DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, AJIET, MANGALORE

Module 4
Hydroelectric Plants and Ocean Thermal Energy

Hydroelectric plants: Advantages & disadvantages of water power, Hydrographs and flow
duration curves, numericals, Storage and pondage, General layout of hydel power plants-
components such as Penstock, surge tanks, spill way and draft tube and their applications,
pumped storage plants, Detailed classification of hydroelectric plants, water hammer. Ocean
Thermal Energy:
Ocean thermal energy conversion, Principle and working of Rankine cycle, Problems
associated with OTEC.

The hydroelectric or the hydel power plants, generate power using the potential energy of water
available on earth's surface. The rain water collected at different altitudes on the earth's surface
has potential energy with respect to the level of the oceans towards which the water flows. This
energy of the rain water is utilised to drive hydraulic turbines, and in turn to run electric
generators and produce electrical energy. The hydel power developed depends on the head of
water and the quantity of natural rainfall. Generally, reservoirs are constructed to collect the
natural rain and used to generate power throughout the year. Thus the reservoir area, which is
a measure of the water collected and the height of the dam, which is the measure of the head
of the water are two important factors. However, the quantity of water available depends upon
the hydrological cycle and the total rain-fall received by the area in which the power plant is
located.
Hydrographs
It is a graph representing the discharge of flowing water with respect to time for a specific
period. The time axis may have units of hour, day, week or month. The discharge units may be
m3/sec, km2 -cm/hr or day-second-metre. Discharge hydrographs are also known as flood or
run-off hydrographs)
Fig. 4-5 shows typical hydrographs or discharge curves based on daily, monthly and yearly
flows.

Uses of a Hydrographs
A hydrograph is useful to determine a number of parameters, such as:
1) Rate of flow at any instant during the specific recorded period.
2) Total volume of flow in a given period, as the area under the hydrograph represents the
volume of water in a given duration.
3) The mean annual run-off for any of the recorded period.
4) The maximum and minimum run-off for any selected period

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5) The maximum rate of run-off during the floods and duration of frequency of floods (peak of
the curve indicates the flood)

Unit Hydrograph
A unit hydrograph is a hydrograph with a volume of 1 cm of run-off resulting from a rainfall
of specified duration and a real pattern, which is constructed using the hydrograph data. The
theory of unit hydrograph was introduced by Sherman. He indicated that the time base is
common to all hydrographs resulting from rainfalls of a given duration. When the rainfall
distribution is similar with respect to time and area, then the ordinate of each hydrograph will
be proportional to the volume of run-off.
Limitations to the use of unit hydrograph are:
1) The rainfall distribution varies from one area to another. Hence, the use of unit hydrograph
is limited area of basin of about 5000 sq. km.
2) For long and narrow basins, and odd shaped basins the rainfall distribution is not even, hence
unit hydrograph is not suitable.
Flow Duration Curve This is another useful graphical representation of the run-off for a given
period. The run-off data on the ordinate against the corresponding percentage of time on the
abscissa represents a Flow Duration Curve. The area under the curve represents the average
yield from the stream.
Fig. 4-6 shows a typical flow duration curve. the flow may be expressed as m 3/sec/ week or
any other convenient unit of time When the available head of water is known, then the total
energy of flow can be computed. Thus by flow duration curve it is possible to estimate the total
power available at the site. A flow duration curve can be used to determine the minimum and
maximum conditions of flow of water. If the magnitude on the ordinate is the estimated power
contained in the stream flow against the corresponding percentage of time on the abscissa, then
the curve is known as Power Duration Curve.

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Selection of Site for Hydel Plants

There are many factors that are to be considered while selecting site for a hydel power plant.
The important factors are as follows:
1) Availability of Water. The site selected should be such that requisite quantity of water is
be available throughout the year for economical generation of power. To estimate the
availability of water, geographical, meteorological and geological investigations of the site are
to be carried-out. Previous records of rainfall of the particular area are to be studied. If needed,
aerial and ground survey can be conducted. Stream flow rate, minimum and maximum quantity
of water available in a year is to be estimated.
2) Storage of Water. The site selected should have good storage capacity, sufficient enough
to use for a full year. This depends upon the reservoir capacity and the catchment area. It is
always intended to store water enough to use even during dry periods, to the extent possible.
3) Head of Water. Head of water is the highest level of water at the upstream from where
water flows down for power generation. Higher the head available, lesser the quantity of water
required for a known power output and hence, lesser is the storage requirement. Power
generated depends mainly on the head of water available, which is seen from the relation,

Where, m = discharge or rate of water flow, kg/sec.

