MEE 2022

POWER PLANT ENGINEERING

Module V
Hydro Electric Power Plant
 Overview
• Hydrological cycle
• Layout of hydro power plant
• Working of hydro plant
• Types of Dam
• Surge Tank
• Types of hydraulic turbines
• Types of Draft tubes
• Nearly 20% of the power in the world is met
by Hydro power stations.
• Introduced in India from 1897 with a run of
river unit near Darjeeling.
• Sivasamudram Project in 1902.
• Damodar Valley corporation, Bhakra Nangal,
Hirakud, Nagarjunasagar, Mettur…
 Site Selection
• Availability of Water
• Water storagecapacity
• Available water head
• Accessibility of the site
• Distance from the Load centre
• Type of the Land of the site
Bhakra Nangal
Mettur
 Hydrological cycle

Phase change Processes

Latent heat of Vaporisation

Vaporisation

• Evaporation (T<Tsat)
• Boiling (T=Tsat)
Lay out of a Hydro electric Power Plant
Prof K Karunamurthy
 Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant

(i) WATER RESERVOIR:

Continuous availability of water is the basic necessity for
a hydro plant. Water collected from the catchment area
during rainy season is stored in the reservoir. Water
surface in the storage reservoir is called as HEAD RACE.
(ii) DAM
The main function of Dam is to increase the height of
water level behind it, this ultimately increases the
reservoir capacity. The dam also increases the working
head of the power plant.
 Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
Water Reservoir and Dam
Water Reservoir

Dam
 Reservoir
• Storage during times of plenty for subsequent use in times of
scarcity is fundamental to the efficient use of water
resources.
• Management of reservoirs and the lands which supply them.
• Water is used for irrigation, flood control, water supply and
navigation.
• Reservoir may be natural, like a lake or mountain or
artificially built by erecting dam across river.
• Water held in upstream reservoir is called storage and water
behind the dam at the plant is called pondage.
 Dam
Basic function: develops a reservoir of the desired
capacity to store water and builds up head for
power generation.
Eg: Aswan dam in Egypt (111.5 m with storage
capacity of 156 billion cu.m, Hoover dam in US
(222 m height and 38 billion cu.m- high head
small storage)
https://
interestingengineering.com/top-21-dams-in-the-
world-that-generate-the-highest-amount-of-electr
icity
• Function – Storage, diversion and detention
• Shape – Trapezoidal or arch
• Materials of construction – Earth, rock pieces,
stone masonry, concrete, RCC
• Hydraulic and structural design- Over flow and
non over flow type. As per the structural
design they may be classified as gravity dam,
arch dam and buttress dam

Prof K Karunamurthy
 Dam Types
• Concrete Gravity Dam
• Arch Dam
• Buttress Dam
• Embankment or Rock filled Dam
 Concrete Gravity Dams

• Weight of the dam holds

water in the reservoir
• Lots of concrete (expensive)
• Solid throughout its length
• Simplest in design
 Arch Dams

• Arch shape gives strength

• Less material (cheaper)
• Narrow sites
• Need strong solid
concrete structure
 Buttress Dams
• A buttress dam or hollow dam is a dam with a
solid, water-tight upstream side that is
supported at intervals on the downstream
side by a series of buttresses or supports.
The dam wall may be straight or curved.
Most buttress dams are made of reinforced
concrete and are heavy, pushing the dam into
the ground.
• Face is held up by a series of supports
(Similar to Gusset Plate)
• Flat or curved face
• Suitable for weaker foundation

Gusset
Plate
 Embankment Dams
• Rock filled
• Weight resists flow of water
• Characteristics are in-between
concrete filled and earth filled
dam.
• High resistance to earth quake.
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
(iii) SPILL WAY
Water after a certain level overflows through the
spill way with out allowing increase in level of
the reservoir especially during rainy season.
It is a safeguarding structure
It provides structural stability to the dam under
flooding conditions without raising reservoir
levels above H.F.L (High flood levels)
 Types of Spillways
• Straight Drop Spillway
• Ogee Spillway
• Shaft Spillway
• Chute Spillway
• Side Channel Spillway
• Siphon Spillway
• Labyrinth Spillway
https://theconstructor.org/water-resources/hydraulic-
structures/different-types-spillways/32484/#:~:text=A
%20spillway%20is%20a%20hydraulic,channel%20and
%20a%20terminal%20structure
(iv) PRESSURE
TUNNEL
This carries water
from the reservoir to
the surge tank.
(v) PENSTOCK
This is a pipeline made of reinforced cement
concrete which carries water from the surge tank to
the turbine.

