SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

MODULE 7
HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT
INTRODUCTION
Hydropower, or hydroelectric power, is one of the oldest and largest
sources of renewable energy, which uses the natural flow of moving water
to generate electricity. Hydropower currently accounts for 31.5% of
total U.S. renewable electricity generation and about 6.3% of total U.S.
electricity generation.
Hydropower is an affordable source of electricity that costs less than
most. Since hydropower relies only on the energy from moving water,
states that get the majority of their electricity from hydropower.
Compared to other electricity sources, hydropower also has relatively
low costs throughout the duration of a full project lifetime in terms of
maintenance, operations, and fuel. Like any major energy source,
significant upfront costs are unavoidable, but hydropower’s longer
lifespan spreads these costs out over time. Additionally, the equipment
used at hydropower facilities often operates for longer periods of time
without needing replacements or repairs, saving money in the long term.
.

OBJECTIVE
After completing this module, you should be able to properly design a
Hydroelectric Power Plant.

DISCUSSION

Hydroelectric power, also called hydropower, electricity produced from

generators driven by turbines that convert the potential energy of
falling or fast-flowing water into mechanical energy.

Types of Hydraulic Turbines

1. Impulse turbine. Also known as tangential wheel or Pelton Wheel, it
utilizes kinetic energy of high velocity jet which acts upon a small part of
the circumference at an instant.
2. Reaction Turbine. Develops power from combined action of pressure and
velocity of water that completely fills the runner and water passages
a) Francis type
b) Propeller-type (axial flow)
i. Fixed blade
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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

ii. Adjustable blade (Kaplan belongs to this type)

Classifications of Hydroelectric power plants according to the:

1. Available head for power generation
a) Low head 6 m to 30 m
b) Medium head 30 m to 150 m
c) High head 150 m and above
2. Nature of load or function
a) Base-load plant
b) Peak-load plant
3. Quantity of water available for power generation
a) Run-of-river plant without pondage
b) Run-of-river plant with pondage
c) Storage reservoir hydro plant
d) Pumped storage hydro plant

Useful Formulas in Hydroelectric Power Plant design and performance

1. General flow or continuity equation, Q

Q = Area x Velocity, m3 /s
2. Water Power, WP
WP = Qγh

where,
γ - specific weight or weight density of water
γ=9.81 kN/m³ = 1000 kg/m³

3. Peripheral coefficient or relative speed,θ, for Pelton Wheel

peripheral velocity πDn

θ = jet velocity
=
2gh
where,
D - diameter of runner, m
n - speed of runner, rev/sec
g - acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m/s²
h - net or effective head, m
4. Overall Power Station Efficiency, ηo

kW output
ηo = WP

5. Pump efficiency,ep

WP
ep = BP
where, BP - brake power

6. Turbine efficiency, et

BP
et = WP
where, BP - brake power

7. Generator efficiency,eg

kW output
et =
BP
where, BP - brake power

8. Specific Speed of hydraulic turbine, Ns

 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

N P
Ns = 5
H4

where, N - turbine runner rotative speed

P - horsepower output per runner
H - available head acting on turbine
Note: When specific speed is low, turbine has a high head and small in
capacity
When specific speed is high, turbine has a low head and large capacity

Identification of hydraulic turbine type based on avlaible head and specific

speed
Hydraulic turbine type Available head Specific speed
Impulse 800 and up 5.5 to 80
Reaction
1. Francis 50 to 800 80 to 22
2. Propeller 15 to 100 170 to 85

SAMPLE PROBLEMS
1. The difference in elevation between the source of the water supply and the
centerline of the base of the nozzle of a Pelton wheel is 400 meters. During a
test run, the pressure at the base of the nozzle was 2.5 MPa when the flow was
17 m³/s. Penstock inside diameter is 70 cm. Determine the brake power of the
Pelton wheel if its efficiency is 80%.

Solution:

2. A hydroelectric impulse turbine is directly coupled to a 24-pole, 60 Hz

alternator. It has a specific speed of 54 rpm based on US customary units and
develops 2500 hp. What is the required diameter assuming a peripheral speed
ratio of 0.50.

Solution:
 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

3. A hydroelectric power plant is being supplied from a reservoir of 2500000

m² with available head of 200 m. Assuming a hydraulic efficiency of 75% and
electrical efficiency of 87%, determine the fall in the storage reservoir
level after a load of 20 MW was supplied for 2 hours. Storage reservoir area
is 2.5 km².

