GenSrv Solutions 2

With about 60% of the global hydropower capacity in the world, Francis turbines are the most widely used type of hydro turbine. They operate in a water head from 40 to 600 m (130 to 2,000 ft) and are primarily used for electrical power production. The electric generators that most often use this type of turbine have a power output that generally ranges from just a few kilowatts up to 800 MW, though mini-hydro installations may be lower. Penstock (input pipes) diameters are between 3 and 33 ft (0.91 and 10 m). The speed range of the turbine is from 75 to 1000 rpm. A wicket gate around the outside of the turbine's rotating runner controls the rate of water flow through the turbine for different power production rates. Francis turbines are almost always mounted with the shaft vertical to isolate water from the generator. This also facilitates installation and maintenance. Care m,ust be taken with designs to eliminate pressure surge which can have a disasterious effect on teh mechanical equipment. These turbines can work in run of river aplications where a rivers natural path is diverted by a weir though to the penstocks and in to the turbine. The water enters the runner via the wicket gate and exits through a draft tube and tailrace. Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost surplus off-peak electric power is typically used to run the pumps. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power. Although the losses of the pumping process makes the plant a net consumer of energy overall, the system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity prices are highest

In the last years the cost of manufacture for photovoltaic cells has fallen dramatically moving their use n to the commercial environment. Large facilities combine a daisy chain of solar PV panels in to a solid-state inverter and then through step up transformers to the utilities grid system. Solar PV's largest drawback is that it only works in daylight. Concentrating systems utilising solar storage and transport can extend the generation period beyond daylight hours. In these cases, solar radiation is concentrated by mirrors on to heating elements which may contain oil or a sodium salt solution. By storing heat in molten salt, the energy can be recovered later through standard wet steam turbine technology.