1. Hydro Energy

2. Hydrologic Cycle

3. Hydropower in Context

4. Sources of Electric Power – US

5. Renewable Energy Sources
Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company,

6. World hydro production
IEA.org

7. Major Hydropower Producers

8. World’s Largest Dams Three Gorges Itaipú Guri Grand Coulee
Name
Country
Year
Max
Generation
Annual
Production
Three Gorges
China
2009
18,200 MW
Itaipú
Brazil/Paraguay
1983
12,600 MW
93.4 TW-hrs
Guri
Venezuela
1986
10,200 MW
46 TW-hrs
Grand Coulee
United States
1942/80
6,809 MW
22.6 TW-hrs
Sayano Shushenskaya
Russia
6,400 MW
Robert-Bourassa
Canada
1981
5,616 MW
Churchill Falls
1971
5,429 MW
35 TW-hrs
Iron Gates
Romania/Serbia
1970
2,280 MW
11.3 TW-hrs
Ranked by maximum power.
“Hydroelectricity,” Wikipedia.org

9. Three Gorges Dam (China)

10. Three Gorges Dam Location Map

11. Itaipú Dam (Brazil & Paraguay)
“Itaipu,” Wikipedia.org

12. Itaipú Dam Site Map

13. Guri Dam (Venezuela)

14. Guri Dam Site Map

15. Grand Coulee Dam (US)
docs/coulee.html

16. Grand Coulee Dam Site Map

17. Grand Coulee Dam Statistics
Generators at Grand Coulee Dam
Location
Description
Number
Capacity (MW)
Total (MW)
Pumping Plant
Pump/Generator 6 50
300
Left Powerhouse
Station Service Generator 3 10 30
Main Generator 9
125
1125
Right Powerhouse
Third Powerhouse
600
1800
700
2100
Totals 33
6480

18. Uses of Dams – US
Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company,

19. Hydropower Production by US State
Boyle, Renewable Energy, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2003

20. Percent Hydropower by US State
Boyle, Renewable Energy, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2003

21. Hydropower Design

22. Terminology (Jargon) Head Dams: three categories
Water must fall from a higher elevation to a lower one to release its stored energy.
The difference between these elevations (the water levels in the forebay and the tailbay) is called head
Dams: three categories
high-head (800 or more feet)
medium-head (100 to 800 feet)
low-head (less than 100 feet)
Power is proportional to the product of head x flow

23. Scale of Hydropower Projects
Large-hydro
More than 100 MW feeding into a large electricity grid
Medium-hydro
MW usually feeding a grid
Small-hydro
MW - usually feeding into a grid
Mini-hydro
Above 100 kW, but below 1 MW
Either stand alone schemes or more often feeding into the grid
Micro-hydro
From 5kW up to 100 kW
Usually provided power for a small community or rural industry in remote areas away from the grid.
Pico-hydro
From a few hundred watts up to 5kW
Remote areas away from the grid.

24. Types of Hydroelectric Installation
Boyle, Renewable Energy, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2003

25. Meeting Peak Demands Hydroelectric plants:
Start easily and quickly and change power output rapidly
Complement large thermal plants (coal and nuclear), which are most efficient in serving base power loads.
Save millions of barrels of oil

26. Types of Systems Impoundment Diversion or run-of-river systems
Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee
Diversion or run-of-river systems
Niagara Falls
Most significantly smaller
Pumped Storage
Two way flow
Pumped up to a storage reservoir and returned to a lower elevation for power generation
A mechanism for energy storage, not net energy production

27. Conventional Impoundment Dam

28. Example Hoover Dam (US)

29. Diversion (Run-of-River) Hydropower

30. Example Diversion Hydropower (Tazimina, Alaska)

31. Micro Run-of-River Hydropower

32. Micro Hydro Example Used in remote locations in northern Canada

33. Pumped Storage Schematic

34. Pumped Storage System
Boyle, Renewable Energy, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2003