Small Hydro How does it work ?
Hydropower systems use the energy in flowing water to produce
electricity or mechanical energy. The water flows via channel
or penstock to a waterwheel or turbine where it strikes the
bucket of the wheel, causing the shaft of the waterwheel or
turbine to rotate. When generating electricity, the rotating
shaft, which is connected to an alternator or generator, converts
the motion of the shaft into electrical energy. This electrical
energy may be used directly, stored in batteries, or inverted
to produce utility-quality electricity.
A small-scale hydroelectric facility requires that a sizable
flow of water and a proper height of fall of water, called head,
is obtained without building elaborate and expensive facilities.
Small hydroelectric plants can be developed at existing dams
have been constructed in connection with river and lake water-level
control, and irrigation schemes. By using existing structures,
only minor new civil engineering works are required, which reduces
the cost of this component of a development.
In other, more rugged regions of the country, it is possible
to develop relatively higher heads without elaborate or expensive
civil engineering works so that relatively smaller flows are
required to develop the desired power. In these cases, it may
be possible to construct a relatively simple diversion structure
and obtain the highest drop by diverting flows at the top of
a waterfall or steeply falling watercourse.
Benefits
of Small Hydro, <<Back
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