Hydro Power Generation

Gan Teck Cheong (EA14050)

Mohd Ariff Bin Amir Abdullah (EC14004)

Asrul Sani Bin Ramli (EC14018)

Zawir Husni Bin Mohd Zahid (EC14038)

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Bachelor of Engineering
Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universti Malaysia Pahang, 2600 Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia.

1.0Introduction no legal and institutional administrations

Hydroelectricity is one of a renewable where to get information on planned projects

resources. It provides about 23.9 % of the and pursue compensation, locals will be in the

renewable energy in Malaysia. Unlike other weakness of the development process.

renewable resources, hydroelectric power

plants does not use resources to create In my opinion, the government should

electricity. It also does not pollute water, air, investigate more about the dam site and the

or land as other power plants may. long-term impact of the site and its residents,

Hydroelectric power comes from flowing and if it negatively affects the residents, the

water and spring runoff from mountains and government should provide assistance so that

lakes. When water is falling from mountains or the burden of the residents is maintained. At

lakes by the gravity force, it can be used to the same time, the development for

turn the turbines and generators to produce the hydroelectricity must be run according to the

electricity. rules.

One of a political influences that related to

2.0 Available resources and
hydroelectricity is minimize costs, in other
technology
words, maximizes return on investment. As a
result, local residents are often not equipped to Malaysia is still relying heavily on gas and

handle the social and environmental burden coal for power generation, constant pressure is

that may arise. Without state property rights, mounting on global leaders to cut greenhouses

for example, highland residents, in most gases and limit the state of global warming. In

minority ethnic cases, who live in affected order to realize the goal, hydropower which

areas by dam construction are not provided utilizes freshwater is identified as sustainable

with assistance if hydro power developers and low carbon energy source and plays an

dismiss their claims for compensation. Just important role in terms of energy security, and

like in other states such as Cambodia that have it can easily adjust the amount of electricity
produced to the amount demanded by
consumers.
Resources and power
Malaysia's major sources to produces power
generation are petroleum and natural gas. Most
of these are found in offshore and categorize
as non-renewable sources. Coal and charcoal
are also a domestic source but in urban area
they were replace by bottled gas. A small
portion of Malaysias power is generated by
hydroelectric plants, mostly on the peninsula.
Peninsular and East Malaysia hold great
potential for further hydroelectric
development. Tenaga Nasional Berhad
operates three hydroelectric schemes in the
peninsular with an installed generating
capacity of 1,911 megawatts (MW). They are
the Sungai Perak, Terengganu and Cameron
Highlands hydroelectric schemes with 21
dams in operation. A number of Independent
Power Producers also own and operate several
small hydro plants
Hydropower generated work
Most of hydro power plants are divided into
four major section:
Dam-Raises the water level of the river to
create falling water. The dam also controls the
flow of water and the reservoir created is in
effect stored energy.
Turbine-The force of falling water pushing
against turbine blades causes the turbine to
spin. A water turbine is much like a windmill,
except that the energy is provided by falling
water instead of wind. The turbine converts the
kinetic energy of falling water into mechanical
energy.
Generator-Connected to the turbine by
shafts and possibly gears so when the turbine
spins it causes the generator to spin as well.
This converts the mechanical energy from the
turbine into electrical energy. Generators in
hydropower plants works like generators in
other types of power plants.
Transmission lines-Conducts electricity
from the hydropower plant to houses from
utility provider Tenaga Nasional Berhad
(TNB).
3.0 Recommendation
Advantages,
Hydro electricity is one of the most practical
energy alternatives in Malaysia. This is due to
several reason which meet Malaysia
topography and needs. The first advantages
practicing Hydroelectricity is the cheap source
of energy source. Even though the cost for
setting up the hydro plants are high, but the
process of maintaining and producing
electricity is very low and can be used for long
period. One hydro generator can be used until
100 years. So, government can used the electric
generated by the plant for insane time period
while the cost for maintaining it is very cheap.
Secondly, hydroelectricity use renewable
source which is water. As Malaysia have tons
of river and pond, so there are a lots of places
can be used to set up the hydro plant. For others
country also which have good amount of rain utilised their hydro generation to reach higher
also can have hydro generation. Lastly, power production.
hydroelectricity is also flexible. This is
For investor, there are a lot of opportunities in
because; hydroelectric generation does not
hydro generation as Malaysia have a lot more
depend on the fuel. It can be generated
water source that still havent been use for
whenever the demand is asked. Differ from
hydroelectric generation. As for now, only TNB
solar which only can generated energy when
are the main company that are widely using
only the sunray is present or wind generator
these types of generation to produce power.
which only work when wind turbine is moving.
To conclude, Hydroelectricity is very good and Potential and percentage of contribution in
has a lot of advantages. future.