Solution:
 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

NAME:_________________________________________ DATE: ___________

Surname, Firstname, M.I
SUBJECT: _____________________________________ SECTION: _________

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 7
HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT

1. A hydro-electric power plant consumes 52,650 KW-hrs per annum.

Expected flow is 1665 m³/min and overall efficiency is 65%. What is the
net head? (ans 34 m)
2. In a a hydro-electric power the tail water level fixes at 480 m. The
net head is 27 m and head loss is 4% of the gross head. What is the
head water elevation? (508.12 m)
3. The available flow of water is 25 m³/ sec at 30 m elevation. If a
hydro-electric plant is to be installed with turbine efficiency of 85%
and generator efficiency of 90%, what maximum power that the plant
could generate? (ans 5628.5 kW)
4. For a proposed hydro-electric plant, the tail water and head
elevation is 160 m and 195 m, respectively. If available flow is 10
m³/sec and head loss of 5% of water available head. What is the water
power? (ans 3261.8 kW)
5. The flow of a river is 20 m³/sec and produces a total brake of 6,000
KW. If it is proposed to install two turbines each has 85% efficiency,
what is the available head? (ans 35 m)
6. Two turbines generates a total power of 5000 KW. If one unit is
thrice the capacity of the other,find the capacity of smaller unit. In
a hydro-electric plant the brake power is 1800 KW running at 450 rpm
and net head of 30 m. Determine the specific speed of the turbine.
(ans 1250 kW)
7. In a hydro-electric plant the brake power is 1800 KW running at 450
rpm and net head of 30 m. Determine the specific speed of the
turbine.(ans 71.29 rpm)
8. The specific speed of turbine is 75 rpm and running at 450 rpm. If
the head is 20 m and generator efficiency is the maximum power
delivered by the generator.(ans 650.5 kW)
9. For a generator running at 300 rpm and 60Hz, find the number of
generator poles.(ans 24 poles)
10. The penstock if hydro-electric plant is 0.5 x 0.5 m with velocity
of 5.5 m/sec has a head of 20 m. What is the output of the turbine if
the turbine efficiency is 87%? (ans 234.56 kW)
 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

MODULE 8
GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT

INTRODUCTION
Geothermal power plants are used in order to generate electricity by
the use of geothermal energy (the Earth's internal thermal energy).
They essentially work the same as a coal or nuclear power plant, the
main difference being the heat source. With geothermal, the Earth's heat
replaces the boiler of a coal plant or the reactor of a nuclear
plant.
Hot water or steam is extracted from the Earth through a series of
wells and feeds the power plant. In most geothermal plants
the water pulled up from the ground is returned back to the subsurface.
The rate of water used is often larger than the rate of water returned,
so make-up water supplies are generally needed.

OBJECTIVE
After completing this module, you should be able to design a Geothermal
Power Plant.

DISCUSSION

Geothermal Sources
1. Hydrothemal Fluids
Basically made up of hot water, steam and minerals. It is the only form
of energy currently being tapped for significant commercial heat and
electric energy supply

2. Geopressurized Brines
This represents a special subset of hydrothermal fluids typically found
at depths exceeding 3 km and is characterized as hot water existing at
pressures above the normal hydrostatic gradient and containing dissolved
methane.

3. Hot dry rock

This is a water-free, impermeable rock at high temperature and
practically drilling depth to extract energy. High pressure water may be
injected through one or more wells to create new or to enhance existing
natural fracture system with limited access to ground water flow.

4. Magma
This is characterized by molten or partially molten rock with
temperatures reaching as high a 1200 °C.
 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

Application of Geothermal Energy

1. Electric power generation
Geothermal energy available at temperatures above 150 °C is most
suitable for electricity production.

2. Space heating and cooling

The most famous space-heating project, serving about 100,000
households is the Reykjavik municipal heating project

3. Industrial applications
Includes preheating, washing, cooking, blanching, peeling,
evaporating, drying and refrigeration

4. Agricultural applications
Includes greenhousing, aquaculture, soil warming and biogas
generation

5. By-products
Certain compounds such as boron and calcium chloride can be
recovered from geothermal fluids as by-products

Types of Geothermal Power Plants

1. Dry or superheated steam. Geothermal source is vapor-dominated; steam
directly runs the turbine
2. Separated steam or single-flashed. Geothermal source is hotwater-
dominated; employs the use of steam separator; re-injects hotwater,
steam goes to turbine
3. Separated steam/hotwater-flashed or double-flashed. Flasher is
employed and located at the hotwater-end of the steam separator; purpose
is to further extract the steam which were not extracted in the
separator; such steam is then directed to the turbine’s low-pressure
side.
4. Single-flashed with pumped well. Employs down-hole pump in production
wells for better steam recovery
5. Binary Geothermal plant. Like the binary mercury-steam cycle, it uses
two working fluids, one is the steam from production, the other is
feedwater; the heat exchanger serves the function of the boiler

Useful Formulas for Geothermal Power Plant

1. Mass flowrate of steam entering the turbine, ms

h1 = h2 = hf2 + x2hfg2 (throttling process 1-2)

ms = x2mg
where,
X2 - quality after throttling
mg - mass flowrate of the groundwater

2. Turbine work, Wt
Wt = ms(h3 − h4)ηt (ηt - turbine isentropic efficiency)
 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

3. Generator power output, EP

EP = ηe Wt (ηe - generator efficiency)

4. Heat rejected in condenser, Qr

Qr = ms(h4 − h5)

