How Pumped Storage Power Plants Work (Hydropower)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มี.ค. 2019
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This video explains how pumped storage hydroelectric power stations work, what their main components are and their operating characteristics.
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▶️Introduction
This type of power plant converts potential energy to electrical energy, or, electrical energy to potential energy. They achieve this by allowing water to flow from a high elevation to a lower elevation, or, by pumping water from a low elevation to a higher elevation. When water flows to a lower elevation, the power plant generates electricity. When water is pumped to a higher elevation, the power plant creates a store of potential energy. Pumped storage plants use Francis turbines because they can act as both a hydraulic pump and hydraulic turbine.
Pumped storage power plants are used to balance the frequency, voltage and power demands within the electrical grid. Pump storage plants are often utilised to add additional megawatt capacity to the grid during period of high power demand, for this reason, pumped storage plants are referred to as ‘peaking’ plants.
Because pumped storage plants can provide electrical grid operators with power ‘on-demand’, they have a high level of dispatchability (the ability to provide power to the grid as needed).
Components
Irrespective geographical location, all pumped storage plants require an upper and lower reservoir. The difference in elevation between the upper and lower reservoirs is referred to as the ‘head’ (head of pressure) and it must be significant in order for the plant to operate efficiently.
A penstock connects the upper reservoir to a Francis turbine located in the power house. A draft tube and tail race connects the Francis turbine to the lower reservoir.
Operation - Generating Power (Electricity)
Water flows from the upper reservoir, through the penstock, and to the Francis turbine. As the water passes over the Francis runner blades, a pressure differential is created that causes torque (rotary force) to be applied to the runner. The runner begins to rotate.
The turbine runner is connected on a common shaft to an electrical generator. As the runner rotates, so too does the generator rotor. As the rotor rotates through the electromagnetic field within the generator, it induces current in the stator windings and electrical current begins to flow. The electrical current is usually then dispatched to end consumers via a switchyard and electrical transformer.
Water discharged from the turbine runner enters into a draft tube where some of the kinetic energy is recovered and converted to potential energy; the water then enters the tail race and is discharged to the lower reservoir.
In this example, the potential energy of water was converted by the turbine runner into mechanical energy. The mechanical energy was transferred on a common shaft to a generator, which converted the mechanical energy to electrical energy. The entire process can be continuous until the upper reservoir is emptied.
Operation - Storing Potential Energy
Water is pumped from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir by the Francis turbine runner. The flow path is the same as when generating electricity, except the flow direction is reversed.
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This video had increased my motivation into the field of hydropower development.
same
I had no idea that this is how it all worked. Fantastic, thank you for your hard work
Very clearly presented. Thank you.
Absolutely brilliant production, thank you so much for the very informative and educational video.
Thank you so much. Really good explanation.
As always, Awesome!
Great video!!!
I have never thought about this before.
I can say that dor turbines maybe the grease is the best option even being expensive, because the time between maintenance is high.
Thank you!!!
So well explained😃
This is superb method of power generation
Hey. Loved the video. Would it be possible to do one detailing more on the actual designing of the pumped hydro plant?
Great video. Thank you
Great video. Thanks.
Great video, just had one open up in Tâmega Portugal in union with Iberdrola wonderful project and great for the environment.
Very interesting idea. It would be great if you would explain the efficiency of these energy reservoirs.
These, if designed adequately, can be 85% efficient.
Lebanon would be absolutely perfect for this type of power, perfect terrain and an abundance of water and has plenty of sun for solar
Which solfware did you use?
thanks very much~
You're welcome
Love this idea. I have been researching for some time the efficiencies claimed and they seem to be questionable. As I understand a francis turbine its very hard to be made to both generate energy efficiently an pump with similar efficiencies. I would love any information you have on people that specialise in this. From my research the energy conversion is more like 80 to 85% efficient to generate electricity but when you go to pump it back to the reservoir the efficiency can be as low as 20%. Please don't get me wrong I love the idea. I would just like more information on how efficient the system is an more importantly how to achieve it.
hi, What is the minimum height necessary for the operation of this electric plant?
Are there any references you'd recommend to read more about this topic?
I have two dams one low one high in a hill, What is the minimum head required to set up a system suitable to run a standard house with modern appliances.