H = head of water, m g = acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m/s2
η= efficiency of the prime mover and generator (about 0.8 to 0.9) Hence, the site selected
should give the highest head of water.
4) Ground Water Data. It is an important factor to be considered, since it decides the stability
of the ground at the reservoir and dam construction area. It is essential to select a site which

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has lesser ground water movement, as it provides a solid reservoir base and also seepage will
be minimum. A strong reservoir base also helps in reducing the foundation costs for the darn
construction.
5) Distance from the Load Centre. It is always essential that the site selected should be as
nearer as possible to the load centre. Increased distances lead to increased power transmission
costs and higher transmission losses. Other factors to be considered in the selection of a good
site are the easy accessibility to the site by road and/or rail, cheap cost of the land and the
availability of non-polluted, clean water for power generation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydel Plants

Advantages
1) Operating cost of the plant including auxiliaries is low.
2) The maintenance of the plant is comparatively less.
3) Less labour is required to operate the plant.
4) No nuisance of smoke, exhaust gases, soot and other pollution.
5) The sites of hydel plants are usually away from the developed areas and hence the land is
very cheap.
6) Load fluctuations can be met rapidly without loss of efficiency.
7) There are no stand-by losses.
8) Since no fuel used, there are no problems of handling, charging and disposal.

Disadvantages
1) Initial cost of the plant including the cost of dam is very high.
2) The feasibility of a hydel plant depends mainly on the availability of water and hence the
natural phenomenon of rain and thus the problems of stopping the plant may arise during dry
seasons.
3) Usually the sites will be away from the load centres, which causes loss of power and high
costs in transmission lines.
4) It takes considerably long time for erection compared to the erection of thermal plants.

CLASSIFICATION OF HYDEL PLANTS

Hydel power plants can be classified as follows:-
1. Quantity of water available
a) Run-off river plants without pondage

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b) Run-off river plants with pondage

c) Pumped storage plant

2. Head of water
a) Low head plant
b) Medium head plant
c) High head plant.

3. Nature of load
a) Base load plant
b) Peak load plant

4. Capacity of plant
a) Low capacity plant (100-999 kW)
b) Medium capacity plant (1 MW-10 MW)
c) High capacity plant (above 10 MW)

Run-off River Plants without Pondage

In such plants water is not stored, but only the running water is used for power generation. In
such power plants the power generated directly depends upon the rate of flow available. Hence,
during rainy seasons some excess quantity of water may run waste without doing any power
generation. During dry periods the power production will be very poor, since the water flow
rate will be low.
Run-off River Plants with Pondage
In such plants, the excess water available during rainy seasons is stored in the reservoirs. The
plant works with the normal run-off during the rainy season, while the stored water from the
reservoir is utilised to supplement the low flow rate during dry periods. Power production will
not be affected by the dry seasons. Hence, plants with pondage can generate a constant rate of
power through out the year. If Pumped Storage Plants Such plants are most suitable for
supplying sudden peak load requirements. However, such demands can be met only for a short
duration. In the normal operation they can meet the average demand only.
Pumped storage plant
Fig. 4-8 shows the schematic of a pumped storage plant. Such type of plant consists of two
storage reservoirs. The upstream reservoir is the main (head race) storage reservoir to which

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water flows from the catchment area. The second reservoir is the down stream (tail race)
reservoir, in which the used water from the upstream is collected.
The water in the down stream reservoir is pumped back to the main upstream reservoir, during
off peak periods. This facilitates making use of the excess water during peak hours. A pumped
storage plant is a peak load plant and operates in combination with other base load plants such
as a thermal power plant. The off peak load capacity of the thermal plant is used for pumping
water from the down stream reservoir to the main upstream reservoir. The schematic
arrangement of pumped storage plant operating along with a thermal plant to meet the peak
load demands, is shown in Fig. 4-9

.
Advantages of Pumped Storage Plants
1) Compared to peak load plants, the initial cost of this plant is low.
2) The power plant operation is flexible, since it can operate both as peak load and base load
plant.
3) Such plant can meet sudden peak hour demands, and is highly reliable in operation.
4) Since they operate at higher load factors, the overall efficiency of the plant is high.

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Storage and Pondage

Storage plants are the plants with facilities for storing water at their sites. However, often such
plants cannot store as much water as required for the full year operation. For continuous
operation, it is always preferred to have one or more reservoirs upstream. Depending upon the
place of storage and the function, the reservoirs are grouped as storage and pondage. Storage:
Storage can be defined as the collection of a large quantity of run-off during mansoon seasons,
which is essentially used in the dry seasons for the plant operation. This is the main or the
upstream reservoir, made by the construction of a dam across the stream (Fig. 4-10).