• They run with some pressure so, sudden closing or

opening of penstock gates can cause water
hammer effect to the penstocks.
• So, these are designed to resist the water hammer
effect apart from this penstock is similar to normal
pipe. To overcome this pressure, heavy wall is
provided for short length penstock and surge tank
is provided in case of long length penstocks.
• Steel or Reinforced concrete is used for making
penstocks. If the length is small, separate penstock
is used for each turbine similarly if the length is
big single large penstock is used and at the end it
is separated into branches.
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant

SPILL WAY
PENSTOCK
 Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
(vi) SURGE TANK
If the load on the turbine is
reduced then the flow rate of
water is reduced, this will result
in the sudden backflow of water
and there will be a sudden
increase of pressure in the
penstock called WATER
HAMMER. To overcome this
problem a surge tank is
introduced in the conduit
carrying water in between the
dam and the nozzle. If surge tank
is not provided it will damage the
penstock.

WATER HAMMER
Tragedy in Hydro plant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX_4QYbmoFE
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
(vii) Hydraulic turbine
Water from the penstock enters
into the turbine through an inlet
valve and a nozzle. The hydraulic
turbines that are in common use
are Pelton wheel, Francis turbine
or Kaplan turbine. The P.E of the
water stored in the dam is
converted into K.E in the nozzle
and converted into mechanical
energy at the turbine shaft, and
finally converted into electrical
energy by the alternator.
 Classification
• According to head and
quantity of water available.
• Low head (2-15 m)- Kaplan
or Propeller
• Medium head (16-70 m)-
Kaplan or francis Also low discharge (pelton), medium(francis)
• High head (71-500 m)- discharge and high discharge turbines
(Kaplan)
Francis or Pelton
• Very high > 500 m – Deriaz
(upto 300 m)
• Nature of working of blades – Impulse or reaction.
• Impulse- All the available head of water is converted
to KE in the nozzle, water shoots out of the nozzle in a
free jet into a bucket which revolves around a shaft.
• Open to atmosphere as the water is in contact with air
• In reaction turbines the entire flow of headwater to
tailwater takes place in a closed conduit system.
• Only part of P.E is converted to K.E and the remaining
is converted to pressure energy.

Prof K Karunamurthy
• Direction of flow of water: Radial, axial and
tangential with respect to the wheel. Shaft
axis denotes the axial direction.
Turbine Type Flow direction
Francis turbine Radial inward or mixed
Pelton turbine Tangential
Propeller and Kaplan Axial
Deriaz turbine Diagonal
• According to axis of the turbine shafts (vertical
or horizontal)
• According to specific speed: Specific speed of
the turbine Ns is the speed of a geometrically
similar turbine which produces 1kW power
under 1 m head.
Runner Slow Medium Fast
Specific Speed
Pelton 5-15 16-30 31-70
Francis 60-150 151-250 251-400
Kaplan 300-450 451-700 701-1100
 Types of Hydraulic turbine
- Pelton wheel
Bucket / Vane
• Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine
used for high head installation.
• The runner consists of large
circular disc on the periphery of
which a number of two lobe
ellipsoidal buckets are mounted.
• Each bucket has a ridge or splitter
in the middle which divides the jet
into two equal streams.
• Nozzle directs the flow on the
wheel, it also governs the quantity
of flow with the help of a spear
valve controlled by governor
action.
• In simple arrangement there is a
single nozzle feeding water to the
turbine, for larger turbines there
six jets atleast.
 Francis Turbine
• The cross section of the spiral diminishes
uniformly along the circumference to keep
water velocity constant along its path.
• The water then enters the guide vanes or
wicket gates which are pivoted and can be
turned suitably to regulate the flow and
output.
Francis Turbines
 The inlet is spiral shaped.
 Very versatile
 Reaction turbine, drop in static
pressure and drop in velocity head.
 Radial entry and axial exit.
 Water from the penstock enters a
spiral or scroll casing which
surrounds the runner.
 Guide vanes direct the water
tangentially to the runner.
 This radial flow acts on the runner
vanes, causing the runner to spin.
 The guide vanes (or wicket gate) may
be adjustable to allow efficient turbine
operation for a range of water flow
conditions.
Francis Turbines (continued…)
 Best suited for
sites with high
flows and low to
medium head.
 Efficiency of
90%.
 expensive to
design,
manufacture and
install, but
operate for
decades.
 Kaplan Turbine
• Type of Propeller turbine.
• Individual runner blades are
pivoted to the hub, the inclinations
can be adjusted during operation
responding to changes in load.
• The blades are adjusted
automatically rotating about pivots
with a governor-servo mechanism.
• The efficiency depends upon inlet
blade angle.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=k0BLOKEZ3KU
 Deriaz Turbine
• Also known as diagonal turbine.
• The flow over the runner is at an angle of
45o to the axis.
• It has adjustable blades like Kaplan
turbines. Flow is diagonal or mixed as in
francis turbine.
• Described as a cross between Kaplan and
francis turbines.
• Used from heads up to 200 m. Number of
blades varies from 10-12.
• It is used in reversible flow conditions when
the turbine also has to work as a pump in a
pumped storage plant
 Bulb Turbine
• Small fixed axial flow propeller
turbines operating under low
heads
• The turbo generator is housed in
an enclosed bulb shaped casing
which is installed right in the
middle of the flow passage.
• The bulb and the propeller form
an integral unit followed by a
straight conical flaring draft tube.
• Used for tidal power plants
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
(viii) DRAFT TUBE:

