Energy Sources Project

Fish-Friendly Turbine Making a Splash in Water Power

A revolutionary new turbine technology for hydropower
plants is one step closer to its first commercial deployment.
The Alden Fish-Friendly Turbine could change the game for
hydropower generation in the United States, and it is likely
to have significant export potential.
Scientists and engineers at the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI), Alden Laboratories, and their partners have
designed a new turbine that reduces fish passage injury
and mortality, while effectively maintaining power
production. EPRI recently released the full technical report of
prototype testing. Building on over a decade of support from
the Energy Department, EPRI and its project partners were recently selected to deploy and test the
Alden fish-friendly hydropower turbine over the next three years. EPRI plans to deploy the 10
megawatt Alden Turbine at the Brookfield Renewable Power School Street Project in Cohoes, New
York, bringing projects generation capacity to 48 megawatts.
Hydropower already provides nearly 7 percent of the nations electricity, and it holds tremendous
potential for expansion. Yet that promise comes with the unique challenge of developing water as a
renewable energy resource in a way that minimizes disruption to sensitive ecosystems and mitigates
impacts to fish and other aquatic wildlife. Some hydropower projects have created issues for
migratory fish, such as blocked passages and turbine-induced mortality. Spilling water or
installing bypass technologies can allow fish to pass through unharmed, but they also
compromise a significant amount of power productionto the tune of 8,500 MWh per year and at
a cost upwards of $700,000 per project.
To better address this trade-off, the Energy Department and Alden first started working together
to design a fish-friendly turbine in 1995. Results from the initial biological analysis at Aldens
Holden, Massachusetts research facility were unprecedented, with anticipated survival rates
nearing 100 percent for nearly 40,000 species of fish.
In 2009, the Energy Department supported EPRI to continue development of the Alden design for
eventual deployment at commercial scale. Energy Department funding enabled a critical round
of testing and developmental engineering at the Voith Hydro Hydraulic Test Stand Facility in York,
Pennsylvania. Those trials yielded results that exceeded expectations: at peak performance, an
Alden turbine should convert about 94 percent of the waters energy into usable electricity,
comparable or superior to the efficiency of traditional turbines; the overall wildlife survival rate
should be over 98 percent, up from 80-85 percent for a traditional turbine.
The fish-friendly turbine achieves this balancing act thanks to a fundamental design innovation
that could enable the ecologically-responsible development of thousands of megawatts of
hydropower resources. Most conventional hydropower turbines have between five and 18 fast-
spinning blades, separated by gaps. The blades can strike and injure fish, and the gaps can trap
them. The Alden turbine, by contrast, has three blades, no gaps, is bigger and rotates more
slowly. These measures significantly reduce the danger of trauma or death to fish passing
through, yet the turbines larger size and other design considerations are optimized to preserve
high efficiency and energy production.
The successful demonstration and testing of this innovative fish-friendly technology over the
course of the next three years will be a crucial step toward moving the turbine closer to
commercial deployment, with the potential for application at hundreds of existing water power
 Energy Sources Project
projects across the country. For more information on the Energy Departments efforts to advance
hydropower technology and reduce environmental effects, see Water.energy.gov.
https://energy.gov/articles/fish-friendly-turbine-making-splash-water-power

Primary energy sources take many forms, including nuclear energy, fossil energy -- like oil, coal and natural gas --
and renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower. These primary sources are converted
to electricity, a secondary energy source, which flows through power lines and other transmission infrastructure to your
home and business.

Learn more about Americas energy sources: fossil, nuclear, renewables and electricity.

https://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources

Your task is to research your Energy Source and turn in a Research Paper as well as a visual
presentation about your Energy Source that shows the highlights of your paper. All papers will
be done INDIVIDUALLY! Within the paper, dont just answer the questions give some insight to
what you think about the Energy Source as well as anything else that might pertain to the
question/answer. Visual presentations will be done with the other students who have your
Energy Source.

Oil Nuclear Fusion

Natural Gas
Coal
Nuclear

Energy
Wind
Hydroelectric
Solar
Geothermal
 Energy Sources Project
Energy
Source
Team Cell Phone # E-Mail
Member

 Energy Sources Project
Research Paper
You will be writing a research paper on your Energy Source. We will go step-by-step
through the procedure to write a successful paper. It will be in the APA style formatting.
Please look up APA style formatting so you are aware of what is required.

Grading:

Research Paper (100 pts as a Test Grade)

1. Paper format (Look at the attached document for APA Guidelines)

a. Must be 5 FULL pages long at minimum (5 pts)
b. APA Format (5 pts)
i. 12 pt font, typed, 1 margins, Times New Roman, double spaced
c. APA Layout (5 pts each)
i. Title Page, Abstract, Body, References
2. Questions
a. Is your Energy Source Renewable or Non-Renewable or something else? Why?
b. What different types of Energy within your Source are there? Explain the different
types. (5 pts)
c. Where can they be found? (5 pts)
i. You must have a map that shows the locations of your Energy Source. (5 pts)
d. How is your energy source used? (Ex: Coal is burned, Solar is captured) (5 pts)
e. How is your energy source captured? (10 pts)
i. Explain the different layers or numerous different sources that would be
within your energy source (Ex: Tidal Capture and dams)
f. How is your energy source stored? (5 pts)
g. Give a history about your Energy Source that includes how it started, how
technology helped change it over time and what it looks like now. (15 pts)
i. This should be a very LARGE section of your report.
h. Is it good for the environment? (5 pts)
i. Why or Why not?
3. Extra Fact
a. One paragraph (included within the 5 pages) about something that would not be
included within the questions. (10 pts)

Mini Due Dates

This will be a step-by-step process on how to write a good research paper. These due
dates are used for you to time how long you should spend on each section as well as
enable you to get feedback from the teacher for each section. This allows you to fix
anything before the final due date for the full paper. For each due date you will gain
participation points for turning in a completed assignment. All assignments must be
within the formatting of the Research Paper.

 Visual Representation
You will be creating a unique visual representation of the information that you
gathered within your Research Paper. Please think of out-of-the-box ways to
present your information to the class.

Grading:

Visual Representation (50 pts as a Lab Grade)

a. Use your imagination, dont just have a mundane simple poster with all
the information on it. Attached are some different ways to show a visual
presentation with some fun!
i. Simple answer to every question (5 pts each)
ii. Use of at least 3 pictures (5 pts)
iii. Use of creativity [Not just the normal presentation] (5 pts)
iv. Group Evaluation (5pts)

Visual Representation Proposal

1. Drawing of FULL project with all sections labeled (10 pts)

2. Written list of needs to complete project with who is responsible for
them (5 pts)
3. Simple procedure of how you will complete the project with who is
responsible for what parts. (10 pts)

Due Dates
5/8 5/9 5/10 5/11 5/12
Ch 14 Start ALL
Exam Project Questio
FIELD
ns
DAY
Answere
d Due
5/15 5/16 5/17 5/18 5/19
Abstract Body Referenc
Due Due es Due

5/22 5/23 5/24 5/25 5/26

Per Resear Visual Visual
Review ch Presenta Presenta
Paper Paper tion tion
Day Due by Start Proposal
End of Due
Class
5/29 5/30 5/31 6/1 6/2
 Visual
Presen
tations
Due