Hydropower Factors

746 Words3 Pages

1.1 Natural Factors

Hydropower generation is renewable and clean energy source which helps in achieving climatic policy target of Swiss confederations as HP operation does not produce any CO2

As we that HP depends on natural cycle and influence by change in the natural condition.Melting snow in glaciers and precipitation are the major factors influencing seasonality. Around 40% of the runoff in Switzerland comes from the melting snow. It is expected that during summers the precipitation will decrease and will increase during winters this will affect the river runoff. These patterns will determine the seasonability of the electricity availability.
In addition to hydrological factors hydropower plants influence by sedimentation …show more content…

It chancels flowing water from the river to flow the turbines. It provides continuous supply of electricity. The flexibility of these plants are very low and operate as base load plant in Switzerland

2.) Storage hydroelectric power plant uses a dam to store water in a reservoir, usually the power plant is very big. In this type of power plant water is released from the reservoir through the turbines which turns the generator on. These plants has high head high flexibility and water storage makes them less depended on the natural flow of river. Storage hydroelectric power plant full fill the peak load requirement of Switzerland

3.) Pumped storage hydropower plant has two reservoir lower and upper between which water is pumped or released based on the supply and demand situation . Pumped storage hydropower plant is therefore facilities the storage of electricity form the market or grid in the form of pumped water when excess energy is …show more content…

Turbines can be classified as impulse turbine (Pelton turbine) or reaction turbine ( Kaplan & Francis turbine). Efficiency of reaction turbines is usually lower than impulse turbine. Run-off-river plants usually uses Kaplan turbines and storage HP plants with high head uses Pelton turbines. For pumped storage plant the choice of turbine is defined by its pumping ability. They can install separate pump and turbine or make use of reaction turbine for multiple purpose such as Francis turbine. The capital investment cost for combined pump turbine is lower however the switching time between two modes is longer which makes them less efficient compare to separate installation.

The second technical consideration is the type of conduit used in HP plants which consists of pipelines, penstocks and tunnels which regulates the water flow of the plant. The design of conduit system plays an vital role in defining the power generation potential of HP plant.

For pumped storage plants the dam type is an important consideration for defining the water head and storage capacity, generally concrete gravity dams, concrete arc dams and embankment dams are

More about Hydropower Factors

Open Document