Sustainable Energy Homework - 3

Hydropower Systems and Ocean Energy

1. Estimate the required flow for a 10,000 MWe hydro installation as a function of the effective
hydraulic head from 10 to 300 m. Assume the efficiency of the turbine is 95%.

2. Give short analysis on the potential of ocean energy in Indonesia and brief explanation about
the distribution of ocean energy in Indonesia

3. An ocean thermal gradient electric generating system is proposed. This system would operate
a heat engine driven by heat flow from warm ocean water (cooled from 27 ⁰C to 25 ⁰C in the
heating heat exchanger of the system), and cooled by heat flow to cold ocean water (which is
heated from 3 ⁰C to 5 ⁰C in the cooling heat exchanger of the system). The ocean water used in
the different parts of the heat engine is obtained from different depths of the surrounding sea.
Using this heat engine electricity can be produced at 90% of the corresponding Carnot
efficiency of the heat engine.

a. What is the value of the Carnot efficiency of the heat engine? Explain the basis for selecting
the parameter values used in calculating this value.

b. Should the cold ocean water flow through the engine at a rate of 100 million kg/min what is
the electric power output of the engine?

c. What is the corresponding flow rate of warm ocean water?

Answer
1. In a hydroelectric facility, the amount of energy harnessed depends on the difference
between the headwater level in the reservoir upstream of the dam and the tailwater level below
the hydroelectric dam. This is known as the hydraulic head difference and it represents the
amount of energy that can be transformed into electricity by the turbines and generators. More
detailed calculations show that not only the difference in height of the water determines how
much energy can be harnessed, but there are a variety of losses known as head losses. These
head losses occur as a result of friction in pipes. When head losses are accounted for, the actual
amount of energy that can be harnessed is reduced. This reduced value for hydraulic head with
the losses accounted for is known as the effective head.
The water in the reservoir, which is at a higher altitude has more gravitational potential
energy because it is at a higher vertical position than the tail race. The energy used to generate
electricity by moving the turbines arises from the utilization of gravitational potential energy
of the reservoir water as it moves down through the penstocks. The use of Bernoulli's
equation can help illustrate this process. Overall, hydraulic head is a way to represent the
energy of energy of stored a fluid - in this case water - per unit weight.

The value for hydraulic head is used in the hydroelectric power equation to determine
the available power of a hydroelectric system. It is one of the main components in this equation,
represented by:
𝑃 = η. ρ. 𝑄. Δℎ. 𝑔
𝑃
𝑄=
𝜂. 𝜌. 𝑔. ∆ℎ

10000 𝑥 106 𝑘𝑔. 𝑚2 /𝑠 2

𝑄= = 2,699,900 𝑚3
𝑘𝑔 𝑚
0.95𝑥 1000 3 𝑥9.8 2 𝑥 290 𝑚
𝑚 𝑠
Source : https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Hydraulic_head
2. Indonesia, as an archipelago country in tropical South-East Asia, is considered as aone
of the countries with the most ocean energy potential. Ocean covers seventy percent of the
Indonesia and the length of coastline is 54,716 km. Theoritically Indonesia has a total ocean
energy potential, a combination of ocean thermals, waves and tidal current about 4,676 GW
and a practical potential of around 216 GW (ESDM, 2017a).

Ocean current, wave, and tide are among common energy sources from the ocean. Each of
those energy sources has a different energy production pattern, in Indonesia as well as in other
places. Ocean surface current has a minimum speed to generate substantial electricity is about
0.5 m/s. Current speed could reach as high as 3 m/s in North Sulawesi and it may vary in range
of 0.5-2 m/s to the west of sulawesi, papua, and ternate. The eastern part of Indonesia has a
stronger cocean surface current speed than the western part. ( Noir P.Purba, 2014).

Ocean surface wave must have a minimum height about 1.6 m. All of locations which have
sufficient wave height are located below the Equatorial line (figure below). The figure show
the wave height range about 1.6 – 2.6 m.those mean values along the year could generate
enough power in some location like Java Island, Bali, Lombok, NTB, until Flores and Papua.
The last ocean energy sources which could be utilize as renewable energy is tidal.
The minimum value of tidal range is more than 2 m. The higher tidal will generated
more energy. From the figure below shows that eastern part of Indonesia is having
higher tidal range than the western part. The commonly found tidal range is below 2
m in the western part of Indonesia, such as in Java Island and West Sumatra.

The Ocean energy can be combined together or just one parameter in one place. It is
depends on the most potential and economic value of energy in those site.
Recommended location is in eastern Indonesia where oceanographic characteristic
are very supportive. From the table below, we can see the amount of energy that could
be generate from ocean in some places in Indonesia.
3. a. The Carnot efficiency of the heat engine
𝑇𝑐 276
𝜂 =1− =1− = 0.074
𝑇𝐻 298
Tc is the maximum temperature of cold reservoir and Th is the minimum temperature of the
hot reservoir.
b. if the cold ocean water flow through enginer is 100 million kg/min. What is the electric
power?

Ocean Thermal energy Conversion

(Source : http://www.otecnews.org)

The heat in the system

W=Qin-Qout
In other word, work done by the system is
W=Qin x 𝜂
So, Qout= W x(1/η – 1)
𝑄𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑚. 𝐶𝑝. ∆𝑇
∆𝑇 𝑘𝑔
𝑊 = 𝑚. 𝐶𝑝. = 108 = 0.995 𝐺𝑊𝑒
1
− 1 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝐽 1
η min 𝑥 60𝑠 𝑥 (4.184 ) 𝑥(2 °𝐶)𝑥 (0.074 )
𝑘𝑔. 𝐾
− 1
0.9
c. what is the corresponding flow rate of warm ocean water?
𝑄𝑖𝑛 = 𝑄𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝑊
𝑄𝑖𝑛 = 𝑚𝑖𝑛 . 𝐶𝑝. ∆𝑇

8 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝐽
𝑄𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝑊 (10 𝑘𝑔/ min 𝑥 60𝑠 𝑥4.184 𝑘𝑔. 𝐾 . 2 𝐾) + 0.995 𝐺𝑊𝑒
𝑚𝑖𝑛 = =
𝐶𝑝. ∆𝑇 𝑘𝐽
4.184 .2𝐾
𝑘𝑔. 𝐾
= 107.134 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑘𝑔/𝑚𝑖𝑛