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Research Paper | Mechanical Engineering | Tanzania | Volume 12 Issue 9, September 2023
Theory of Hydropower Plant Technology
Daniel H. Ngoma [2] | Banet Masenga [2] | Adam Mfangavo
Abstract: The Hydropower technology is the most reliable and cost - effective renewable energy generation technology to date. The early developed hydropower technology was around 17 century and it was broadly used for activities related to milling and especially grain and lumber, but also in other areas it was used for pumping irrigation water. The technology was based on a water wheel on which the power of water used to rotate the wheel and in turn use the mechanical shaft power to drive mechanical systems. This development in hydropower resulted in the introduction of hydroelectric generation stations. The early development on hydropower began around 1870 in England when the first hydro - electric power plant was installed at Cragside. But the actual commercial use hydropower generation station started around 1880 in the USA, with a dynamo driven by a water turbine and at that time it was only producing 12.5 kW of power that can be equated to 250 lights. This invention made several countries in the world to adopt to the technology and 120 years later in the 1990s almost 300 hydroelectric plants were developed around the world.
Keywords: Hydropower, Waterwheel, Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy, Penstock, Turbine
Edition: Volume 12 Issue 9, September 2023,
Pages: 1501 - 1507