Homework #4 - Hydroelectric Plant

The hydroelectric power plant was set in a breathtaking area of Brazil, nestled in a jungle valley of some towering mountains. This location makes me marvel at the challenges that had to be overcome in the construction of this facility among thick opposition from nature. As if that were not enough, The underground turbines were contained within the face of the mountain

I was again impressed when I learned the system in place for harvesting this hydroelectric power. I was initially under the impression that water from a river or waterfall would be naturally flowing into contact with the turbines. Instead, the water was collected into tubes and targeted toward the turbines through seal-able nozzles. This pushed the water out at a much faster rate, and, when shot from four directions toward the turbine, allowed them to spin at about 350 rpm for the above ground systems, and 450 rpm for the underground systems. Also, the nozzles permitted the workers to shut off the water fairly quickly in case of malfunction. As if that were not enough, there were deflectors that could be raised to stop the water from hitting the turbine at a moments notice. To top it off, the above ground system produced around 950 MW, and the below ground system made even more. This means that each of the turbines produced much more energy than the entire solar plant. All of this stellar engineering created a durable, and powerful system, making it no wonder that Brazil has been able to depend on this plant for generations.

On the other hand, the age of the plant shows. All of the electronic controls were extremely dated. The guide stated that they were not updated because of the extra money, and the fact that this current system worked so well, however its easy to wonder whether or not the system could produce more energy if given an upgrade. Nevertheless, it may be more pertinent to construct more renewable energy resources with the money that would be put into optimizing this working plant. Another interesting portion was that a good amount of fish were killed by these turbines, and that the guide seemed to almost be pleased about it. While I can understand human needs coming before those of a handful of fish, it may be morally worthwhile to invest in an improved channeling system for wildlife.

While I was impressed by the output of the plant, fickle usage of hydroelectric power was concerning. The guide told us that, with the recent drought, they were unable to meet demand for their energy, leaving gaps that were probably filled by fossil fuels. Contrarily, this year was a very wet one, giving the plant the ability to produce more energy than was necessary to fill demand. Unfortunately, when this happens, they just produce until they meet demand and then stop, instead of the fossil fuel plants giving up some production. While this makes sense from a business standpoint, and the water can always be saved for a less-than-rainy-day, I was hoping that the plant would produce as much clean energy as possible and sell of the surplus to replace fossil fuel sources.

Overall, I was impressed by the scale, potency, and durability of the hydroelectric plant. Likewise, it was exciting to the engineer in me to see such a clean, well-thought-out system. Nevertheless, as the author of our textbook is sure to stress, their is no way that hydroelectricity alone could fill Brazilian energy demand. This method leaves us at the mercy of nature to a greater extent than the other renewable energy resources, due to the increasing global temperatures and changing climates.