• The pressure of water leaving the hydraulic turbine

(reaction turbine) will be less than atmospheric pressure,
this pressure should be just above the atmospheric
pressure in order to have the flow. To achieve this draft
tubes are used, they convert the part K.E of water into
pressure energy by diffuser action.
• Draft tubes have increasing area of cross section which
increases the pressure of the fluid at the expense of K.E.
• It also allows the turbine to be placed above the tail race
to facilitate inspection and maintenance of turbine.
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
DRAFT TUBES - TYPES

Nozzle:
Pressure is converted into K.E
V2 >> V1
P2 << P1
For incompressible fluid
Increasing area of cross section

Diffuser:
K.E is converted into pressure
P2>>P1
V2<<V1
For incompressible fluid
Deccreasing area of cross section
DRAFT TUBES - TYPES
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
DRAFT TUBES - TYPES

Draft tube-
Area of cross section changing
from circle to rectangle
Elements of Hydro Electric Power Plant
(ix) POWER HOUSE
• Substructure:
This part of the power house extends from bottom of the
turbine and complete draft tube.

• Intermediate structure:
This part of the power house comprises top of draft tube
and top of generator foundation.

• Super structure:
This is above the generator, This houses the generator,
turbine, governors, inlet valves, flow measuring equipment,
pumps.
 Classification of Hydel Plants
(i) According to head
High head (>100 m)
medium head (30 to 100 m)
low head (< 30m)
(ii)According to quantity of water available
Storage type plant
Run off river plant without pondage
Run off river plant with pondage
Pumped storage plant
mini and micro hydel plant
 Comparison of Hydro turbines
Pelton Wheel Francis Turbine Kaplan Turbine
Head High head Medium Head Low Head
Energy Transfer Impulse Reaction Reaction
Not purely reaction type
(Impulse + Reaction)
Fluid Flow Type Tangential flow Mixed flow type Axial flow type
Inlet: Tangential Inlet: Radial (dominates) Inlet: Axial (dominates)
Outlet: Tangential + Axial + Tangential
Outlet: Axial Outlet: Axial

Specific Speed Low Medium High

8.5-50 51 - 225 255-860
Draft Tube No Yes Yes
Types of Hydel plants

 High head 1. Pumped storage plant

 Medium head 2. Run off river plant
 Low head 3. Run off river plant with
pondage
4. Micro hydel plants
 Pumped Storage Power Plant
 During off peak time period, water
is pumped from lower reservoir to
higher reservoir.
 Water is released back to lower
reservoir to generate electricity.
 Operation : Two pools of Water
 Upper pool – impoundment
 Lower pool – natural lake, river or
storage reservoir
 Advantages :
– Production of peak power
– Can be built anywhere with
reliable supply of water
 Pumped Storage Plant - Layout

DAM

Upper Reservoir

Turbine Pump

Alternator

Lower Reservoir
 Pumped Storage
Power Plant

Eg:
(i) Bath County Pumped Storage
Station, USA
(ii) Guangdong Pumped Storage Pow
er
Station, China
(iii) Hohenwarte II, Germany
(iv) The Okutataragi Pumped Storage
Power Station, Japan
(v) Tehri Pumped Storage Plant, India
(vi) Nagarjuna Sagar Pumped Storage
Power Plant, India
The Raccoon Mountain project
(vii) Kadamparai power station, India Hohenwarte II Pumped Storage
Hydro-electric Power Plant,
Germany
Run off river plant without pondage

