Hydropower

The utilization of hydro energy to operate agricultural and industrial devices is one of the oldest and widespread techniques of human achievement. Hydro power, available free of cost in the form of flowing water, is an important, pollution free and renewable source of energy. In a hydroelectric power plant, water streams in hills or mountains are collected behind a dam. The potential energy of stored water is passed to a hydro turbine where potential energy of water is used to rotate the turbine runner. The mechanical energy of rotation of turbine is used to run an electrical generator to produce electricity. The electricity generated is transmitted over distances and distributed to consumers of electrical energy.

The hydro power potential of the world is huge to the tune of 36 x I0^I3 kWh of annual electricity generation which is technically feasible. Approximately 11 x I0¹² kWh of electricity can be economically generated every year. Presently 20% of the total world electricity is generated by hydroelectric power stations. In some countries, the share of hydroelectric power is very high.

Hydro power plants arc capital intensive projects with long construction period. These are mostly designed as multi-purpose integrated plants. In addition to generation of electricity, these projects arc designed for irrigation water and flood control. Broadly, these plants are classified as run-of-the-river plant, plants with storage and pumped hydro plants. Depending upon the power output, hydro power plants are classified as small (up to 10 MW), medium (up to 100 MW) and large power plants (above 100 MW). There are also mini, micro and small power plants with capacities in the range of 100 kW to 1 MW. Besides, hydroelectric power plants are classified as low-head (upto 10 m), medium-head (up to 100 in) and high-head (above 100 m) plants.

Questionnaire:

• Explain about the hydro power.