I wonder about this too. There are lots of 100 foot hills, but is that sufficient???
I know this video is old, so I'm not really expecting an answer; but if you were to rely solely on the hydro plant to both produce electricity and then use that electricity to pump the water back would it be able to do it while still being able to produce electricity for other uses. Or would it completely use up all the electricity that it generated.
TQ sir
The Salton Sea in Southern California is 230 feet below sea level is it posable to build a pump storage station there with a pipe line from San Diego?
@@savree-3d thank you for your reply I will keep looking
They would have to build a 50 mile long tunnel to get a 200' vertical drop. Probably not very cost effective. Also I imagine using sea water would be more corrosive to equipment, and then there might be environmental issues with filling the Salton Sea with ocean water (I know it's already salty), but to be honest, I don't know. Anyway, it wouldn't be the same type of system, as there would be no need to pump the water back to the ocean.
Was wondering what the usual capacity of these plants are? Also, other than the friction in the pipes and transmission losses, are there any other major losses that should be taken into account? Lastly, is there a way to optimise these designs? You mentioned that there is usually one turbine/penstock, is there a reason for this? And can we have more than one penstock/reservoir? Thank you very much, the video was very informative.
the main issue is whether it produces more energy than it consumes
looking at places like Switzerland where it's been used for a while , they continue to use it so it must produce more energy than it consumes
@@robinsss Well actually these plants will always consume more energy than they produce simply down the the laws of thermodynamics. They only act as energy storage, not energy production.
@@conchubhar9492 i only recently heard of the system
i understand it better now
The amount of energy put in, compared to the amount of energy that comes out, can be about 80%. So they work well as batteries to buy power when it is cheap and then to sell power when it is expensive.
No battery is perfect, but this is not too bad at all! It compares very favourably to lithium ion batteries!
Also, to optimize this design you need a big difference in the level between the upper and lower reservoir.
Having a large swing in the price of electricity will enhance the relative efficiencies of the design. For example, if solar power is the only power available then it would be very cheap during the day but infinitely expensive at night. This price difference makes pumped hydro relatively more efficient.
Environmental protection also includes grease free bearings and bushings... these are expensive and require frequent replacement. Hydro is an expensive solution due to these maintenance challenges.
Only thing you're missing is, which would be the actual energy losses? not translated in money, just energy used to store vs. energy stored. With that info, this would be a perfect reference for this type of storage.
the main issue is whether it produces more energy than it consumes
looking at places like Switzerland where it's been used for a while , they continue to use it so it must produce more energy than it consume
@@robinsss why did you just copy and paste the same reply to another comment. It's not even the same question and your answer is both irrelevent and incorrect.
To correctly answer Ricardo: It all depends on the scale of the plant and efficiencies of the turbines. The larger the system, the more efficient it becomes, with the largest having an estimated efficiency of around 70%. So the losses would be quite large but the main reason why pumped storage is implemented is the even out the energy production to better match the demand. A loss of 30% is acceptable because it is outweighed by the difference in price of electricity on vs. off demand times
@@conchubhar9492 ii agree that it's only storage but i have seen sources that say it's 90% efficient
@@conchubhar9492 I have seen something saying about 80% efficient. Obviously a lot of different factors here. Seventy percent efficiency could easily be sufficient for many grids.
How does Francis turbine pump water back to the reservoir
If a pumped storage plant with a total capacity of 1000MW has 4 250 MW units, would all 4 units be used to pump the water back up?
I really want to know about this question...really interested is there an engineer who can explain this.
Yes. They could be. It is simple engineering. The only question is when is cheap electricity available and the efficiency of the overall system.
Bold design for a water slide 😬
I think if I owned a pumped storage power plant I would use the waters surface to float solar panels on, and the surrounding land to install my own wind turbines . no cost at all then after initial outlay .
Floating solar photovoltaic is an especially good idea because it would help limit evaporation loss.
I would stick my windmills strait up out of the water, then put my solar panels on top of them. Closer to the sun, lol
in the image there is no rechargeable pipe to recharge water to the uphill pond back. is there possible to pump huge amount of water back up there with the electricity from solar cell? As the pumping upward must need very consuming electricity pump
Normally, dams' (Water storage ponds at high head) primary function is to store water for Irrigation. Due to high heads, it has Potential Energy, that is used to produce Electric Power. Irrigation (Crops fields watering) is a round the clock phenomenon, particularly in Pakistan. Pumped Storage Facilities at these dams will revert the water back into the dam.
