Hydroelectric Power - Research Paper Example

Hydroelectric power - Research Paper enter the Number or College 4th November, Since the invention of electricity, humans have developed many different resources for power production which include water, fossil fuels, nuclear, solar and wind etc. In this research paper hydro electric power has been discussed to understand its operation, advantages and disadvantages as well as its future. There are many positives of this technology as it has been man’s oldest friend for fulfilling its power demand and still continuing with its share in our lives. There are certain disadvantages also but the debate about having more hydropower plants than not having them in future has always been in positive favor. 1. Concept under investigation Hydroelectric Power is inexpensive as compared to other power generation sources. 1.1 Theory of Operation: Power or electricity produced by the water fall and flow is called Hydroelectric Power or shortly Hydropower. The idea is to build a dam on a large river that can provide reasonable height for water to flow downstream at a high force. The dam stores a large quantity of water and close to the bottom of the dam there is opening for water to flow. At the other side of the opening there is a turbine whose blades are rotated by flowing water (Perlman, 2012). The turbine is meant to convert the energy of flowing water into mechanical energy. The main shaft of the turbine goes into a generator or alternator which produces electricity. Power lines are connected to the generator for providing it to the end users. 1.2 Strength and Weakness of design or application: a. Strengths: Hydropower is considered to be efficient as well as the most inexpensive according to per unit cost of generation as compared to plants powered by Coal and Oil etc. The power generation system is clean with no harmful effects on environment like carbon dioxide emissions and waste to be disposed. (Atkins, 2011) The fuel is water which is supplied free by nature and is almost available all the time by rainfall or melting glaciers and both in some cases. The life of hydro project is much more than fossil fuel power plants, typically it is 40 – 50 years as compared to a coal fired power plant which is 25 years approx. The dams made for hydropower are big reservoirs which can also be used for irrigation, flood control, water supply and recreational activities. (Fennel, 2012) Hydropower is one of the most reliable sources of energy even within its competing renewable technologies such as solar and wind etc. b. Weaknesses: Dams are extremely expensive to build and must be built to a very high standard. This makes them highly capital intensive. The return on investment or payback of other power generation techniques is much quicker than hydropower generation. It may take 7 to 10 years to make a big sized hydropower plant while other projects may take just 2 to 3 years and start production. These projects are build generally at some reasonable height to have a good water flow but that can endanger the lives of people living nearby, in case there is some construction fault in the dam. Displacement of local population is a big problem and in some cases people are forced to move out. Fish habitat loss or modification is another problem to be considered. 1.3 Future applications or design Predicting the river flow in the upcoming decades is a difficult task considering the climate changes both due to natural fluctuations and human influence but there is definitely a lot of hydropower potential to be had. Small scale and low head hydro power generation capacity will probably increase in the future as research on low head turbines and standardized turbine production lowers the costs of hydro-electric power at sites with low heads. (Klunne, 2012) New computerized control systems and improved turbines may allow more electricity to be generated from existing facilities in the future. The research and development of micro hydro turbines is also expected to contribute towards more and more towards generating hydropower from low head and low flow water streams. This can be very beneficial for rural areas or areas which are not connected with national grid. Pumped storage is also a way of reusing the same water that has produced electricity and has passed the turbine blades into the river. As the electricity demand is not constant at all times, demand goes up during the day and comes down during the night when homes, offices and factories need lesser power. So, power can be made during the day and at night water can be pumped back to the pool or dam above. These projects may also become popular in future as they will need smaller reservoirs which mean low capital cost. 2. Conclusion There are many methods invented over time for generating power but all of them are dependent on more than one factor. Most important of them is the availability and supply of fuel. Fuels are either free or natural like water, sun and wind or those which have an associated cost like coal, oil and natural gas. Other factors include the area, population, animal habitat, capital cost, setup time and return on investment. Hydroelectric power has always been an important and oldest player in providing the worlds electricity supply. It is efficient, reliable and cost effective and is expected to continue to do so in the future (Ahmed, 2009). The two best things to note are that it is still the best in terms of per unit cost of electricity production as well as the longevity is remarkable. With entry of smaller hydro turbines for small scale power plants, it is likely to grow. Hydropower has environmental impacts, which are very different from those of fossil fuel power plants. The actual effects of dams and reservoirs on various ecosystems are only now becoming understood. The future of hydro-electric power will depend upon future demand for electricity, as well as how societies value the environmental impacts of hydro-electric power compared to the impacts of other sources of electricity. 3. Reference page Perlman, H., (2012). Hydroelectric power: How it works, USGS. Available at http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/hyhowworks.html (Accessed 4th November, 2012). Atkins, W. (2011). Water encylcopedia science and issues. Retrieved from http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ge-Hy/Hydroelectric-Power.html Klunne, W., (2012). Hydropower Basics, Retrieved from http://www.microhydropower.net/basics/intro.php (Accessed 4th November, 2012) Fennell, M., (2012). Hydropower Explained Simply : Energy Technologies Explained Simply. U.S. : Createspace Independent Pub. Ahmed, A., (2009). Hydropower. India: Pearson Education. Read More