Invest, It is important to be highlight that one day; the

world might be out of fossil fuel such as
The potential of hydroelectric generation is
petroleum and natural gas. This will cause a
mass and can give a lot of profit. This is
problem to generated electricity using fuel
because; hydroelectric generation can only
thermal generator. So, alternative energy such
need cheap cost for maintaining. In Malaysia
as hydroelectric is important to sustain our
only, hydro already takes up 11% percent of
power demand. As water is a renewable energy
electrical generation method. This is due to
and can be used repeatedly to generate
hydroelectricity that is set up at the river and
electrical energy. Many develop country
dam. One of the biggest hydro plants in
already see the potential in hydroelectric
Malaysia belongs to TNB which is Kenyir
generation and start working on its
Sultan Mahmud Power Station. Kenyir station
development in large scale.
produce 400MW power while Pergau Station
can produce up to 600MW power per month. In Malaysia, we have nearly 2600m of rain per
Based on TNB report stated that, hydroelectric year. Approximately, we got total 414000
generation is one of the most energy source for Ghw/year on gross hydro potential. If we
them along with Thermal Electric Station which started to develop hydroelectric generation in
consume fuel. larger scale in the future, we can sustain more
power demand as our country will develop very
At foreign country such as Norway and New
fast. Every year also, the fuel and natural gases
Zealand, hydroelectricity takes up until 90%
price are increasing very high so by
and 75% of their electrical generation. It is
implementing hydroelectric generation in
proven that, hydroelectric generation are widely
larger scale can save budget. It is believed that
used in the world because of its profit and easy
one day hydroelectric generation will become
to maintain. Even, industrial country had
the main electric generation method in
Malaysia and maybe world.
 4.0 Environmental Concern
The impacts of hydroelectric plant to the
environment are during construction and
operation. The size of hydro plant is extremely
big therefore building a hydro plant need to use
many land and causes damage to wildlife
habitat and agricultural land. [1] For instance,
the Bakun Dam flooding on 13 October 2010
2
put 700km of land underwater. [3] Moreover,
the fish may hurt or killed by the turbine blades.
The reservoir water has excessive sediments
that increase the amount of algae. [1]
Nevertheless, the negative effects are far more
lesser than the positive effect. For example, the
water flow of the Rajang River by the dam helps
prevent the flood during monsoon season.
Besides that, regularly release water from dam
helps river transportation in the shallower water
during dryer period. [2]
Obstacles
The obstacles in building a water dam
in Malaysia we can refer to the Bakun Dam
located in Sarawak, Malaysia on the Balui
River. Bakun Dam had try 3 attempts in its own
project history. The first attempt was shelved in
1990 due to recession of year 1985 and
government decided to use low-cost alternative
of natural gas. In the second attempt, the project
stopped because in 1997 Malaysia face the
financial crisis. Finally, Bakun Dam start
operates on 6 August 2011. Besides that, the
other common obstacles we need to consider
when building a water dam is the authority need
to relocate the residents before construction.,
the amount of trees had to be cut down, etc. [3]
5.0 References
Union of Concerned Scientists (n. d.),
Environmental Impacts of
1.Hydroelectric Power. Retrieved from
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/ou
r-energy-choices/renewable-
energy/environmental-impacts-
hydroelectric-power.html
2.Sarawak Hidro, (n. d.). Environment.
Retrieved from https://www.sarawak-
hidro.com/Pages/environment.aspx
3.Wikipedia, (n.d). Bakun Dam. Retrieved
from
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bakun_Dam#
/Project_history
4.https://www.conserve-energy-
future.com/advantages_hydropower.ph
p
5.https://www.originenergy.com.au/
blog/about-energy/what-is-
hydropower.html
6.https://www.eartheclipse.com/ener
gy/advantages-disadvantages-
hydroelectric-energy.html
7.https://www.cepsi2016bangkok.or
g/pdf/FP_C.1_TNB_Overview%20of%2
0Hydropower%20in%20Malaysia%20a
s%20Renewable%20Energy,%20A%20
Review%20of%20Water-
Energy%20Security%20Chall.pdf
8.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L
ist_of_power_stations_in_Malaysia