IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST

BENEFICENT, THE MOST MERCIFUL.

Department of Civil Engineering,
U.E.T Peshawar
Hydropower Development Lecture # 8

Dr. Ateeq-ur-Rauf Department of Civil Engineering U.E.T 1/20/2024 3

Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

Power House
Def: The essential equipment needed in hydro-
electric power generation are housed suitably in a
structural complex called Power House.

The major equipment in a power house:

 Turbines, Generators, Transformers, switch
boards; shaft, ventilation, cranes, etc

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 Types of Power houses

 Surface Power House

 Underground Power House.

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

Surface Power House

 A surface power house is one which is founded on
earth’s surface and its superstructure rests on the
foundation.
 The surface power house has been broadly
divided into two sections which is separated from
the intake :
• Super-structure

• Substructure

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

Surface Power House

Supper Structure

Sub Structure

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 Usually consist of superstructure and

substructure

 The superstructure provides protective housing

for the generator and control equipment as well
as structural support for the cranes.

 The superstructure may provide for an erection

bay that protects component assemblies during
inclement weather.

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 The substructure or foundations of the

powerhouse consists of the steel and concrete
components necessary to form the draft tube,
support the turbine stay ring and generator, and
encase the spiral case.

A control room is also included in the

powerhouse to isolate the control systems from
generator noise and to provide a clean and
comfortable environment for operations

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 Conventional Installations

 Conventional powerhouses differ depending on

how they are oriented or connected with the
dam.

 Some are structurally connected to the dam;

others are located some distance from the dam
and a penstock carries the water from the
intake to the powerhouse.

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

General Arrangements For Powerhouses For

Conventional Hydropower Installations.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
Different Ways of Connecting The
Powerhouse To The Impounding Dam or The Tunnel Penstock

 Plan layout and cross-

section of conventional
powerhouse.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

Transverse section

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 The shaft of the runner and generator is vertical and water flow is
normal to the line of turbine units.

 Some powerhouses are oriented differently to accommodate

excavation and site preparation problems.

 Each development may require special arrangements to accommodate

the geology and topography at the site in order to gain the best
economy of construction.

 Design of a powerhouse is primarily a structural and architectural

problem.

 The size of the building is governed by the requirements to

accommodate the generate the generator, casing and the outlet area of
the draft tube. Department of Civil Engineering U.E.T 17
Dr. Ateeq-ur-Rauf
 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Vertical shafts are normally provided in case of larger
capacity installations.

 For final design it is customary for the turbine and

generator manufacturers to furnish dimensions for the
interiors of the casing, the draft tube and generator
assembly.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Outdoor and Semi-outdoor installations
 In some hydropower installations, it is economical
to dispense with superstructure and protect the
generator with a weatherproof covering of metal.

 The substructure supports the turbine and

generator assembly.

 In real, the weather conditions dominate the fact

that whether an outdoor installation be used or not.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 As far as a semi outdoor installation is

concerned, all equipment is located at the

substructure level and providing exterior and

lifting cranes that move the components

through hatches or openings in the

substructure roof.

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 Horizontal Shaft Installations

 With low head hydropower installations utilising bulb

and tubular units, turbine shafts are mounted
horizontally.

 This allows a design for water passages that can be

accommodated in low profile power houses to protect
the turbines and generators.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Powerhouse arrangements for Tubular and Bulb
type hydropower installations

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

 Normally the powerhouse and civil works are

longer in the direction of flow and narrower than
the conventional vertical shaft mounted turbines
and require less excavation depth to
accommodate the turbine equipment and water
passages.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 In cases where space for powerhouses and spillways is
critical, the turbines and generators can be housed in the
overflow spillway portion of the dam

 Gantry cranes and electrical facilities are accommodated on

decks bridging across the overflow spillway.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Underground Installations
 To accommodate narrow canyon locations and to
reduce environmental impact, powerhouses can be
built underground using tunnel construction.

 This requires access tunnels to deliver equipment.

 The excavated volume should be kept minimum and

all functions of air conditioning and ventilation
should be adequately planned.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

Underground-type powerhouse arrangement.

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Power House and Facilities Lecture 8

 Advantages:
Shorter underground conduit
Cheaper penstock design
Favorable construction conditions
Preserve the landscape
 Disadvantages:
Higher construction cost
Higher operational cost
The lighting cost.
The running cost of air-conditioned plant.
The removal of water seeping
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Facilities And Supporting Equipment
 Water Bypass and Drainage
 Electrical Protection Equipment and Switchyard
 Cranes
 Auxiliary Systems
 Ventilation Systems
 Water Systems and Fire protection
 Oil systems
 Other planning considerations (access roads)
 Fish passage
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Water Bypass and Drainage
 Separate sluices or channels are provided to
operate independently other than the penstock or
intake .

