Hydroelectric Power

Worldwide, hydropower plants produce about 24 percent of the world's electricity and supply more than 1 billion people with power. The world's hydropower plants generate a combined total of 675,000 megawatts, the energy equivalent of 3.6 billion barrels of oil, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. There are more than 2,000 hydropower plants operating in the United States, making hydropower the country's largest renewable energy source.

What is Hydroelectric Power? Hydropower plants harness water's energy (of motion) and use simple mechanics to convert that energy into electricity. Hydropower plants are actually based on a rather simple concept -- water flowing through a dam turns a turbine, which turns a generator.

What are the parts of a Hydroelectric Power Plant? Intake and Penstock-pull water into the area where turbine is located Turbine-spins as water passes through Generator-generates electricity using mechanical energy of the spinning turbine Transformer-transforms electrical energy for passage through the power lines Reservoir-holds the water

Hoover Dam

Picture of the shaft connecting the turbine and generator

4 Years to build the Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam Powerhouses Hoover Dam has 17 generators giving it the capacity to produce over 2,000 megawatts of electricity.

Reservoir for Hoover Dam-Lake Mead

View from on top of dam

Spillways Open-water bypasses the dam

Interesting Hoover Dam Facts The Hoover Dam weighs 6.6 million tons There is enough concrete in the dam to build a 3 inch thick, 4 foot wide sidewalk around the earth at the equator Standing 726 feet tall, the Hoover Dam is tallest solid concrete dam in the western hemisphere

Benefits of Hydroelectric Power Clean, very little pollution Renewable resource Inexpensive

Downsides to Hydroelectric Power Diverts natural flow of water-changes the environment Not suitable for all areas-need high and low elevations for gravity to cause water to move

Other Methods of Power Production: Solar power Wind power Geothermal power Biofuels Nuclear Wave power Tidal Power *With your group discuss how are these other power production methods are similar/different?

Nuclear Power Brain POP: Nuclear Power-as you watch the BP consider the following: What are pros and cons for using nuclear power? How does nuclear power create electricity? What is a chain reaction? Nuclear Fission Chain Reaction Video

World Electrical Energy Production

How does Tallahassee produce its power? The City of Tallahassee uses 4 power plants to generate electricity for its residents: C.H. Corn Facility Arvah B. Hopkins Generating Station Sam O. Purdom Generating Station Solar Farm Tallahassee requires approximately 425 megawatts of electricity daily! Source: www.talgov.com

C.H. Corn Facility Hydroelectric powered 1 of only 2 hydroelectric plants in Florida (why only 2?) Has 3 generators Capacity of 12 megawatts City plans to shut this plant down as it is not cost effective *other hydroelectric power plant is on Lake Seminole Source: www.talgov.com

Arvah B. Hopkins Generating Station burns fossil fuels (either natural gas or oil) to convert water to steam in two huge boilers. The steam is used to drive two turbines which are in turn connected to power generators. In addition, power can be produced when needed by two gas turbine generators located at the plant. Capacity of 368 megawatts Source: www.talgov.com

Sam O. Purdom Generating Station Purdom Unit 8 uses a system called Combined Cycle Technology, which effectively uses the energy from the burned fuel twice. It then uses mechanical energy produced by steam to move the turbines. Capacity of 320 megawatts Source: www.talgov.com

Plans for future energy needs Tallahassee broke ground on 5/30/17 on a 120-acre solar project at the international airport capable of powering 2,400 homes and businesses. Customers can opt in to use solar energy with a fuel rate of 5 cents per kilowatt hour for 20 years (compared to 3.5 cents for fossil fuels). Capacity is 20 megawatts Tallahassee Solar Farm Building Video http://www.talgov.com/you/solar.aspx

How does the electricity get to our homes? http://www.brainpop.com/technology/scienceandindustry/dams/zoom.weml

Deerlake Middle School Solar Panel The PV (photovoltaic) panel collects the sun’s energy to generate power

How does it work? Click the link to see how it works: http://www.solar-is-future.com/index.php?id=316 Video: https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/solar_power_basics

Energy collected from the panel is stored in the batteries in the shed Parts of the System Energy collected from the panel is stored in the batteries in the shed The system has a “brain” that determines where the power from the panel goes: either to the batteries or to offset power used from Talquin Electric

Solar Energy Energy is collected and stored in batteries Once the batteries are full, power is used to offset the electrical needs of the school Some systems will actually feed back to the local power company if it generates extra power that is not used Our solar panel generates enough power to operate our emergency lights and two outlets

The meters indicate power in from Talquin Electric (on left) and power produced by the panel (on right)

Data Monitoring Energy Whiz website-data is uploaded to the internet from the panel http://energywhiz.com/

Natural Gas (CNG) Buses Watch the video: http://flix.quickrewards.net/watch/4309757/ Air pollutants are not released, just water Natural gas is much cheaper than diesel Natural gas is found in the United States Leon County is currently adding CNG buses to it’s fleet, reducing the diesel buses