Fig.4-10. Storage reservoir based hydel plant

Pondage:
It is defined as a regulating means of water, and is a small reservoir that is used for the
collection of the excess flow water from the dam spill ways of the main reservoir or from the
river stream. It is basically a small pond or reservoir just behind the power house (Fig. 4-11).

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The amount of regulation obtained with pondage usually involves storing water during low
loads (during low power demand periods such as early morning hours and Sundays) to aid
carrying peak loads during the week. The water that would go over the dam spill-way unused
during low-loads can be released and added to normal river flow to supply peak loads, usually
for a few hours of duration. For fluctuating loads, pondage increases the maximum capacity
that a plant can carry.
Plants with reservoirs upstream can store excess water of spring floods for release during
summer to supplement the low rates of flow during this dry season. Reservoir water elevation
will generally be lowest during the year at the end of the summer.
Pondage increases the capacity of a river for a brief period only, like for a week. But, _ storage
increases the capacity of a river over an extended period such, like 6 months to 2 years.

Low Head Hydel Plant hydel plant

Hydel Plant with a water head of less than50 meter is termed &low head plant (the such plants,
a small dam is constructed across a river to obtain the necessary water head:, The excess water
is allowed to over the dam, while the water head is made use to run a hydraulic turbine. The
water from the dam is taken through a canal to the turbine. For low head plants Francis or
Kaplan turbines are used. There is no water hammer problem in such plants, hence no, surge
tank is provided in the water line. The schematic arrangement of a typical low head hydel plant
is shown in Fig. 4-12

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Medium Head Hydel Plant

A hvdel with a water head of in the range of 50 to 100 meters is termed a medium head plant.
In this, the water is stored in a main reservoir. This water is allowed to a small pond or forebay
through a canal. The water from the forebay is taken to the turbine through penstock. In such
plants the forebay itself acts as the surge tank, and hence receives the excess water during the
low demand periods. Francis turbine is most suitable for medium head hydel plant. The
schematic arrangement of a typical medium head by n Fig. 4-13.

High Head Hydel Plant

Hydel plant with a water head of more than 100 meters is termed a high head plant. In this case,
the water from the main reservoir is carried through tunnels up to the surge tank, ord. Where it
is taken through the penstock. Since the water head is very high, the effect of water hammer is
too severe in such plants. Thus, it is essential to provide a surge tank in the water line at
appropriate location. The surge tank takes care of the increasing and decreasing water levels
during the low-demand and high demand periods, respectively. The Francis and Pelton wheel

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turbines are most suitable for high head plants. A typical high head hydel power plant is shown
in Fig. 4-14.

GENERAL LAYOUT OF A HYDEL PLANT

Fig. 4-15 shows the general layout of a storage type hydel power plant with necessary
components and protective devices. The main components of a storage type hydel power plant
arc as follows:
1. Catchment area
2. Storage Reservoir
3. Dam
4. Penstock
5. Forebay
6. Power house
7. Draft tube
8. Trash rack
9. Spill way
10. Surge tank
The last three units are the protective devices, which help in the safe functioning of the hydel
plant.

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The different components and their functions are briefly discussed below.
1. Catchment Area: The complete area around the reservoir, around the river and the river
basins near the reservoir is termed the catchment area. A larger catchment area results in better
run-off into the reservoir. The reservoir capacity and the dam size are dependent on the size of
the catchment area and the intensity of the rainfall.
2. Reservoir: The main purpose of reservoir is to store water during rainy season and supply
the same during dry season. The reservoir is located at a region of heavy rain fall, with
sufficient catchment area.
3. Dam: The function of a dam is to increase the height of water level behind it, hence to
increase the reservoir capacity. The -darn also helps to increase the working head of the power
plant.
4. Trash Racks: The water intakes from the dam or from the forebay are provided With trash
racks to prevent the entry of debris. The debris if allowed may damage the wicket gates and
turbine runners, or choke-up the nozzles of the impulse turbine, thus hampering the plant
operation. If the winter is severe, arrangements to heat the trash racks by electrical means are
made to prevent the clinging of ice around it. Sometimes bubbling arrangement is made near
the trash racks, which brings them in contact with warm water and minimises the icing problem.
5. Forebay: It serves as a regulating reservoir and temporary storage pond. It receives the
excess water when the load on the plant is reduced and provides water for initial increment of
an increasing load, while the water in the canal is being accelerated. Thus, forebay is a naturally
provided storage which is able to absorb the flow variations. This can also be considered as the
naturally provided surge tank as it performs the work of a surge tank.
6. Surge Tank: It is a protective device connected to the penstock. Its function is to protect
penstock against water hammer effects during low demand periods and avoid vacuum effect

