Hydroelectric plants with flowing water

A run-of-river hydroelectric plant is a complex civil, hydraulic and electromechanical equipment built to convert the potential energy of the water available at a certain altitude compared to the altitude at which the turbines are positioned.

For this reason, the two fundamental factors for defining the developable power are:

jump: difference in quota existing from the place where the water resource is available and the return quota;
flow rate: the quantity of water available to be turbined, net of the mandatory release (DMV) by law.

The typical system layout is:

dam: civil work in the riverbed with the aim of conveying water towards the settling tank;
Settling tank: A civil engineering structure consisting of a suitably sized tank designed to allow sand to settle. It is usually equipped with mechanical gates for cleaning the tank itself;
mechanical trash rack: electromechanical equipment inserted between the tanks with the aim of stopping suspended bodies present in the water;
loading basin: civil engineering work located immediately after the trash rack from which the turbine feed pipeline starts, equipped with a mechanical gate for cleaning the basin itself;
penstock: pressurized pipeline made of various materials that conveys water from the intake structure to the power plant building;
power plant building: civil work intended to house electromechanical equipment;
power plant electromechanical equipment: electromechanical equipment designed to transform potential energy into mechanical energy, first through the rotation of the turbine, and then electrical energy through the generator and electrical control panels for the turbine and its connection to the grid;
restitution works: hydraulic channel for returning water to the riverbed.