Hydropower Generation: From Water to Wire

HYDROPOWER GENERATION: FROM WATER TO WIRE

A Term Paper

Presented to

Dr. Leyma L. Cero

Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering

College of Engineering and Information Technology

Cavite State University

Indang, Cavite

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for

AENG50 Hydrometeorology

GEE JAY CREENCIA BARTOLOME

August 2012

HYDROPOWER GENERATION: FROM WATER TO WIRE

INTRODUCTION

        Energy is one of the major building blocks of the modern society.   It is needed to create goods from natural resources as well as to provide many of the services we have come to take for granted. Economic development and improved standards of living are complex processes that share a common denominator: the availability of adequate and reliable supply of energy. Modernization from a rural society to an affluent urban one was made possible by the employment of modern technology based on a multitude of scientific advances – all of which are energized by fossil fuels. These events made many people aware of how crucial energy is to the everyday functioning of the society. Furthermore, unhappy memories of some people regarding fuel and power shortages brought an increased awareness of the environment. Concerns about global warming, acid rain, and radioactive wastes are very much with us today, each of this is related to the use of energy (Hinrichs and Kleinbach, 2002).

        While an interest in being an energy self-sufficient and producing one’s own power was a strong desire of some in the 1970s and 1980s, during the second half of the 1990s the entire public began to have another choice – that  of being able to select their own provider of electricity. The electric power industry moved away from a traditional, highly regulated industry to one of deregulation and competition. In 1997, customers were given the chance to shop for their own supplier, and cost was not the only criteria. Many customers decided to buy from the producers who polluted least, so-called green power alternatives.

        The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] (2002) says that the current mix of world energy supply is mainly based on oil, coal, natural gas, and – to a lesser extent – on hydropower and nuclear energy. Until 2020, natural gas will even grow in importance and beyond 2020, however, due to depletion of cheap and near-demand gas reserves, due to political and environmental reasons, new technologies and increased use of renewable energy must be put in place and massive investment in energy infrastructure will be needed.