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during high demand periods. It achieves this by stabilizing the velocity and pressure in the
penstock.
7. Penstock: A pipe between the surge tank and prime mover is known as penstock. The
structural design of a penstock is same as other pipes, except for that it is made stronger inside,
to withstand high pressures caused by water hammer during load fluctuations. Penstocks are
usually made of steel through reinforced concrete. Penstocks are equipped with head gates at
the inlet which can be closed during repair of the penstocks. In very cold weather conditions,
it is better to bury the penstock to prevent the ice formation in the pipe and to reduce to number
of expansion joints required.
8. Spillway: It is considered as a safety valve of a clam. It must have the capacity to discharge
major floods without damage to the dam and at same time keeps the reservoir level below some
predetermined maximum level.
9. Power House / Prime Mover: Power house is the place where prime mover is run and
electric power is generated. The main purpose of the prime mover is to convert the kinetic
energy of water into the mechanical energy to produce electric current. These are Pelton,
Kaplan and Francis turbines. .
10. Draft Tube: This essential part of reaction turbine installation. It supplements the action
of the runner by utilizing most of the remaining kinetic energy of the water at the discharged
end of the runner.

Spillways
It is a safety device constructed with the dam. It functions when the dam faces flood problems.
If allows the passage of excess water from the reservoir, whenever the level raises above the
predetermined safer level, thus avoiding the damage to the darn. The different types of spill
ways are:
1) Ogee Spillway: Fig. 4-17a shows a ogee spillway. It is the crust of the dam, designed in
such a way that, whenever the reservoir level reaches the safe limit the water starts flowing out.
This is the simplest spillway and widely used for concrete dams.
2) Chute Spillway: A chute spillway is shown in Fig. 4-17b. In this type of spillway, the excess
water during floods flows-out of the dam and gets discharged through concrete channels
constructed along the sloping dam as shown in figure. This type of spillway is suitable for
earthen dams.
3) Shaft Spillway: Fig. 4-17c shows a shaft spillway. In this, water flows through a horizontal
tunnel to the penstock from the reservoir. In the dam a vertical shaft is constructed connecting
the horizontal tunnel. Whenever the water level exceeds the safe limit, excess water starts
flowing through the vertical shaft as shown in figure.
4) Siphon Spillway: Fig. 4-17d shows a siphon spillway. When the water level reaches A-A
the siphon starts working and siphons out water up to B-B. This type is suitable for small
capacity reservoirs.

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Penstocks
Penstocks are the pipelines that connects between the water source (such as the reservoir,
forebay, water way) and the hydraulic turbine. These are usually large circular pipes with
diameters ranging form 1 meter to 8 meters. Penstocks are usually made of steel or concrete
pipes. Care should be taken to keep the entry to the penstock at the dam or the forebay at a low
level, submerged always under the water. If the entry is open to air, it may take air along and
create aeration prob1lAms in the prime mover, thus affecting the performance. The penstocks
should be laid in such a way that there are no sharp bends. Sharp bends cause frictional losses
and reduce the effective water head. Generally penstocks are exposed type, since they are
economical and easy to repair and maintain. However, covered penstocks can be used when
the regions are prone to sliding rocks, snow, earth and such dangers, so as to avoid damage to
the pipe line.
Water Hammer - Surge Tanks
Whenever there is a sudden fall in the demand, the governor closes the penstock valve to a
minimum. This sudden closure of the valve increases the pressure inside the penstock due to
the kinetic energy of the water which is high enough to damage the penstock pipe. This effect
is termed Water Hammer. Also, whenever there is a sudden rise in the load demand the gates
are opened instantly by the governor, thereby creating vacuum in the penstock pipe. This causes
to bubbling and foaming action. This leads to operational problems in the turbine. These
problems can be overcome by providing a surge tank in the penstock line. Basically, a surge
tank is a cylindrical Open top storage unit, which connected to the penstock line and located
very close to the turbine.

