POWER SYSTEMS
1. Introduction
Most modern power systems are either thermal or hydro plants. Selection of either depends on an
economic analysis of costs versus energy produced over a given life time. The least cost solution
is then selected.
Initial cost of hydropower plants are usually much higher than for thermal plants.
Cost of hydropower – plant includes,
Dam
Diversion work
Conduits
Land
Water rights
Relocation of rail road, highways and other utilities,
Value of improvements flooded by reservoir (i.e. costs of environmental impact)
The generating plant itself
Planning process
Associated costs are long transmission lines and inherent loss of energy.
Costs of thermal plant include;
Fossil fuels – oil, coal, nuclear minerals that cause green gas emissions (disadvantage)
Limited amount of land for siting (advantage)
Possible ecological impact because of cooling waters led back into water bodies
(disadvantage)
Drilling of deep wells in case of geo-thermal systems
Other factors to consider
Thermal plants have high operational costs in terms of fuel costs, maintenance, labour, repairs.
Thermal plants require expensive air pollution control equipment
Efficiency of thermal plants drops with age.
Thermal plants can be located near to the consumer provided there is sufficient supply of cooling
water hence transmission costs are low.
Thermal plants can be put up quickly because the required infrastructure is minimal.
2. Power Systems and Load
Power systems may consist of a single plant serving the system (Supplemented by standby units)
or
An array of plants interconnected to serve the system
Whichever arrangement is available, the system should have enough capacity to supply the
expected peak load plus extra capacity to take care of breakdowns and necessary maintenance
shutdowns.
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It is advantageous to have a mixture of thermal and hydro power in a system in terms of economy
and reliability achievement.
Why?
Hydropower plants on standby can be started in a few minutes (max. 3-4 min) in case of sudden
failure in another line. (Compare with at least 30-40mins for thermal plant), i.e. hydropower
plants are well adapted to provide reserve capacity at short notice.
It is much more expensive to keep a thermal plant on standby, because of depreciation.
A hydropower plant alone in a system may be disadvantageous if the carryover storage is
inadequate to meet demands during a severe drought.
Even during a flood, power shortage is possible at low-head plants if high tail water at the power
house greatly reduces the net head.
Planning of power systems require an estimate of future power requirements- taking into account
of business booms and slumps, technological changes. Etc HENCE forecast is made difficult.
The required generating capacity is determined by the load for the peak day of the year.
In thermal plants the requirements of the peak week or month dictates the amount of energy
storage required in the form of fuel or water.
Typical curve for
industrial area
80 load factor =0.8
KW 70
X10
3 60
50
40
30
Typical curve
20 for residential area
load factor =0.6
10
12 2 4 6 8 10 12 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time of day
Typical peak-day load curves
Over a given period, the load factor = average load
Peak load
Load factors for industrial areas vary from 50 – 80%
Load factors for residential areas vary between 30-60%.
High load factor means unit cost of energy will be comparatively low because under such
conditions the system is operating near capacity and near highest efficiency.
At low load factor the system generating capacity is lying idle for a large part of the time.
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In a combined system, thermal plants are operated continuously to carry the base load during low
flow (drought) while the hydro-plants are used intermittently to generate power for peak loads.
During high flows (floods) the operations of thermal and hydropower plants are sometimes
reversed.
However, the optimum mode of operation results in the fullest utilization of available water and
minimum consumption of fuel.
Water
(ii) Low flow Power
Power Thermal power
Time of day
3. Types of hydro plants
- Storage – conventional
- Run-of- the river
- Pumped storage
Storage type of plant has sufficient reservoir capacity to permit carry-over storage from wet to
dry season.
Run-of-the river plants have no storage or just enough storage (also called pondage) to permit
storing water during off-peak hours for use during peak hours of the same day. Hence, they are
only suitable for streams with sustained flow during the dry season or if there are some reservoirs
upstream which release the necessary flow.
Pumped – storage provides energy for peak load, but at off – peak hours the water is pumped
from the tailwater pool to the headwater pool for future use.
Some Definitions used in hydropower generation
1. Gross head = total difference in elevation between water surface in the reservoir or stream at the
diversion and the water surface at the tailrace.
2. Net (or effective) Head = head available for energy production after losses in friction at entrance,
unrecovered velocity head in the draft tube etc.
3. Hydraulic Efficiency = Net head/Gross head
4. Overall efficiency = hydraulic efficiency x efficiency of turbine and generator; at optimum
operation = 60-70%
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5. Capacity = maximum power which can be developed by the generators at normal head with full
flow.
6. Firm (or primary) Power = power which a plant can be expected to deliver 100% of the time.
For a single plant it corresponds to the power developed when available water is a
minimum.
7. Surplus (or Secondary) Power = all power available in excess of firm power.
Much of this secondary power may be sold at low rates but without guarantee as to
continuity of service.
4. Hydropower Project arrangement
Major components of hydroelectric scheme are;
Dam – diversion structure
- Penstock + associated gates
- Turbines + governing mechanisms
- Generators
- Control and switching mechanisms
- Housing
- Transformers
- Transmission lines to consumers
- Surge tanks for long penstocks
- Forebay – a regulating reservoir for temporary storage of water when load on the plant is
reduced; may require spillways for discharging excess water when necessary.
The layout and type of plant suitable for a specific site depends on several factors:
- Topography of area
- Head
- Available flow
Most low head installations have a concentrated head layout where the power house is located
next to the dam e.g. Masinga Dam;
In divided fall layouts water is carried to the power house at a considerable distance from the dam
through;
- Canal
- Tunnel
- Penstock (steel pipes, reinforced concrete, wood stave).
In the divided fall arrangement it may be possible to obtain a high head on the powerhouse even
if the dam is a low one e.g. Kiambere.
5. Operation of Power Plant
Operational data to be recorded include:
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o Generator amperes and kilowatts
o Turbine gate openings
o Head and tail water levels
o Spillway gate openings
o Cost of operation and maintenance of equipment
In addition, continuous hydrological data recording are needed.
o Rainfall
o River gauge readings
Good communication is essential for successful operation between individual plants and the central
station. This facilitates maintenance of continuity of service as the load dispatcher designates the load
each plant is to carry depending on the changing conditions.
6. Planning of Hydropower Development
Assembly and analysis of hydrologic data on stream flows; simulate if period of records is short;
Make preliminary designs for all stations which appear competitive in costs; and determine the most
economic design at each site by comparing costs and revenues from anticipated power sales.
Determine requirements to be satisfied;
o Minimum instantaneous load
o Total energy
o Variation in load with time
Select feasible projects as close to load centre (consumer) as possible.
Compare best designs from several sites and select site or combination of sites which gives the most
efficient system.
Compare hydro – versus thermal alternatives
If hydro is competitive with thermal proceed with detailed design of the hydro-installation.