Hydro Power Thread

[kayosthery]

Construction progress photos of 2/5 AMP Hydroelectric Power Plants being built along the Ohio River.

Cannelton Hydroelectric. Near Hawesville, KY.



Meldahl Hydroelectric. Near Foster, KY.



I took the photographs. I'm standing "landside" at the top of the coffer damn, looking roughly North in both pics.

Here's AMP's site with information on all of projects and more progress photos of those already under way.

[amor de cosmos]

Engineers in Hong Kong Generate Electricity from Water Mains
by Morgana Matus, 12/17/12

For decades in China, hydroelectricity has been used on a large scale to generate power. Now, engineers from the PolyU’s Department of Building Services Engineering and the Water Supplies Department (WSD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government are working on using water mains to create electricity. Hong Kong has a network of pipes that stretch 7,800 km that need to be monitored constantly to ensure that they are clean and functioning properly. To run the observation equipment, small turbines are placed in pipes to harness the motion of water passing by. Each little turbine is able to pump out 80 volts, enough energy to power about four fluorescent light bulbs.

Water mains present a challenge for designers looking to turn them into sources of power. They are narrow in diameter, and therefore hold much less water volume and potential energy. Engineers, from PolyU led by Prof. Hong-xing Yang from Department of Building Services Engineering have made an incredibly efficient spherical turbine that is able to capture the energy of moving water. It consists of a small hydroelectric generator which dips into flowing water to reclaim residual pressure. Using only eight blades, the turbine possesses a hollow central rotating shaft that helps to minimize energy loss. To increase the amount of energy in the water, the team placed a block at the opening of the pipe to compress and accelerate flow. To protect the quality of the drinking water, the turbine does not have parts that require lubrication.

The turbine has been tested in a number of locations across Hong Kong. When fully installed, an array of turbines are expected to save 700kWh of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 560kg each year.

http://inhabitat.com/engineers-in-ho...m-water-mains/

[amor de cosmos]

New system to harness energy from ocean currents

Researchers at the UPM, within the framework of PROCODAC-GESMEY project, have participated in the construction of the prototype of a device to harness energy from ocean currents.

In collaboration with the Astilleros Balenciaga company and the Fundación Centro Tecnológico Soermar, researchers at the Group of R&D GITERM, assigned to the Higher Technical School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, are participating at the PROCODAC project, focused on the design, construction and testing on a marine environment of an experimentation prototype at a ten to one scale of what would be an industrial unit able to provide a 1MW of electricity (GESMEY project). This prototype is complemented by an underwater buoy that was designed to operate in areas of 40 metres of depth.

The test results were very successful and have confirmed that this prototype can produce the expected energy and to be maneuvered by remote control, what can be of interest to use it in future underwater power plants.

Today, to harness energy is an issue of interest, particularly those related to sea. The first generation of systems of harnessing energy from ocean currents was only feasible in areas of maximum depth of 30-50 metres (because the generators were joined at the bottom) and its maintenance was expensive. Consequently, second-generation systems came out: anchoring systems with diverse solutions that allow us a submerged operation with the possibility to put afloat the main elements for its maintenance.

http://www.upm.es/internacional/UPM/...0009c7648aRCRD