Unit 1

Introduction to Energy sources

 Sources of Energy
Non-renewable in nature and are fast
Conventional sources depleting

Eg. the enormous reserve of fossil fuels

(coal, crude-oil, natural gas, etc. are
sources of thermal power. Water is the
conventional source for Hydel Power)
Commercial Non-commercial

Renewable sources of energy which are

Non-conventional sources continuously replenished by natural
process
Eg. Solar energy, wind energy, tidal
energy, etc.
 Conventional sources of Energy
• The generation of conventional energy produces air pollution and causes
environmental threats.
• These are easy to tap and store.
• Conventional energy is costly.

The energy sources that are used to generate electricity and that
are available in the marketplace with a specific price are known as
commercial energy sources

Eg. Coal, petroleum, electricity

Non-commercial energy is energy which is available free of cost

Non-commercial to the users
Eg. Fire wood, straw, dried dung
Selection methods for generating
electricity
Initial cost Lower the initial cost, better it is.

To produce the given amount of electrical energy , the cost of

Running cost conversion process(including cost of maintenance/repairs of the
system) has to be known.

Limitations Whether a particular resource is available or exhaustible

perpetuity • Perpetuity (have endless duration)

efficiency • Efficiency (high conversion efficiency)
reliability • Reliability (availability in appropriate quantity)
cleanliness • Cleanliness (energy conversion must be a cleaner
simplicity process)

Field of A plant is adopted or power is generated where the supply is

application available in plenty or financial, climatic and geographic
conditions are favorable to the power station
 STEAM POWER STATIONS
3-phase A.C
Electrical power
Steam in

Boiler Turbine Generator

Coal Water Steam out

Feed Condenser
pump

Chemical energy Heat energy Mechanical energy Electrical

in coal in steam in turbine energy
 Principle
• Chemical energy stored within the coal is
transformed into electrical energy through the
process where heat released through combustion of
coal produces steam which is then passed through
steam turbines driving the alternator, the output of
which is the electrical energy.
 Advantages
• Fuel is cheap
• Less initial cost
• Requires less space
• Considering the above points the overall cost
of generating electrical energy is less.
 Disadvantages
• Atmospheric pollution is considerable.
• A large amount of ash is produced every day
in a thermal plant and effective handling of
the ash adds to the running cost of the plant.
• Coal may have to be transported over long
distances.
 HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PLANT
(Hydel plant)
Up stream
water level

3-phase A.C
Water head Electrical power
Dam
H

Water
Generator
Turbine
Discharge of water in
down stream

Potential energy Kinetic energy Electrical energy

Of water
 Working
The constituents of a hydro-electric plant are

Water turbines Hydraulic structures

Electrical equipment
 Hydraulic structures
• Hydraulic structures in a hydro-electric power station include
dam, spillways, head works , surge tank, penstock and
accessory works.

A dam is a barrier which stores

water and creates water head.

Spillways: There are times when the river flow exceeds the storage capacity of
the reservoir. Such a situation arises during heavy rainfall in the catchment area.
In order to discharge the surplus water from the storage reservoir into the river
on the down-stream side of the dam, spillways are used.
 Hydraulic structures

Headworks : The headworks consists of the diversion structures at

the head of an intake. They generally include booms and racks for
diverting floating debris, sluices for by-passing debris and
sediments and valves for controlling the flow of water to the
turbine.

Surge tank: A surge tank is a small reservoir or tank

(open at the top) connected to the pipe carrying a
liquid, intended to neutralize sudden changes of
pressure in the flow by filling when pressure
increases and emptying when drops.

Penstocks: Water control gate that controls flow or

enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines.
It is equipped with gate system and surge tank.
 Water turbines
• Water turbines are used to convert the energy of falling water
into mechanical energy.

Generators
• Basically, the generators work on the principle of
magnets which is that when you pass a magnet
near a conductor, electric current flows through
it.
• Sites to be selected for such plants depend upon
natural availability of water reservoirs at hill tops
or availability of a suitable reservoir at a height
 Advantages
• It requires no fuel.
• It is quite neat and clean as no smoke or ash is
produced.
• It requires very small running charges because water
is the source of energy which is available free of cost.
• It is comparatively simple in construction and
requires less maintenance.
• It is robust and has a longer life.
 Disadvantages
• It involves high capital cost due to construction of
dam.
• There is uncertainty about the availability of huge
amount of water due to dependence on weather
conditions.
• Skilled and experienced hands are required to build
the plant.
• It requires high cost of transmission lines as the plant
is located in hilly areas which are quite away from
the consumers.
NUCLEAR POWER STATION
 Principle
A generating station in which nuclear energy is converted
into electrical energy is known as a nuclear power station.

In nuclear power station, heavy elements such as Uranium

(U235) or Thorium (Th232) are subjected to nuclear fission
in a special apparatus known as a reactor. The heat energy
thus released is utilized in raising steam at high
temperature and pressure.