5. Over-all plant efficiency, eo

Wt
eo = mgh1

SAMPLE PROBLEMS
1. A geothermal power plant draws hot pressurized water from a well at
20 MPa, 300 C. To produce a steam-water mixture in the separator where
the unflashed water is removed, this is throttled to a pressure of 1.5
MPa. The flashed steam, which is dry and saturated, passes through the
steam collector and enters the turbine at 1.5 MPa. It then expands to a
direct-contact jet condenser at 0.034 MPa. Assuming a turbine efficiency
of 83% and generator efficiency of 91%. Compute for the number of wells
required to sustain a power output of 20 MW if each of the production
wells can gather 151200 kg/hr.
SOLUTION:
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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

2. A flashed steam geothermal power plant is located where underground

hotwater is available as a saturated liquid at 3000 kPa.Flashed steam
enters the turbine at 1.2 MPa and expands to 1 atm where it is condensed.
Flowrate from the well is 30 kg/s. Calculate for the power produced, in
kW.
SOLUTION:
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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

3. Assume that a village has discovered an underground geothermal well

containing water at 95°C, 100m below the surface. They are evaluating
the option using the water from this well to provide power to the
village. Determine the maximum available work [kJ/kg] that could be
obtained from a power plant that will pump water from the well, extract
energy from the water and discharge the water to a lake at the
surrounding temperature T0 = 25°C. Assume that the water temperature
can be reduced to 35°C at the outlet of the power plant.

SOLUTION:

So,
 SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

NAME:_________________________________________ DATE: ___________

Surname, Firstname, M.I
SUBJECT: _____________________________________ SECTION: _________

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 8
GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT

1. In a geothermal power plant, the mass flowrate of ground water is

400 kg/s and the quality after throttling is 20%. If the power is 80 MW,
what is the change in enthalpy of steam at the inlet and outlet of the
turbine. (ans 1000 kJ/kg)
2. A flashed steam geothermal plant has pressurized underground water
available at 102 kg/cm^2 and 240 deg. C. In order to produce steam-
water mixture, the ground water is passed and throttled to 5.4 kf/cm^2
in a steam separator. The dry steam produced in the separator is fed to
double flow impulse and reaction turbine with guaranteed engine
efficiency of 85%. The turbine is directly coupled to a 3-phase, 60 Hz,
80% power factor, 13800 V air cooled generator. Exhaust is to be
direct-contact spray type main condenser designed to operate a vacuum
of 647.5 mm of Hg. Generator efficiency is 95%, ground water is 459
kg/s. What is the enthalpy of steam-water mixture in the steam
separator? (ans 1038.10 kJ/kg)
3. Mass low rate of ground water in a geothermal power plant is
1,500,000 kg/hr and the quality after throttling is 30%. Determine the
brake power of turbine if the change of enthalpy of steam at inlet and
outlet is 700 kJ/kg.(ans 87.5 MW)
4. Ground water of geothermal power plant has an enthalpy of 700 kJ/kg
and at turbine inlet is 2,750 kJ/kg and enthalpy of hot water in flash
tank is 500 kJ/kg. What is the mass of steam flow entering the turbine
if mass flow of ground water is 45 kg/sec? (ans 4.27 kg/sec)
5. The enthalpy entering the turbine of a geothermal power plant is
2750 KJ.kg and mass rate of 1 kg/sec. The turbine brake power is 1000
KW condenser outlet has enthalpy of 210 KJ/kg. If temperature rise of
cooling water in condenser is 80C, what is the mass of cooling water
requirement? (ans 46 kg/sec)
6. In a 12 MW geothermal power plant, the mass flow of steam entering
the turbine is 26 kg/sec. The quality after throttling is 25% and
enthalpy of ground water is 650 kJ/kg. Determine the overall efficiency
of the plant. (ans 15.4%)
7. A 16,000 kW geothermal plant has a generator efficiency and turbine
efficiency of 90% and 80%, respectively. If the quality after
throttling is 20% and each well discharges 200,000 kg/hr, determine the
number of wells are required to produce if the change in enthalpy at
the entrance and exit of turbine is 500 kJ/kg.(ans 5 wells)
8. A geothermal power plant draws pressurized water from a well at 20
Mpa and 300 deg.C. To produce a steam water mixture in the separator,
where the unflashed water is removed, this water is throttled to a
pressure of 1.5 MPa. The flashed steam which is dry and saturated
passes through the steam collector and enters the turbine at 1.5 MPa
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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LUCBAN, QUEZON

and expands to 1 atm. The turbine efficiency is 85% at a rated power

output of 10 MW. Calculate overall plant efficiency.(ans 7.29%)
9. A flashed steam geothermal power plant is located where underground
hot water is available as saturated liquid at 700 kPa. The well head
pressure is 600 kPa. The flashed steam enters a turbine at 500 kPa and
expands to 15 kPa, when it is condensed. The flow rate from the well is
29.6 kg/sec. Determine the power produced in kW. (ans 430.13 kg/s)
10. A flashed steam geothermal power plant is located where underground
hot water is available as saturated liquid at 700 kPa. The well head
pressure is 600 kPa. The flashed steam enters a turbine at 500 kPa and
expands to 15 kPa, when it is condensed. The flow rate from the well is
29.6 kg/sec. Determine the cooling water flow in kg/sec if water is
available at 30 deg. C and a 10 deg. C rise is allowed through the
condenser.