Hydropower plants can be classified by many different aspects, This classification is according to the working of hydropower plants, For Example, they can be classified be the source of the water itself and by their construction or their turbine.
This classification helps us to understand a variety of aspects of hydropower plants, also understand how some types are connected to each other.
River Power Plants
Run-Of-River plants that’s what they called in some countries, in this type of plant the natural and powerful flow and Elevation drop of the rivers is what is used through this kind of hydro plants to generate electricity.
River Power Plants are two types :
1-Plants Which are fed directly by a river.
2-Plants which are fed by diversion canal.
A diversion means the plants aren’t fed by the whole river but that part of a river which separated in a canal, This canal’s job is to feed the water from a river to the hydropower plants.
Because of the limitation of the diversion canal, it’s incapable of feeding hydropower plants of water as much as water the first type as the first type is fed from the river itself, so the second type generates less electricity compared to the first type.
The Operation Mode Of The River Power Plants
The operation mode can be abbreviated There Are 3 different aspects :
First, the river power plants can work through a weir and without a slack flow, At This Very point the river Streams directly to the turbine without being blocked.
Second, in this one the river power plants have a weir with the slack flow, As the water can be stored in a small tank, there are two different reasons why water should be stored :
1-To have a specific depth of the water to make the river be navigable for ships.
2-To have water reserves.
Third, It can be found in Small river power plants, It lacks both the weir and Slack flow, as Those small river power plants like water wheels don’t need a weir or a slack flow because they runs are the streaming water of a river.
Types Of Turbines That used In the river power plants
The Turbines that are used in the first two operating modes are
Kaplan Turbines
Propeller Turbines
Francis Turbines
Those Kind of turbines are ideal for Small heights of falls and a huge mass of water Then pressure becomes relatively Low.
Capacity Of The River Power Plants
The capacity of the river power plants can range from a few kilowatts to many hundred megawatts That’s depending on the height of the waterfall and the volume of the water.
Advantages And Disadvantage Of The River Power Plants
The advantage of the river power plants is the fact that there is no or only a small tank But since when Most people are living at or near the river so they will persevere anyway.
The disadvantage of the river power plants is that the fact that river power plants highly depend on waterfalls so maybe the power is generated doesn’t match with the power demand.
Source
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