source.

 Maintenance and operation charges are very low.
 The efficiency of the plant does not change with age.
 In addition to power generation, hydro-electric power plants are also useful for flood control,
irrigation purposes, fishery and recreation.
 Have a longer life(100 to 125 years) as they operate at atmospheric temperature.
 Water stored in the hydro-electric power plants can also be used for domestic water supply.
 Since hydro-electric power plants run at low speeds(300 to 400 rpm) there is no requirement of
special alloy steel construction materials or specialised mechanical maintenance.

Disadvantages of hydel power plant :

 The initial cost of the plant is very high.
 Since they are located far away from the load centre, cost of transmission lines and transmission
losses will be more.
 During drought season the power production may be reduced or even stopped due to insufficient
water in the reservoir.
 Water in the reservoir is lost by evaporation
Thermal Power Plant:
A Thermal Power Plant converts the heat energy of coal into electrical energy. Coal is burnt in a
boiler which converts water into steam. The expansion of steam in turbine produces mechanical
power which drives the alternator coupled to the turbine. Thermal Power Plants contribute
maximum to the generation of Power for any country . Thermal Power Plants constitute 75.43% of
the total installed captive and non-captive power generation in India. In thermal generating stations
coal, oil, natural gas etc. are employed as primary sources of energy.

General Layout of Thermal Power Station:

Main and Auxiliary equipments
Coal handling plant: The function of coal handling plant is automatic feeding of coal to the boiler
furnace. A thermal power plant burns enormous amounts of coal. A 200 MW plant may require
around 2000 tons of coal daily.
Pulverizing plant: In modern thermal power plant , coal is pulverised i.e. ground to dust like size
and carried to the furnace in a stream of hot air. Pulverising is a means of exposing a large surface
area to the action of oxygen and consequently helping combustion.
Pulverising mills are further classified as:
 Contact mill
 Ball mill
 Impact mill
Draft fans: The circulation of air is caused by a difference in pressure, known as Draft. Draft is a
differential pressure b/w atmosphere and inside the boiler. It is necessary to cause the flow of gases
through boiler setting. It may be Natural draft and Mechanical draft
Boiler
A boiler or steam generator is a closed vessel in which water under pressure, is converted into steam. It
is one of the major components of a thermal power plant. Always designed to absorb maximum amount of
heat released in the process of combustion. Boilers are of two types-
Fire tube boiler
Water tube boiler
Ash handling plant
The percentage of ash in coal varies from 5% in good quality coal to about 40% in poor quality coal.
Power plants generally use poor quality of coal, thus amount of ash produced by it is pretty large. A
modern 2000MW plant produces about 5000 tons of ash daily. The stations use some conveyor
arrangement to carry ash to dump sites directly or for carrying and loading it to trucks and wagons which
transport it to the site of disposal
Turbine
A steam turbine converts heat energy of steam into mechanical energy and drives the generator. It uses
the principle that steam when issuing from a small opening attains a high velocity. This velocity attained
during expansion depends on the initial and final heat content of the steam. This difference b/w initial and
final heat content repesents the heat energy converted into kinetic energy.
These are of two types :-
 Impulse turbine
 Reaction turbine
Condenser
Steam after rotating steam turbine comes to condenser. Condenser refers here to the shell and tube heat
exchanger (or surface condenser) installed at the outlet of every steam turbine in Thermal power stations
of utility companies generally.
 These condensers are heat exchangers which convert steam from its gaseous to its liquid state, also
known as phase transition.
 In so doing, the latent heat of steam is given out inside the condenser. Where water is in short supply
an air cooled condenser is often used.
 An air cooled condenser is however significantly more expensive and cannot achieve as low a steam
turbine backpressure (and therefore less efficient) as a surface condenser.
 The purpose is to condense the outlet (or exhaust) steam from steam turbine to obtain maximum
efficiency and also to get the condensed steam in the form of pure water, otherwise known as
condensate, back to steam generator or (boiler) as boiler feed water.
Cooling towers and ponds

A condenser needs huge quantity of water to condense the steam. Typically a 2000MW plant needs about
1500MGallon of water. Most plants use a closed cooling system where warm water coming from
condenser is cooled and reused. Small plants use spray ponds and medium and large plants use cooling
towers. Cooling tower is a steel or concrete hyperbolic structure having a reservoir at the base for storage
of cooled water. Height of the cooling tower may be 150 m or so and diameter at the base is 150 m.
Feed water heater
Advantages of heating water before feeding back to the boiler:-
 Feed water heating improves overall plant efficiency.
 The dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide which would otherwise cause boiler corrosion are removed
in feed water heater
 Thermal stresses due to cold water entering the boiler drum are avoided.
 Quantity of steam produced by the boiler is increased.
 Some other impurities carried by the steam and condensate, due to corrosion of boiler and condensers
are precipitated outside the boiler.
Economiser
Flue gases coming out of the boiler carry lot of heat. An economiser extracts a part of this heat from flue
gases and uses it for heating feed water. This use of economiser results in saving coal consumption and
higher boiler efficiency.
Superheater and Reheater
Superheater is a component of a steam-generating unit in which steam, after it has left the boiler drum,
is heated above its saturation temperature. The amount of superheat added to the steam is influenced by
the location, arrangement, and amount of super heater surface installed, as well as the rating of the
boiler. The super heater may consist of one or more stages of tube banks arranged to effectively transfer
heat from the products of combustion. Super heaters are classified as convection , radiant or
combination of these.
Some of the heat of superheated steam is used to rotate the turbine where it loses some of its energy.

Reheater is also steam boiler component in which heat is added to this intermediate-pressure steam,
which has given up some of its energy in expansion through the high-pressure turbine. The steam after
reheating is used to rotate the second steam turbine where the heat is converted to mechanical energy.
This mechanical energy is used to run the alternator, which is coupled to turbine , there by generating
electrical energy.

Air preheater
After flue gases leave economiser, some further heat can be extracted from them and used to heat
incoming heat. Cooling of flue gases by 20 degree centigrade increases the plant efficiency by 1%.

Air preheaters may be of three types

Plate type
Tubular type
Regenerative type