Do Now: How much water, in cubic meters, is inside of all of the humans on the planet Earth???

The Parts of a Hydroelectric Plant

Essential Questions How is moving water an energy source? How can flowing water do work? What is hydropower’s potential?

The Water Cycle The Water Cycle ensures that water flows from mountain peaks, down rivers and streams back into the ocean. That continuous flow of water carries with it a large amount of kinetic energy. …kinetic energy that can be transformed into electrical energy, with the aid of hydroelectric power plants, to power our homes and businesses!

Hydroelectric Power Plants Water enters hydroelectric plants from a river or reservoir; each plant has essentially 8 different elements: 1.Reservoir 2.Penstock 3.Turbine Blades & Shaft 4.Generator 5.Step-up Transformer 6.Transmission Lines 7.Tailrace 8.Dam & Spillway

Reservoir The reservoir for a hydroelectric plant is a man-made lake/pond where water stored so that it backs up behind a dam; the height of such a mass of water is a way of storing gravitational potential energy.

Penstock Penstock is the pipe that channels water from the reservoir to the blades of the turbine. As the water moves through the penstock, its potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy.

Turbine Blades & Shaft The turbine blades transform the kinetic energy of the water into mechanical energy which the shaft transmits on to the generator.

Generator The generator transforms the mechanical energy transmitted from the turbine blades into electricity, into electrical energy.

Step-up Transformer The step-up transformer increases the voltage of the electrical current generated so that it can be transmitted long distances more efficiently.

Dam & Spillway A Dam is a barrier that blocks the regular flow of a river or stream, causing the water to back up behind it. Spillways are holes in the dam that can be opened to allow water to flow past the dam to prevent water from overflowing the dam.

What’s Coming Up? Hydropower & Water Turbines Impacts on Environment/Society

Types of Hydroelectric Plants There are 3 main types of hydroelectric plants: 1.Traditional2.Pumped Storage3.Run-of-River