 When water is not discharging through the

turbines bypass facilities are needed for
releasing water.

 Separate bypass facilities are a part of the

spillway and outflow facilities of a dam.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
Plan layout
for a
powerhouse
facility

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Arrangements must always be made for
dewatering or draining water from the civil works
to allow access to the turbine and the draft tube.

 Provisions are usually made to have gates or

stop logs upstream of the spiral case that can be
closed to allow water to drain from the intake
area, the spiral case, and the turbine area itself.

 These can usually drain by gravity down to the

level of the tailwater

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Electrical Protection Equipment and Switchyard
 It is the speciality of the electric engineers to incorporate the
electrical equipment into the powerhouse while designing it.

 All the necessary requirements needed for the electrical cable

passages, trenches, and duct. etc must be incorporated in
final design.

 Space for switching, the location of the transformers, and

auxiliary equipment are some of the important provisions.

 Standby electric batteries may also be required for any event

of power station failure and for electrical equipment such as
alarm systems, communications and lighting.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 If the transformers are installed outdoors, are
located upstream of the powerhouse, almost
hidden from public view.

 Sometimes the transformers are desirable to

locate on a deck above the draft tubes because
of location limitation of overhead transmission
lines from the power plant.

 Some time the transformer yard is desirable to

located some distance away from the
powerhouse.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 In all cases, adequate spacing must be
provided to minimize fire hazard with the
large volume of oil involved in the
transformers.

 Provision of protective isolation walls

between adjacent units is necessary and the
oil drainage facilities must also be provided.

 The cooling system may also be needed for

an inside or protective housing of the
transformer units.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Auxiliary transformers are
necessary for auxiliary power
supply.

 Space for these auxiliary

units is provided in design of
power house.

 Air-cooled transformers are

commonly used and these
are located out-of-doors. Dry type power transformer.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Switchgear are provided for making and breaking the
continuity of the current of electricity being generated.

 The switchgear is necessary to safeguard and protect

equipment and personnel, thus connecting and
withdrawal current for circuits to supply electrical
service to the plant itself, connect the generators to
the transmission system and automatic disconnection
of any faulty equipment.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Factors and information necessary for designing
switchgear are transmission voltage, number of
circuits, size and capacity of generators, load
reliability required, voltage, interconnection with
other plants, land available, and distance to
location of switchgear.

 Planning the electrical equipment associated

with powerhouses is primarily an electrical
engineering problem art.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Cranes
 Handling of the large components of hydro plants, including
the turbine runner, the shaft of the unit, and the rotor and
stator of the generator, requires large cranes to manoeuvre
the equipment during installation and to remove
components or entire assemblies for maintenance.

 If the cranes are housed in the superstructure, they are

usually bridge cranes spanning the generator bay.

 They operate on rails and have trolleys to move

transversely along the direction of the supporting beam.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Planning for powerhouses requires information
such as the center-to-center span of runway
rails, building clearance from the wall and
supporting roof components, hook travel and
elevation, high and low distance limits of
movement, operating cage location, and
maximum spatial size of equipment, plus
maximum weight

 Gantry cranes have legs that support the lifting

mechanism and a hoisting trolley that operates
on a bridge between the legs.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

 Usually, the legs are mounted on four two-

wheeled trucks that operate on rails.

 In some cases one leg is a stub or abbreviated

leg that operates along an elevated rail on a
portion of the dam.

 Gantry cranes are usually enclosed to some

extent to provide protection from the weather.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 The gantry crane is customarily used with
outdoor-type powerhouses.

 Sometimes it is necessary to have a separate

gantry crane to operate and lift the gates and
stop logs on large power plants.

 Jib cranes with a swing hook are available as

fixed or mobile units and for smaller
hydropower installations are used to economic
advantage.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

The Gantry Crane

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

Jib cranes 44
Dr. Ateeq-ur-Rauf Department of Civil Engineering U.E.T
 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Auxiliary Systems
 Dewatering and filling system
 Cooling-water system
 Service-water system
 Flow, pressure, and level measuring system
 Sanitary system
 Station drainage system
 Fire alarm and protection system
 Lubricating and insulating oil systems
 Compressed air system
 Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems (HVAC)
 Machine shop equipment
 Emergency power system

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Ventilation Systems
 Provisions for cooling the generator and for
maintaining satisfactory temperatures.