Down stream
Up stream

Mini hydel plants : 100 to 500 kW and Micro: 5 - 100 kW

Run off river plant without pondage

 It is a type of hydroelectric
generation plant whereby no
water storage is provided.
 This is suitable for perennial
rivers. If the flow of water
unvailable the power generation
is not possible.
 A small dam is usually built to
create a pressure head ensuring
that there is enough water
entering the penstock pipes that
lead to the turbines which are at
a lower elevation.
• The flow of water from the small dam is regulated and the flow of water
in the river is not affected.
 Run off river plant without pondage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=0TjgnufXrXM
Run off river plant with pondage

am
Pondage

stre
n
Dow
Sluice Gate
Up
str
e

Sluice Gate Forebay

am

Power
house

Canal

Small Dam River

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Benefits…
 Environmental Benefits of Hydro
• No operational greenhouse gas
emissions
• Savings (per MWh of electricity):
– Coal 1000 kg
– Oil 800 kg
– Gas 400 kg
• No SOx or NOx
Benefits…

Non-environmental
benefits (Other Benefits)
• flood control,
• irrigation,
• fisheries and
• tourism.
Disadvantages
 The loss of land under the reservoir.
 Problems associated with the reservoir.
– Climatic and seismic effects.

– Impact on aquatic ecosystems, flora and fauna.

Loss of land
 A large area is taken up in the form of a reservoir in case of large
dams.
 This leads to inundation of fertile alluvial rich soil in the flood plains,
forests and even mineral deposits and the potential drowning of
archeological sites.
 resettlement represents a mammoth political and management
challenge. Related costs can increase project costs by as much as 10%
if planned poorly.

Eg: Narmada Bachao Andolan is amovement spearheaded by native tribals, farmers, environmentalists and human
rights activists against a number of large dam projects across river Narmada,
Interference with Sediment transport

 Rivers carry a lot of sediments.

 Creation of a dam results in the deposition of sediments on
the bottom of the reservoir.
 Land erosion on the edges of the reservoir due to
deforestation also leads to deposition of sediments.
Effects
 Capture of sediment decreases the fertility downstream
as a long term effect.
 It also leads to deprivation of sand in the banks of the
downstream.
 If the water is diverted out of the basin, there might be
salt water intrusion into the inland from the ocean, as the
previous balance between this salt water and upstream
fresh water in altered.
 It may lead to changes in the ecology of the estuary area
and lead to decrease in agricultural productivity.
Climatic and Seismic effects
 It is believed that large reservoirs induce have the
potential to induce earthquakes.

 In temperate regions, fog forms over the lake and along

the shores when the temperature falls less than dew point
temperature and thus increases humidity in the nearby
area.
Other problems
 Many fishes require flowing water for reproduction and
cannot adapt to stagnant resulting in the reduction in its
population.
 Heating of the reservoirs may lead to decrease in the
dissolved oxygen levels.
 The point of confluence of fresh water with salt water is a
breeding ground for several aquatic life forms. The reduction
in run-off to the sea results in reduction in their life forms.
Methods to alleviate the negative impact
 Creation of ecological reserves.
 Limiting dam construction to allow substantial free
flowing water.
 Building sluice gates and passes that help prevent fishes
getting trapped.
 Advantages of Hydel Plants
(i) No fuel cost
(ii) Maintenance and operation costs are very low
(iii) Renewable source of energy
(iv) Non polluting, No ash disposal problem.
(v) Efficiency of the plant does not change with age.
(vi) Takes less time to start the plant and synchronise with the
grid.
(vii)After power generation water is used for irrigation
purpose.
(viii)Dam acts as a flood control device.
(ix) Long life ( 1 to 2 centuries)
Prof K Karunamurthy
 Disadvantages of Hydel Plants
(i) Initially cost (construction) is very high.
(ii) Takes more time for erection.
(iii) Long transmission lines and cost of
transmission & transmission losses are also
more.
(iv) Depends on nature’s mercy like rainfall.

Prof K Karunamurthy
 Top 10 Biggest
Hydro-electric Power Plants in India
Name River
1 Tehri Dam Bagirathi River, Uttrakhand 2400 MW
2 Koyna Dam Koyna River, Maharashtra 1960 MW
3 Sri Sailam Dam Krishna River, AP 1670 MW
4 Nathpa Jhakri Dam Sutlej River, Himachal Pradesh 1500 MW
5 Sardar Sarovar Dam Narmada, Gujarat 1450 MW
6 Bhakra Nangal Dam Sutlej River, Himachal Pradesh 1325 MW
7 Indira Sagar Dam Narmada, MP 1000 MW
8 Nagarjuna Sagar Dam Krishna River, AP 816 MW
9 Idukki Dam Kerala 780 MW
10 Hirakud Dam Mahanadi, Odisha 307.5 MW

Prof K Karunamurthy
 Dr K Karunamurthy
Associate Professor
School of Mechanical Engineering