Water consists of great potential for the generation of electricity. When rain falls at hills and mountains it’s just run down to ocean. The moving and falling water can be used for work purpose. Here what we mean by work is to utilize the kinetic energy of the moving water for the generation of electricity.
From past hundreds of years this energy is used by humans to turn wooden wheels that were attached to grinding wheels to grind the flour or corn. These were called water mills. Similarly water is used in several ways to make life easier. Today we are using moving water to generate electricity. Let’s have limelight over it.
Hydro means water thus hydroelectricity means electricity from water. Hydroelectric power uses the kinetic energy of water to make electricity. Dams are built for the same purpose. Dams on river stop the flow of water and forms reservoir.
Hydro power is one of the largest producers of electricity. Water supplies around 10% of the entire electricity that we use.
The most common type of Hydroelectric Power Plant uses a dam on a river to store water in a reservoir. Now the water is released through a pipe. Now the water in the pipe having very much kinetic energy, this kinetic energy pushes the blades of turbine and causing them to turn. These turbines are connected to the generator which generates electricity and then the electricity is transmitted through the high power cable so substations and distributed further.
This technique is very environment friendly because no emission of hazardous gases takes place. No fuel is burned to heat the water to get steam. Thus this energy resource is very much effective to save the environment as well.
Pump Storage Power Plant is another type of Hydro Electric Power Plant. This is a dual purpose plant. Other then generation of electricity is can eve store power. The power is send from a power grid into the electric generators. The generators then spin the turbine backward. This causes the turbines to pump water from a river or lower reservoir to an upper reservoir, where the power is stored. To use the kinetic power of the water, the water is released from the upper reservoir back to the river or lower reservoir. This will again rotate turbines to generate electricity.
Hydroelectric power plants are very much popular and found in the mountainous areas where we can easily create lakes and reservoir along rivers.
As it is very much effective and popular way to generate electricity without harming the nature, we are adapting this technology for power generation very much. At Regenerative Leadership Institute we are connecting you with nature come and walk with us to make this world a better place to live.