ook's blog

How Waterpower Works

The diagram shown below outlines the standard components in a large scale hydro-electric facility. Hydro facilities vary in size and in design. Adjustments to their layout may be made, but the essential components usually remain the same. There are usually five essential components to a hydro-electric plant besides a dam: the intake, penstock, turbine, generator and the tailrace.

The electricity generating process works in this manner: water flows into the intake, through the penstock. The water then turns the turbine, which connects to the generator, this action generates electricity; the water passes into the tailrace and back into the river system. The turbine and the generator function jointly and are housed together in a powerhouse. The control gate can be managed to let in more or less water depending on the flow of the water body.

Benefits of Waterpower
Waterpower is the production of power through the use of falling or moving water. Energy is derived from water based on two key factors, the amount of flow and the height (head) from which it falls.

The energy of falling water is used to turn turbine blades which, in turn, powers a generator that produces the electrical current.

The water then re-enters the river in virtually the same quality and volume as it entered the system.

Waterpower is expensive to build and the economics that determine whether a facility should be built can be complex, particularly when a range of environmental and social considerations are put into play.

Waterpower has been a major source of electricity in Ontario for over a century. It remains a clean, efficient, versatile and renewable energy source with a variety of benefits to the people of Ontario.
 

Environmental Benefits Waterpower is generated from a naturally replenished source which makes it a renewable and sustainable resource.

Waterpower is considered the most widely-used form of clean and renewable energy. Once constructed, its greenhouse gas emissions are effectively zero.

Waterpower generation provides peak and base load energy, which replaces non-renewable sources of power such as coal and gas.

Waterpower facilities can store energy (water) until it is needed at peak periods of usage.

Waterpower power facilities are long-lived. The average plant has a life expectancy of 80-100 years and can be rebuilt.

Waterpower has one of the most extensive Approval and Permitting processes that are based on over 100 years of development experience. Click here for more on the Permitting and Approval Process.

Waterpower technologies have advanced considerably in recent decades and are now built in a manner that mitigates harm to aquatic life and minimizes upstream inundation. In fact, waterpower may be designed to enhance habitat for some species.
 

Economic Benefits  

Waterpower provides significant returns to the taxpayers of Ontario. In the long term, waterpower pays a Gross Revenue Charge (GRC) to the Province of Ontario. Over the 40-year lifespan of the project it can be expected to generate a return of over $1 million to the people of this Province. In the past, a portion of the GRC was sent to the municipalities hosting waterpower facilities. However, the Ministry of Finance has suspended this practice for new waterpower development pending the outcome of a review of the program. Xeneca maintains that municipalities should benefit from these types of projects.

Development and construction of waterpower plants also have significant local and regional economic impact. As much as possible, Xeneca strives to procure goods and services locally. With the cost to construct a waterpower facility at approximately $4 - $5 million per megawatt, about half that spending would occur within the community or region where the facility is built. On average, $2.5 million per MW will be spent locally on labour, trucking, steel, equipment rental, surveying, legal & professional consulting services, food, fuel & accomodation. Expenditures have been ongoing since 2010 and will steadily increase through 2014-15.

All of the initial engineering, surveying, field studies, consulting, etc. is procured from sources within Ontario and much of the equipment – turbines, generators, control systems etc. – are purchased in this province.

Although modern waterpower facilities are now largely automated, some permanent jobs are created to undertake regular maintenance and upkeep.

From the perspective of electricity consumers, waterpower’s advantage is that it is nearly immune to erratic fluctuations of other energy sources. There is no reliance on commodities such as oil, coal, and uranium to operate and generate power. And, unlike wind and solar which cannot operate continuously, waterpower facilities are built where adequate water flow continues year round.