What is a hydroelectric power plant?

Hydroelectric power plants (HEPPs) are man-made energy-generating plants that convert the power of running water into electricity. The amount of energy in flowing water determines the flow or decay rate of water. The water flowing in a large river carries a large amount of energy and this energy is converted into electricity by proper use and hydroelectric power plants. Or, when the water is released from a very high point, the energy is still high, as the water falls. Either way, the water taken into the ducts or pipes is supplied to the turbines, electric energy is generated by turning the propellers used for electricity generation and turbines with similar arms.

What is a hydroelectric power plant?

So just how do we get electricity from water? Actually, hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants produce electricity in a similar way. In both cases a power source is used to turn a propeller-like piece called a turbine, which then turns a metal shaft in an electric generator, which is the motor that produces electricity. A coal-fired power plant uses steam to turn the turbine blades; whereas a hydroelectric plant uses falling water to turn the turbine. The results are the same.

Hydroelectric power: How it works

The concept is to build a dam on a large river that has a large decrease in altitude (there are few hydroelectric plants in Kansas or Florida). The dam shops great deals of water behind it in the storage tank. Near all-time low of the dam wall surface there is the water intake. Gravity triggers it to fail the penstock inside the dam. At the end of the penstock there is a turbine prop, which is transformed by the removaling water. The shaft from the generator rises into the generator, which creates the power. Power lines are linked to the generator that bring electricity to your house and mine. The water continues past the prop through the tailrace into the river past the dam. Incidentally, it is not a good idea to be playing in the water right listed below a dam when water is released!

This diagram of a hydroelectric generator is thanks to U.S. Military Corps of Engineers.

Regarding just how this generator functions, the Corps of Engineers explains it by doing this:
” A hydraulic generator transforms the energy of streaming water right into mechanical energy. A hydroelectric generator transforms this mechanical energy into electrical power. The procedure of a generator is based on the concepts uncovered by Faraday. He discovered that when a magnet is passed a conductor, it causes electrical energy to flow. In a large generator, electromagnets are made by distributing direct current through loops of cable wound around heaps of magnetic steel laminations. These are called field posts, and are placed on the border of the blades. The rotor is attached to the wind turbine shaft, and rotates at a taken care of speed. When the rotor transforms, it creates the field posts (the electromagnets) to move past the conductors placed in the stator. This, subsequently, creates electricity to stream as well as a voltage to establish at the generator result terminals.”