Hydro-electric dams

In Seetion 2.1.2 the LOPA (Levels of Proteetion Analysis) method was described. In this example, a Safety Integrity Level (SIL) assessment is conducted for a hydro-electric dam plant for the requirements of a Flood Gate Control System (FGCS). The required SIL is... 

This example provides a Safety Integrity Level (SIL) assessment of the proposed flood gate control system (FGCS) at a hydro-electric dam, demonstrating that it meets the identified hardware reliability and minimum configuration requirements in accordance with lEC 61508. 

Several aspects must be considered for a comparison of energy sources that generate electricity. The first one is the quantity of carbon dioxide equivalent/kWh rejected by energy sources. Figure 1.3 shows the relationship between the CO2 production and the reaction (response time) for a number of electric power suppliers [11]. It is evident that the response time of nuclear plant (48 h) is bigger than hydro-electric dam or renewable systems such as wind mill and photovoltaic (few seconds). In the middle are the electric power stations using coal, oil or gas. 

Hydro-electricity is the most developed renewable resource worldwide, even if it has to face social and environmental barriers [29]. In fact societal preferences are difficult to predict, while hydro-sites are often difficult to reach, which results in high transmission and capital investment costs. These are difficult to be accepted by private power companies. The global economic hydropower potential ranges between 7000 and 9000 TWh per year. Particularly mral communities without electricity appear to be convenient for small (<10 MWe), mini- (<1 MWe), and micro- (<100 kWe) scale hydro schemes. They have low environmental impacts, and generation costs are around 6-12 c/kWh. Emissions of GHG linked with hydro-electricity operation are due to flooding of land upstream of a dam that can imply a loss of biological carbon stocks and can produce methane emissions due to vegetation decomposition. 

Electricity is a fundamental requirement for economic growth, and hydro-electric power is often thought to be environmentally benign. However, the constraction and operation of many hydro-power dams have had significant negative impacts on the environment and raral economies. Reduced downstream flooding has destroyed fisheries and starved the floodplain soils of moisture and nutrients (Acreman, 1996). 

V) Pergau Dam (Hydro-electric), Kelantan Diversion tunnel Pressure tunnel Granite/gneiss On going. 

Ackerman had chiefly experience on the design and construction of hydro-electric facilities, with aggregate installed capacity of 5.3 Mio HP, or an overall investment of 900 Mio US. He was the inventor of trust-wheel type cableway towers used for numerous dams, and an automatic spillway gate system used on Calderwood Dam and Bonneville Dam. He was a visiting professor of engineering practice, the University of Illinois, and the author of several books, one of which is a biography on Billings. 

Barrows, H.K. (1915). Discussion of The hydro-electric power plant at the Wachusett Dam, Clinton MA. Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers 2(3) 111-113. 

After a six-year stint with the Metropolitan Water District, he joined the Southern California Edison Company in 1922, remaining there for almost 40 years. He retired from it in 1962 as vice-president of engineering and construction but went on for another 30 years as consultant to the Edison and Bechtel Corp., San Francisco CA. During his second career Chadwick travelled more than 7 million miles to work on projects such as the San Francisco Bay Area or the Washington DC subway system, hydro-electric power plants in Canada, a power facility in Saudi-Arabia and an official inquiry into the causes of the 1976 failure of Grand Teton Dam. 

Heslop, P.L., Jessop, G.A. (1939). Kaplan turbines at Bonneville. Trans. ASME 61(2) 97-108. Jessop, G.A. (1925). High specific speed hydrauHc turbines in their bearing on the proportioning of the number of units in low-head hydro-electric plants. Trans. ASCE 89 659-665. Liel, A.B., Billington, D.P. (2008). Engineering innovation at Bonneville Dam. Technology and Culture 49(3) 727-751. 

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