Question is,
How the Irrigation System is managed in these hours for the downstream Farmers?
Y do they pump against the HEAD and NOT divert reverse pump above the water line ?
It doesn't make any difference. You are still lifting the same amount of water by the same height.
@@simonwesley9283 but U going against the pressure of the water ?
Does it use more energy to pump the water than the plant produces?
Yes all energy storage system have this issue due to the law of thermodynamics.
You can't get more power out than you put into a system, and there's always conversion loses when converting from one form of power to another.
@@gurumage9555 great explanation 👍🏼
hello dear sir
I live in Afghanistan
I need water to move water from the river to the mountain via a solar pump how can I do this?
Nepal is also a very suitable place to produce hydroelectric power in the South Asian region.
What is the name of the program thanks
@@savree-3d thanks
@@mesut4916 what is the name?
Why not build elevated water storage in large closed tanks and catchment tanks so in a sealed system you have minimal water loss and wind and solar can pump water back to tanks
Are you aware how much water is transferred? A 1 MWh of energy with a 100m head difference is somewhere around 4000 cubic meters.
I think industrial heavy pumping machines can be used to pump water back to the reservoir. I just guess.
Where is surge tank?
What happens when the water disappears because of drought?
There are lots of variables. There are plants like this in operation for many years. In one case, the reservoir is atop a mountain on an island.
It was originally built to supply farms and drinking water for cities. When water is in surplus, it generates electricity.
They have been able to expand the system with desalination, providing even more water.
For drought, the whole system can be covered. As stated in the video, some places have better fit.
If it's next to a stable water source then there is no problem. For example, the ocean never dries up, so water is always available, even if there is no rain.
Hiii
Countries, like Pakistan, are extremely vulnerable to Climate Change, where Conventional HPP is no more sustainable should come on PSP, a means of integrating solar and wind.
More power to pump up than power generated from the system - therefore only makes sense if you are 'buying cheap energy' to store to late discharge when if buying energy at that time it would be expensive. So only makes sense on a local scale, not a national scale (if you are the supplier of the energy to pump up the water), unless you have excess energy that is from a renewable source that is not a lake (hydro is another battery). So that generally only occurs when grid use is low (over night) when no solar is available and wind is variable, so that leaves 'non renewable energy system - therefore I question the economic & environmental viability of these system on a national scale
Note: what is being suggested here - abundant/excess to need renewable energy source during the day resulting in cheap power - which countries have this ?????
This video is really amazing. Could I post it on my LinkedIn account, please? I'll give your account credit and a reference.
If you put a big ship in your reservoir and attached it with flat chains, (like a bicycle chain) to a driveshaft, when you pump the water into the reservoir the ship is lifted for free, when you drain the water to drive your turbines the descending ship will turn the driveshaft, that's additional energy output for no additional energy input.
@Mark Honea That's why I tossed out the Idea, I'm not an engineer either, I'm just hoping an engineer will look at at it.
It would be a big expense to get a ship into the reservoir. So probably not worth it. But it is an interesting idea to try and increase the effective head height of the dam.
Conceptually, this is good. But somehow it feels stupid that you are generating the power by releasing the water and again pumping it back (economics aside). Wouldn't it be better if such a system is built by damming a slow-flowing perpetual stream of water - like a river or waterfall? On a similar token, why can't air be "stored" and compressed and generate power on demand rather than waiting for irregular and uncertain wind patterns? Or why not use solar energy to drive a DC motor which runs an AC Generator?
'''''''Wouldn't it be better if such a system is built by damming a slow-flowing perpetual stream of water - like a river or waterfall? '''
the river hydro system works the same way that pumped hydro works
in river hydro , after the water is released through a dam to a low elevation , the water is then pumped back up to the higher elevation so that it can b released again
your solar idea would require a large percentage of land to place the panels on and even then may not provide enough energy
the classic problem with solar
It is kinda ridiculous, if not for changing supply and demand it wouldn’t work out, there are energy storage systems with compressed air, and also lifted weights, the part about using a motor to turn an alternator is nonsense though
heavenenergy