Chapter-4

Utility Plants and Renewable Sources (Part-2)

Renewable Sources: Hydraulic Energy

 Hydroelectric power stations are designed to convert the gravitational energy of water into
mechanical and then into electric energy.
 Both large and small power stations can be classified as follows:
 (1) run-of-river power station when no significant regulating reservoir exists;
 (2) pondage power station which is run-of-river with small reservoirs able to delay the
production of electricity for a short period (hours, days);
 (3) seasonal power station with a reservoir to regulate the water supply to the turbines; and
 (4) pumped-storage power station when a reservoir is filled exclusively or partially by pumps.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC8Lbyeyh-E
 Renewable Sources: Hydraulic Energy
 Three main types of turbine are employed in hydroelectric power stations.
 Propeller turbines, such as the Kaplan turbine, are employed for low heads of not more
than 40–50 m (130–160 ft) and high flow rates ranging between 2 and 40 m3/s (70–1,400
ft3/s). They provide high rotor velocity for relatively low water through-flow velocities and
may attain a good efficiency over a wide range of loads by blade pitch variation.
 Francis turbines are used for higher heads (20–300 m, 66–1,000 ft) and medium flow rates
(0.2–20 m3/s, 7–700 ft3/s); these turbines are radial inflow units where water enters the
rotor through a set of variable-angle inlet guide vanes and flows radially inward and axially
downward, with a pressure drop within the turbine wheel itself.
 Pelton turbines, which are impulse units, are used for heads from 100 m (330 ft) up to 300
m (1,000 ft) or higher, with a very low flow rate, generally lower than 1 m3/s (35 ft3/s). All
the static head is converted into velocity and all this energy is absorbed in the wheel so that
water leaves at a very low velocity.
Propeller turbines Francis turbines

Pelton turbines
Renewable Sources: Hydraulic Energy
 Renewable Sources: Energy from Waste

 Urban and industrial waste can conveniently be used to produce energy in different ways.
 Figure shows how waste can be treated for use inside or outside the process and for energy
production. Table lists typical heating values of waste.
 Waste recovery is one of the biggest problems that private and public bodies have to
tackle. Resolution of this problem is evolving slowly because of many technical,
economic, and environmental constraints.
 Mass burning facilities where the refuse is burned as received and processed fuel or refuse-
derived fuel (RDF) where the solid waste is processed before burning are the two options
that technology makes available.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmtOuAed5nM
Energy Storage: Hydro, Mechanical, Electric, Fuel
Cell, Thermal Storage
 Storage of energy after its transformation from primary energy into various forms is a deeply
felt but rarely satisfied need.
 For both utility plants and end users, the storage of energy should be a way of improving
energy management and reducing energy costs, by smoothing the profile of the energy
demand, by exploiting low-rate opportunities in purchasing energy, and by freeing energy
recovery from user demand.
 The main approaches to energy storage are hydro, mechanical, electric, and thermal.
Energy Storage: Hydro, Mechanical, Electric, Fuel
Cell, Thermal Storage
 Energy stored as primary energy in combustibles has a very high mass energy density
with typical values of roughly 45,000 kJ/kg (19,350 Btu/lb) for liquid fuels. This value is
vastly higher than the storage capacity of almost any other system available in which values
of 100–200 kJ/kg (45– 90 Btu/lb) seem to be the upper limit.
 The capital and operating costs of these systems make their extensive exploitation difficult,
except for hydro energy storage, which is the most attractive and which is widely used in both
utilities and industries.
 Notice that both hydro and mechanical storage are mainly electric storage because the
energy available is generally electric which is transformed into mechanical energy at the
electric motor shaft and then stored in different forms before being transformed back
into electric energy.
 Hydro Storage
 The principle of hydro storage follows the law of pumps and of hydraulic source exploitation by
turbines
 Generally using reversible machines, this system works in the pumping mode when an excess of
energy is available (usually electric energy) and in the turbine mode when energy is required
back.
 The pumping method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water,
pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. 
 Water is stored in an upper reservoir and it flows back through the turbine during periods of
peak demand.
 Energy theoretically associated with 1 m3 of water and 367 m of head is 1 kWh and that the
efficiency of the whole system including energy transformations in pumping mode (electric motor,
pump, and flow losses) and in turbine mode (flow losses, turbine, and electric generator losses) is
generally 50–60 %.
 Mechanical Storage
 The flywheel is a typical device for the storage of mechanical energy.
 The quantity of stored energy depends on the shaft speed, the mass, and the radius of
gyration of the flywheel
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz_7UF4KQpk
 Electric Storage

 Electric energy can be stored directly by using electric batteries, among which the lead-
acid type is the commonest.
 The use of electric batteries for storage depends on many parameters such as charge and
discharge cycle life, energy-mass and power-mass ratios, and energy-cost ratio.
 The specific energy values range between 108 and 114 kJ/kg (30–40 Wh/kg) for lead-acid
batteries and 360 kJ/kg (100 Wh/kg) for sodium/sulfur batteries; the specific power values
range between 100 W/kg for lead acid batteries and 400 W/kg for nickel/cadmium
batteries; the life cycle does not exceed 400 cycles for lead-acid batteries against 1,000
cycles for nickel/cadmium batteries. The charge–discharge efficiency can reach 60–70 %
depending on the operating conditions and on the recharge equipment.
 Fuel Cells
 Fuel cells are electrochemical devices in which electric energy is produced by
combining hydrogen and oxygen and by releasing water vapor into the atmosphere.
 Basically, the main components of a fuel cell are the anode, the cathode, and the
electrolyte (liquid, solid, membrane) between them. To obtain the required voltage a
stack of many fuel cells in series is required.
 Fuel cells, operating on non-petroleum fuels such as hydrogen, might provide an
alternative energy source for electric traction and for other applications with a total
efficiency, that is, combined hydrogen and electricity production efficiency, of roughly
25–40 %.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKuQRAbbjSI
Thermal Storage-Heat and Cold Storage
 Heat and cold storage can be classified as sensible and latent energy storage.
 Sensible storage
 The storage is accomplished by increasing or decreasing the temperature of the material (water,
organic liquid, solid); the storage energy density depends on the temperature change and
specific heat of the material.
 If mineral oil is used for heat storage, the storage energy density associated with a temperature
increase of 50 K (50 C; 90 F) is roughly 100 kJ/kg; the storage energy density with water for the
same temperature increase is roughly 200 kJ/kg.
 If water is used for cold storage, a temperature drop of 4–5 K (7.2–9 F) is usually obtained, so
that the storage energy is 20 kJ/kg.
 Latent energy storage
 The energy is mostly stored in the form of the latent heat due to a phase change, such
as melting a solid (the opposite occurs in cold storage) or vaporizing a liquid.
 In releasing energy, liquids solidify (or solids liquefy) and vapors condense. The storage
energy density per kg, which derives mainly from the latent heat, is greater than in sensible
energy storage systems.
 An additional advantage of this group is that it works at constant temperature during the
phase change.
 (e.g.) Ice storage: 1 kg of water absorbs 335KJ of cooling energy to become 1 kg of ice
and release 335KJ of this cooling energy to water