The steam runs the steam turbine which converts steam

energy into mechanical energy. The turbine drives the
alternator which converts mechanical energy into
electrical energy
 Working
The whole arrangement can be divided into the
following main stages:

1) Nuclear reactor 2) Heat exchanger

3) Steam turbine
4) Alternator
 Nuclear reactor
It is an apparatus in which nuclear fuel (U235) is subjected to nuclear fission. It
controls the chain reaction that starts once the fission is done. If the chain
reaction is not controlled, the result will be an explosion due to the fast increase
in the energy released.
• A nuclear reactor is a cylindrical stout
pressure vessel and houses fuel rods of
Uranium, moderator and control rods.
• The fuel rods constitute the fission
material and release huge amount of
energy when bombarded with slow
moving neutrons.
• The moderator consists of graphite
rods which enclose the fuel rods and
slows down the neutrons before they
bombard the fuel rods.
• The control rods are of cadmium and
are inserted into the reactor. Cadmium
is strong neutron absorber and thus
regulates the supply of neutrons for
fission.
• When the control rods are pushed in deep enough, they
absorb most of fission neutrons and hence few are available
for chain reaction which, therefore stops the chain reaction.
• However, as they are being withdrawn, more and more of
these fission neutrons cause fission and hence the intensity
of chain reaction (or heat produced) is increased.

• Therefore, by pulling out

the control rods, power
of the nuclear reactor is
increased, whereas by
pushing them in, it is
reduced.

• The heat produced in the reactor is removed by the coolant,

generally a sodium metal. The coolant carries the heat to the
heat exchanger.
• Heat exchanger: The coolant gives up the heat to water in
heat exchanger to convert it to steam.
• Steam turbine: The steam produced in the heat exchanger is
led to the steam turbine through a valve. After doing a useful
work in the turbine, the steam is exhausted to condenser. The
condenser condenses the steam which is fed to the heat
exchanger through feed water pump.
Alternator: The steam
turbine drives the
alternator which
converts mechanical
energy into electrical
energy. The output from
the alternator is
delivered to the bus-
bars through
transformer, circuit
breakers and isolators.
 Advantages
• The amount of fuel required is quite small.
• Requires less space as compared to any other
type of the same size.
• Low running charges as a small amount of fuel
is used for producing bulk electrical energy,
therefore very economical for producing bulk
electric power.
• It ensures reliability of operation.
 Disadvantages
• The fuel used is expensive and is difficult to
recover.
• Capital cost on a nuclear plant is very high as
compared to other types of plants.
• The erection and commissioning of the plant
requires greater technical know-how.
• The fission by-products are generally
radioactive and may cause a dangerous
amount of radioactive pollution.
 SOLAR ENERGY

Electric
Current
Charge
controller
Solar panel

Battery
Inverter
System

DC Power AC Power
 Principle
• When ionized solar radiation (i.e radiation
that carries enough energy to free electrons
from atoms or molecules thereby ionizing
them) is incident on a semiconductor diode
energy conversion takes place.
 Working
• Sunlight consists of little particles of solar energy called photons.
• As photovoltaic cell is exposed many photons are reflected, pass through
or absorbed.
• After absorption of enough photons, electrons are freed from negative
semiconductor material which migrate to the positive layer creating
differential voltage
• When light energy strikes the solar cell, electrons are knocked loose from
the atoms in the semiconductor material. If electrical conductors are
attached to the positive and negative sides, forming an electrical circuit,
the electrons can be captured in the form of an electric current -- that is,
electricity
WIND POWER SYSTEM
 Principle
• Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. The energy in
the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades around a
rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a
generator to create electricity. Wind turbines convert the
kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power.
 Working
• A wind mill is machine for wind energy
conversion.
• A wind turbine is a rotary device that extracts
the energy from the wind and converts the
kinetic energy of the wind’s motion to
mechanical energy transmitted by the shaft.
• A generator further converts it to electrical
energy.
 Parts of a Wind Turbine
• Turbines – The first part of course, is the turbine. The giant
blades and the rotor (hub) together make up the “turbine”.
As wind passes by, it makes the blades spin around. These
blades have an aerodynamic curved shape so as to capture
as much energy from the wind as possible. The blades are
attached to a hub, which spins as the blades turn. As the
rotor turns, it spins a drive shaft which is connected to a
generator inside the housing at the top of the tower.
• Shaft – The second part, the shaft, is actually a gearbox
which increases the speed of the spinning blades enough to
power the electricity generator.
• Generator – The third part is the generator, which converts
mechanical energy of the moving wind into electrical
energy, with the help of the spinning shaft.
 Advantages
• The wind is free and with modern technology it can be
captured efficiently.
• Once the wind turbine is built the energy is pollution
free.
• Although wind turbines can be very tall each takes up
only a small plot of land. This means that the land
below can still be used. This is especially the case in
agricultural areas as farming can still continue.
• Remote areas that are not connected to the electricity
power grid can use wind turbines to produce their own
supply.
 Disadvantages
• The strength of the wind is not constant and it
varies from zero to storm force. This means that
wind turbines do not produce the same amount
of electricity all the time. There will be times
when they produce no electricity at all.
• Noise Disturbances: Though wind energy is non-
polluting, the turbines may create a lot of noise.
• Threat to Wildlife: Due to large scale construction
of wind turbines on remote location, it could be a
threat to wild life nearby.