HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY

Hydrologic Cycle

History of Hydropower
•Ancient Greeks used water wheels to grind wheat into flour.
•A water wheel picks up flowing river water in buckets located around the wheel.
•Kinetic energy of flowing river turns the wheel and is converted into mechanical energy that runs the
mill.
•In late 19th century, hydropower became a source for generating electricity.
•The first hydroelectric power plant was built at Niagara falls in 1879.

What is Hydropower?
•Hydropower (hydroelectric power) is electricity generated using the energy of moving water.
•It depends on rivers, falls and streams for generation
•It provides more than 97% of all electricity generated by renewable sources worldwide.
•About 20% of all electricity is generated by hydropower
HYDROPOWER PLANT
It captures the energy of falling water to generate electricity
PARTS OF HYDROPOWER PLANT

TYPES OF HYDROPOWER PLANT

IMPOUNDMENT/DAM
•most common type of hydroelectric power plant
•uses dam to store water in a reservoir
•Water may be released either to meet changing
electricity needs or to maintain constant reservoir
level

DIVERSION/RUN OF RIVER
 •channels a portion of a river through a
canal or pen stock
•divert water away from a river and use
it to run a turbine before returning it to
the river

PUMPED STORAGE
•stores energy by pumping water from water
a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir when
demand for electricity is low
•Water is released back to lower reservoir to
generate electricity during periods of high
electrical demand

EFFICIENCY OF HYDROPOWER
•Modern hydro turbines can convert as much as 90% of the available energy into
electricity. The best fossil fuel plants are only about 50% efficient.
•Efficiency could be further increased by refurbishing hydroelectric equipment.
AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY GENERATED BY HYDROPOWER PLANT
•How far the water falls
“The farther the water falls, the more power it has”
•Amount of water falling
“Water falling through the turbine will produce more power”
ADVANTAGES OF HYDROPOWER
• Fuel is not burned so there is minimal pollution
• Water to run the power plant is provided free by nature
•Hydropower plays a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Relatively low operations and maintenance costs
•The technology is reliable and proven over time
•It's renewable - rainfall renews the water in the reservoir, so the fuel is almost always there
DISADVANTAGES OF HYDROPOWER
•High investment costs
• Hydrology dependent (precipitation)
•Inundation of land and wildlife habitat
•Loss or modification of fish habitat
• Fish entrainment or passage restriction
• Displacement of local populations

WORLD’S LARGEST HYDROPOWER PLANT

Three Gorges Dam

It is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze

River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling
District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. It has a
generating capacity of 22,500 megawatts (MW).

HYDROPOWER PLANTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Plant Name: Kalayaan Plant Name: Angat

Location: Kalayaan, Laguna Location: Norzagaray, Bulacan

Capacity: 684.6 MW Capacity: 246 MW

Type: Pump Storage/NPC-IPP Type: Dam

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

What is geothermal energy?

• Geothermal energy- energy that comes from the ground; power extracted from
heat stored in the earth
- Geo: earth - Thermal: heat

Different Geothermal Energy Sources

•Hot Water Reservoirs: As the name implies these are reservoirs of hot
underground water. There is a large amount of them in the US, but they are more
suited for space heating than for electricity production.
•Natural Steam Reservoirs: In this case a hole dug into the ground can cause steam
to come to the surface.
•Geo-pressured Reservoirs: In this type of reserve, brine completely saturated with
natural gas in stored under pressure from the weight of overlying rock. This type of
resource can be used for both heat and for natural gas.

Type of Geothermal Power plant

1. Dry Steam Power plants

•These were the first type of power plants created.
They use underground steam to directly turn the
turbines.
•This type of power plant is not common since natural
hydrothermal reservoirs dry steam are very rare.
2. Flash Steam Power plants
These are the most common type of power plants. These
systems pull deep, high pressured hot water that reaches
temperatures of 360°F or more to the surface. This water
is transported to low pressure chambers, and the resulting
steam drives the turbines. The remaining water and steam
are then injected back into the source from which they
were taken.

3. Binary Cycle Plants

This system passes moderately hot geothermal water
past a liquid, usually an organic fluid, that has a lower
boiling point. The resulting steam from the organic liquid
drives the turbines. This process does not produce any
emissions and the water temperature needed for the
water is lower than that needed in the Flash Steam
Plants (250°F - 360°F).
GEO THERMAL'S HARMFUL EFFECTS
•Brine can salinate soil if the water is not injected back into the reserve after
the heat is extracted.
•Extracting large amounts of water can cause land subsidence, and this can
lead to an increase in seismic activity. To prevent this, the cooled water must
be injected back into the reserve in order to keep the water pressure constant
underground.
•Power plants that do not inject the cooled water back into the ground can
release H2S(Hydrogen Sulfide), the "rotten eggs" gas. This gas can cause
problems if large quantities escape because inhaling too much is fatal.
GEO THERMAL’S POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES
•100% renewable
~Earth's core is always going to be heated
~As long as there is a way to extract the energy from the heat, the energy
will always be available
•Geothermal energy is "homegrown." This will create jobs, a better global
trading position and less reliance on oil producing countries.
•Flash and Dry Steam Power Plants emit 1000x to 2000x less carbon dioxide
than fossil fuel plants.
•Binary plants have no gaseous emission at all.
•Electricity generated by geothermal plants saves 83.3 million barrels of fuel
each year from being burned world wide. This prevents 40.2 million tons of
CO₂ from being emitted into the atmosphere.
•Direct use of geothermal energy prevents 103.6 million barrels of fuel each
year from being burned world wide. This stops 49.6 million tons of CO₂ from
being emitted into the atmosphere.

The Bac-Man Geothermal Production Field, also

known as the Bac-Man Geothermal Power Plant,
is one of the geothermal power stations operated
by Energy Development Corporation in the provinces
of Albay and Sorsogon in the Philippines. It is named
for its location in the municipalities of Bacon and
Manito

The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field,

containing a complex of 22 geothermal power plants,
drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in
the Mayacamas Mountains approximately 72 miles
(116 km) north of San Francisco, California.