Hydroelectric Power Andrei C. Calonzo, John Louie M.

Gonzales Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering Bulacan State University Email: andreicalonzo@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION People have worked with nature to attain a better lifestyle by using water to generate power. Hydroelectric power is electricity generated and produced by the flow of fresh water from rivers, lakes and streams. It is one form of "green energy", a renewable source and a nature friendly power generator that do not use up resources to create electricity. It does not pollute the air, land, water, as other power plants may. These favorable characteristics continue to make hydroelectric projects attractive source of electric power. But what happens inside a hydroelectric power plant? Can we also consider it as a bane or just a pure boon in once life? OPERATION Hydroelectric power comes from water at work or in motion. Generating hydroelectricity starts with the annual hydrologic or water cycle. Hydroelectric power can also be seen as a form of solar energy because the sun plays a major role in the hydrologic cycle which gives the earth its water. In this cycle, atmospheric water reaches the earth's surface as precipitation or through rain. The water in the reactor also serves as a coolant for the radioactive material, preventing it from overheating and melting down. Water from rain eventually reaches ponds, lakes and other water reservoirs. These collected water flows to dams downstream. The water funnels through a dam, into a powerhouse and turns a large wheel called turbine. The turbine acts is called a mechanical energy. It turns a shaft that rotates a series of magnet past copper coils in a generator which then converts this mechanical energy into electric energy. This concept was discovered by Michael Faraday. Since water is the primary source of energy we call this hydroelectric power or hydropower. The water then returns to the river. From the powerhouse, transmission lines carry electricity to communities. Electricity that is ready to use for household, industrial and other purposes. ADVANTAGE Hydropower is clean. It does not emit any of the waste gasses that can contribute to air pollution, acid rain and global warming. It is also a renewable source. It follows the hydrologic cycle therefore it needs no fuel. As long as this cycle exists there will be water to run the turbines. Given the fact that it does not need fuel to operate it follows that this is chief compared to fossil fuel burned. Hydroelectric plants are immune to price increases for fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal, and do not require imported fuel. Hydroelectric plants are designed to work for long years. Some plants that are in service today are built 50 to 100 years ago. Labor cost also tends to be low since plants are generally heavily automated and have few personnel on situate during ordinary operations.

Once a dam was constructed electricity can be produced at constant rate. These dams are designed to last many decades and so can contribute to the generation of energy for many years. DISADVANTAGE The dam that is developed across the river disrupts the aquatic life into it and may lead to their large scale destruction. There are possibilities that the fishes and other aquatic creatures may enter the penstock and the turbines where they get crashed. Building a dam, power generation unit, transformer and its connection to the national grid acquires large areas. This may lead to disturbance of plant and animal inhabiting beside it. The larger the area acquired in order to completely build a dam the more the disturbance to the natural ecosystem surrounding it. This can also cause serious geological damages. It may depress the earths surface and can trigger a number of earth quakes. And the most inconvenient disadvantage of it is when a dam breaks it would be a big disaster and would kill many people. Since it holds a huge volume of water, when this catastrophic failure happened, it will surely lead to flash floods. CONCLUSION Recuperation truly helps us to meet our needs nowadays. One of the most urgent necessity is the demand for electric power and alternative way to produce electricity in a nature friendly way. Hydroelectric power plants generate huge number of energy, which contributed to residential needs. Water is one of our most valuable resources, and hydropower makes use of this renewable treasure. Hydropower plays a

significant part in ensuring reliable electricity service and in meeting customer needs in a market driven industry. Still let us always keep in our mind that all energy sources have both advantages and disadvantages. That behind those glittery words there is still a dark side of it. As time goes by, the demand of the world for energy will continue to increase for some reasons. And because of these, people will continue to research, study and innovate. As this reclamation happen, we should be ready and be responsible for the harm or consequences and savor every benefits and convenient that a hydroelectric power plant may convey to once life. REFERENCES
[1] [2]

http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf http://www.fwee.org/Tours.html [3] http://www.alternative-energy resources.net/hydropoweradvantages.html [4] http://www.brighthub.com/environment/renewableenergy/articles/7729.aspx [5] http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/hydr2.htm

WORK DISTRIBUTION TABLE I. TASK RANKING OF EACH GROUP MEMBER

Group a Member (ID Number)

Tasks
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Ran k
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Presen
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Evaluati on
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Andrei Louie

Copy Reader Editor Reasearcher Writer

1 2

Y Y

a. Put author signatures over names. See footnote 'e.' Please do not remove footnotes 'a.-e.' b. Rank according to effort. (1 = highest effort, 2 = next highestt effort, ; ties are allowed as long as tasks are justifieable). c. Present during the experiment and the whole meeting d. Leave the cells blank. e. By affixing our signatures, we, the authors, pledge that: we have completed the specified course work on our own; we have not used any unauthorized material/assistance/help on this course work; and we have not given directly or indirectly to any other student/unauthorized person/means any access to any part of the specified course work.