 Volume of air in cubic feet per minute, for

ventilating generators (Neville (1970)

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 In small powerhouses having sufficient space and
windows with louvered openings, it is possible to
take the air from the generator and discharge it into
the station.

 In medium-size powerhouses, necessary to supply

air from ducts with fans either taking air from outside
and discharging it into the powerhouse after passing
around the generator or taking air from the
powerhouse and discharging it to the outside.

 Care must be taken that the air is free of dust. Duct

air velocities should be kept below 1500 ft/min. 47
Dr. Ateeq-ur-Rauf Department of Civil Engineering U.E.T
 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 The ventilation system for a large vertical-shaft
type power plant will require re-circulating air that
is water-cooled using heat exchangers.

 The advantage is that the air can be kept free of

dust and contaminants reducing the need of
generator cleaning

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

 The hazard of fire can be lessened by the air

being kept under controlled conditions.

 Layout of equipment for cooling and piping for

the water line are accommodated in the
design.

 In colder climates, heating arrangement is

needed to prevent freezing

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Water Systems and Fire protection

 As a domestic water supply for operating

personnel,

 As cooling water, and

 As a fire-protection system

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
Oil systems
 Two types of oil are used in a hydropower installation.

 Lubricating oil is used in the load and speed control

system, the bearings, and sometimes in hydraulic
operation of valves and gates.

 The system is a high-pressure oil system and includes

the necessary storage reservoirs, pumps, and piping.

 Transformer oil is used in the transformers of the

electrical system.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 The high-pressure oil system for load and speed
control requires maintaining oil pressure up to
more than 70 atm (1000 psi) under nearly
constant-pressure conditions.

 The oil pressure is used to activate pistons that

supply force and movement to blade and gate
operations.

 Pumps used for this purpose are gear or rotary

screw pumps
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
Other planning considerations (access roads)
 Planning for hydropower plants must include transportation
access roads that will facilitate all construction activities
including dewatering of the construction area, movement of
excavated material, movement of materials of construction,
and movement of equipment into place.

 Provision must be made for the movement of personnel and

equipment during operation and maintenance of the plant.

 This might include mobile cranes and necessary large

vehicles to move large pieces of equipment for maintenance
plus equipment and components for operating the gates used
for water control.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Normally, these roads need to be hard surfaced
to assure durability in all kinds of weather
conditions.

 Caution should always be taken that the roads

are located above flood levels.

 The terrain and geology normally dictate the

location of access roads.

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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
Fish passage
 Most hydropower plants will involve some accommodating
facilities for handling fish.

 If the impoundment dam blocks the stream, fish ladders for

passing fish over or around the dam may be required.

 These are necessary on streams with migrating fish.

 A frequent problem is handling the passing of fish or

controlling the movement of fish through the turbines.

 Present environmental requirements demand some control

measures.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Four different concepts have been listed by the American Society
of Civil Engineers

(1) fish collection and removal,

(2) fish diversion.
(3) fish deterrence, and
(4) physical exclusion.

 The first control measure implies there must be some screening

system, usually a travelling screen, that collects and removes the
fish.

 The second measure employs a design to remove the fish from the
intake of the turbine without the fish being impinged on a screen.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 The fish are guided to a possible means of bypassing turbines through
water that does not flow through the turbines

 The maximum survival of fish in prototype hydropower units was

associated with relatively low runner speed, high efficiency of the turbine,
and relatively deep setting of the turbine below tailwater to minimize
negative pressure.

 This should be used as a guide in planning and design of new

developments.

 Recent tests indicate very low mortality in tubular-type turbines.

 Most hydropower developments with need for downstream fish passage

will be species specific and site specific and will require specialized skills
in fisheries science.
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 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities
 Frequently, it is necessary to provide for migrant fish passage
upstream over or around a dam.

 Four types of facilities are used:

(1) fishways,
(2) fish locks,
(3) fish lifts or elevators, and
(4) fish traps with trucks.

 In a fishway, fish swim up a series of pools each of which is slightly

higher in elevation than the preceding pool which are often referred to
as fish ladders.

 In a fish lock, the fish are crowded into a chamber, the chamber is
lifted to the upstream headwater elevation, and fish are allowed to
swim out. Department of Civil Engineering U.E.T 58
Dr. Ateeq-ur-Rauf
 Lecture 8
Power House and Facilities

 The fish lift is similar to the fish lock chamber,

except that the fish lift uses a mechanical hopper
to raise the fish above the dam.

 This is a specialized element of design for

powerhouses and requires special fisheries skills

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THE END