Potentials of Hydroelectric Power Engr. Dr. Muhammad Nawaz Iqbal

Since ancient times, hydropower has been used to grind flour and accomplish other duties. Water-driven power gave the energy needed for the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
Hydropower has ability to provide significant volumes of low-carbon electricity on-demand, making it an important component of many safe and clean electricity systems. Because the quantity of electricity produced by the station may be modified up or down in seconds or minutes to react to changing energy demands, it is also a flexible source of electricity with a dam and reservoir. Large-scale hydroelectric power plants are more frequently regarded as the world’s largest power plants, with some hydroelectric plants equipped for creating over two times the introduced limits of the world’s largest nuclear power plants. Hydropower is a versatile source of energy since stations can be easily scaled up and down to meet changing energy demands. The start-up time of a hydro turbine is on the order of a few minutes. Although battery electricity is faster, its capacity is insignificant when compared to hydropower. Most hydro units go from cold start-up to full load in less than 10 minutes, which is faster than nuclear and practically all fossil fuel generation. Many hydroelectric projects are designed to service public energy grids, while others are designed to serve individual industrial firms. Dedicated hydroelectric projects are frequently constructed to deliver the large amounts of electricity required by aluminum electrolytic plants. Large reservoirs connected with traditional hydroelectric power plants submerge large regions upstream of the dams, obliterating organically rich and useful swamp and riverine valley backwoods, wetlands, and grasslands in the process. Damming rivers disrupts their flow and can impact local ecosystems, and big dams and reservoirs typically result in the displacement of people and species. Water has the potential to move particles heavier than itself downstream when it flows. This has a deleterious impact on dams and, as a result, power plants, particularly those located along rivers or in high-siltation catchment areas. Siltation can fill a reservoir, reducing its capacity to manage floods while also increasing horizontal pressure on the dam’s upstream section. Flue gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are eliminated by hydroelectricity, including pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, dust, and mercury in coal. In addition, hydroelectricity avoids the dangers of coal mining as well as the indirect health effects of coal pollution.
Hydroelectric capacity is ranked based on either actual yearly energy production or installed capacity power rating. Hydropower produced 16.6% of the world’s total electricity in 2015, and 70% of all renewable electricity.
The quantity of energy produced by a dam will be proportional to changes in river flow. Lower river flows diminish the quantity of live storage in a reservoir, limiting the amount of water available for hydroelectric power generation. In locations that rely largely on hydroelectric power, reduced river flow might result in power shortages. As a result of climate change, the probability of a flow shortage may increase.
Hydroelectric projects can have an impact on aquatic habitats both upstream and downstream of the plant’s location. The downstream river ecosystem is altered as a result of hydroelectric power generation. The water that exits a turbine normally has relatively little suspended sediment, which can cause riverbed scouring and riverbank erosion.
When there is an excess of electricity, it is also possible to reduce power generation quickly. As a result, hydropower units’ limited capacity is rarely used to generate base electricity, except to drain the flood pool or meet downstream needs. Instead, it can be used as a standby generator for non-hydro generators.