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Function of Surge Tank

During the normal demand/flow periods, the turbine gates are open to normal position, since
there are no fluctuations in the water level in the surge tank. The normal water level in the
surge tank is always lower than that of the basic reservoir level. This is due to the head loss
due to the frictional losses in the flow line. It is shown as level A in Fig. 4-18. During low
demand periods, the turbine gates are closed partly and water flow is reduced to keep the
turbine speed constant. Due to sudden closure of the flow path, the flowing water in the
penstock comes to a halt thereby building pressure in the line. If there is no surge tank this
creates a water hammer in the penstock and may cause damage to the pipe line. With the surge
tank present in the line, this sudden stoppage of water flow results in an increase in the level in
the surge tank (level B, as shown in figure). This causes a retarding head and reduces the
velocity of water in the penstock thereby avoiding water hammer effect.

Similarly, when the demand is normal, the gate is opened to the normal position, so that the
flow velocity on the penstock reaches the normal value. For this, the required water is supplied
by the surge tank, and the water level in the surge tank suddenly reduces and fluctuates up and
down till its motio7n is damped down by friction.
When there is a sudden rise in the load, additional water required is supplied by the surge tank
thus avoiding the possibility of vacuum formation in the penstock. During this the water level
suddenly drops down below the normal as the water excess water is supplied by the surge tank.
This is indicated as level C in Fig. 4-18.

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Types of Surge Tanks

Different types of surge tanks are used in the power plants depending upon the design and
topographical requirements. Some important types of surge tanks are as follows:
a) Cylindrical Surge tank
This is the simplest design. It is simply a plain cylindrical tank connected to the penstock line
through a short connecting conduit (Fig. 4-19a). The tank size is kept to a level so as to
maintain a stable flow to the turbine, and minimum fluctuations in the water level. However,
this design is not a common design due to its slow response to demands and also it is expensive.
This is not a commonly used design in hydel plants.

b) Conical Surge tank

It is a conical shaped vessel connected to the penstock (Fig. 419b). it is a better design than
the cylindrical surge tank. Since it has an increasing area of cross section, it can handle the
water fluctuations more effectively. Also, it has a considerably faster response to load
fluctuations.

c) Spillway type Surge tank

This is a closed cylindrical vessel with a bell mouth spill way connected to it (Fig. 4 19c). The
tank is designed to meet the water demand from the stock available in it, while the excess
water during low demand periods over flows out of the surge tank through the spill way,

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d) Differential Surge tank

This is cylindrical tank with a central riser with small ports at the lower end (Fig. 4-19d).
Water movement in the tank is through the ports. It responds effectively to the variations in
load demands, and also the oscillations in the wafer level are minimal.
e) Gallery type Surge tank
This is special surge tank design. It has two separate water galleries (Fig. 4-19e). The upper
gallery stores the water when the load on the turbine drops, while the lower gallery supplies
water when there is a sudden increase on the turbine load.
f) Inclined Cylindrical Surge tank
This is a cylindrical tank inclined at some angle q (Fig. 4-19f). With this inclination the
effective area of water surface increase by an amount cosec q. Hence, the actual height of the
surge tank can be reduced. Due to increased water area, this surge tank can respond faster to
load variations than the simple cylindrical design. However, its construction is difficult,
expensive and preferred only when the topographical situations demand for such requirements.

Draft Tubes Draft tube is an integral part of the reaction turbine, which connects the runner
exit to the tail race. It can be a metallic or concrete pipe having gradually increasing cross
section towards the outlet to ensure that as little energy as possible is left in water as it
discharges into the tail race. The area of the draft tube at the top is circular and same as that of
the turbine outlet, so that shock and aeration problems are minimum. Draft tube provides a
negative suction head at the runner outlet by which it is possible to install the turbine above
the tail race level without any loss of head. Since the velocity of the water leaving the runner
is quite high, the kinetic energy will be lost if water is allowed to discharge freely. The draft
tube reduces outlet velocity and increases the useful pressure head thereby increasing the
turbine output.
The different types of draft tubes used in hydel plants are illustrated schematically in Fig. 4-
20.
1) Straight divergent tube (Fig. 4-20a), is used in low specific speed vertical shaft Francis
turbines. It has a circular inlet and rectangular outlet. The cone angle should be less than 8°
for optimum turbine performance. It gives a better speed regulation when the turbine load
drops down.
2) Moody spreading tube (Fig. 4-20b) has two split section at the outlet. This section reduces
the whirl action of water flowing at high velocity.
3) Simple elbow tube (Fig. 4-20c) has circular cross section throughout.
4) Elbow type draft tube has a circular inlet and a rectangular outlet (Fig. 4-20d)

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