Hydropower plants at work

Bonsor, Kevin How hydropower plants work. Retrieved April 9, 2009, from How stuff works Web site: http://science.howstuffworks.com/hydropower-plant1.htm

In this picture the water flows into the intake and reaches the turbine. The turbine activates and starts to turn the generator. The dams have control gates. Once they open, the water is transferred into the pipe called penstock, that leads to the turbine. The pressure of the water is increased as it gets closer to the turbine. Turbine contains of large blades. Because they have to be durable, the turbines can weigh as much as 172 tons and turn at a rate of 90 revolutions per minute. The generator consists of magnets that also turn when turbines are active. Those huge magnets rotate near by copper coils, and they produce alternating current as electrons are moved. You can see transformer inside the powerhouse. It's connected to the generator below it. The job of the transformer is to convert alternating current into higher-voltage current. At th end of the procedure used water just flows out of the outflow, and those pipelines through which it flows are called tailraces.