Water energy

Water on Earth Categorisation of hydrosources Equipment for transforming energy from hydro-sources
Waterwheels

Hydraulic turbines

Power plants using the heat energy of oceans and seas River hydropower plants Power plants and their location Water energy and human ecology
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Water on Earth
oceans and seas contain 96% of all water on Earth 60 million km2 of tropical seas absorbs a daily amount of solar energy equivalent of 40 billion litres of fuel oil water streams could theoretically generate 4 700 GW of energy; only one half of this amount is technically utilisable (note) sea ebb and flow could theoretically generate energy equal to the combined energy output of all rivers and streams in the world. In practical terms it canonly generate energy 2 equivalent to one third of all

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Categorisation of hydropower sources

1. Energy of seas and oceans
Energy of warm water Energy of sea torrents Energy of sea waves Energy of sea turf Energy of ebb and flow 2. Energy of water streams Energy of running water this inexhaustible source of energy is provided by the hydrologic circle

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Equipment for transforming hydroenergy

1.waterwheels
there are two basic construction designs of water wheels : blade wheels : bucket wheels the use of waterwheels : mills, sawmills, piston hydraulic engines etc.

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Equipment for transforming hydroenergy

2.Hydraulic turbines
Equipment for transferring mechanical energy into electricity An appropriate turbine to be used in a particular power plant depends on the type of water stream. Therefore they cannot be compared in terms of quality. These are the currently used types of hydraulic turbines: Pelton wheel Bnki turbine Francis turbine Kaplan turbine Driaz turbine Reversion turbines for pumped-storage power plants
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Diagrams of some types of water turbines

generator

Francis

Kaplan

Banky

Pelton Turbine moving wheel

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Electricity production from hydro power

The rotor can drive a generator, and then electrical power is produced

Generator

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Power plants using the heat energy of oceans and seas

Oceans and seas are a huge accumulator of thermal energy. This results from the fact that water table reflects sunrays less than dry land, and the heat is absorbed by water. These power plants utilise the temperature differences between the warm water near the surface and the cold deepwater. An outline of a power plant using the thermal energy of the seas (OTEC)

Location of power plants that use the thermal gradient of sea water
Mini - OTEC : Hawaiian Islands (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) OTEC 2 : Hawaiian Islands The project is currently being drafted
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50 kW 1 MW

experiment proposal

The utilisation of sea undercurrents

Sea undercurrents move periodically in a constant direction and speed. The currents transport huge masses of water and have crucial impact on the temperature of the surface and deep water and also on continental climate A plan has been carried out aimed at using the energy of the Gulf Stream in the Heterras area. The planned project should use turbines with the diameter of 170 m (with 2 runners and the speed of 1 revolution per minute), which will be affixed to the seabed by steel ropes However, this project is accompanied by vast ecological risk, as the installation might slow down the flow of the Gulf Stream, which could have catastrophic consequences. Another such project is the installation of 100-metre discs in the sea current alongside the coastline of Japan, Iberian Islands and Sicily, which would rotate in the same direction as the current and therefore would not disturb its stability. However, the utilisation of the energy potential of sea currents is still at the stage of theorising and experimenting.
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Areas suitable for the utilisation of sea currents

areas around massive torrents and depths exceeding 1000m The equipment for using sea undercurrents is still being explored
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Energy of sea waves

The combined energy generated by all seas and oceans has been calculated at 340 billion MJ.This source has so far been used only to a limited extent, as its utilisation is only at the research stage. There are several types of equipment transforming the energy of waves into electricity: Swaying ducks Dam - Atol. Tidal power plants

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A diagram of a swaying duck

Floating wave-propelled power plant

1.Rear stabilisation part 2.Central part with power house, water engine and alternator 3.Wave-breaking front part of the vessel

The diagram of using the energy of see waves

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Location of power plants propelled by the energy of sea waves

Chennai (Madras) : India 350 MW tidal Bergen : Norway 150 MW tidal The energy-yielding potential of equipment such as swaying ducks and Dam-Atol is still being tested, withou any industrial application
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Energy of the ebb and flow

The phenomenon of ebb and flow is generated by the gravitation forces of the Earth, Moon and Sun, namely the influence which these forces exercise on the oceans. The movement and mutual interaction of all three astral bodies causes periodical fluctuations of sea levels. During a lunar day there are two ebbs and two flows. The height of the tidal wave differs in relation to geographical location. Utilisation of so-called tidal phenomena for generating electricity Tidal power plants are built in places with strong ebb and flow (where the difference between ebb and flow water level is 8-12m) There are only a few places suitable for this kind of utilising the energy of the seas. One of them is for example near the Bretagne town of Sant Malo, where the tidal wave rises up to 14m.

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A tidal power plant

The largest tidal power plant in the world is situated in Bretagne, in the estuary of the river Rance. It is equipped with 24 reversion turbines and has an installed capacity of 240 MW. However,the average output of the plant only amounts to 60 MW.
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Location of tidal power plants

Bretagne : France Anapolis : Canada Severn Estuary : Great Britain Gulf of Kutch : India

240 MW 200 MW under construction 7 200 MW - under construction 600 MW - under construction
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Summary Pros
(energy of oceans and seas) 1. 2. 3. It is a renewable source of energy which does not generate hazardous waste substances Technologies developed only for tidal power plants These plants do not depend on weather and the seasons of the year (apart from the energy of the sea waves)

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Summary- Cons
(energy of oceans and seas) 4. these sources are dependent on the geographical location 5. this source is dispersed and depends on weather (with the exception of the energy of ebb and flow) 6. the technologies are not sufficiently developed (with the exception of the energy of ebb and flow) 7. corrosions and sedimentation on the equipment, due to sea water 8. risk of the leakage of hazardous substances (NH3) 9. the transformation process has low efficiency 10. large initial investment 11. Impact on the local ecosystem
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Water mills
very significant constructions in historical terms, they were built from the ancient times until the beginning of the last century; they are still used in the Middle East the core equipment of water mills are waterwheels in addition to mills, waterwheels were also used in sawmills, laundries, water engines etc. Most water mills have already perished. Some of the are used as museums

Tiber Ancient Rome Seine - France Rivers of Asia Minor Rivers of the Balkans

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River hydropower plants

Energy generated in these plants accounts for a significant share of the overall energy output, especially in some countries The basic propellant of the plant is a turbine. The choice of a particular type of turbine for installation depends on many factors, such as the height of the falling water, the rate of flow etc.

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Summary
(energy of water streams) Pros
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. a renewable source of energy which does not generate pollutants well-developed and well-tried technologies reasonable operation costs high efficiency low failure rate easy to service and maintain fast start-up accumulation capacity to a limited extent (pumpedstorage power plants)
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Summary (energy of water streams)

Cons
9. there is only a limited number of water streams ( potential future use of water streams in third world countries) 10. high initial cost of building the power plants 11. power plants suffer from silting 12. the construction of a hydropower plant interferes with the local landscape and biotope 13. danger of massive breakdowns Impact on human health : 1,13 Impact on environmental : 1,11,12,13
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