Selection of Site for Hydro Electric Power Plants
Investigations are made for selecting a suitable site for construction of dam and installation of hydraulic turbines.
The basic characteristics of a good site are to have a large catchment area, high average rainfall and steep gradient in the area to obtain high head.
Once the location of the power plants is chosen the exact position of different components like dam. conduits, intakes, surge tank, power house and many others are fixed after due consideration by keeping in mind the following factors :
- Quantity of water available and method of storage.
- Availability of head and storage capacity
- Distance of power station site from power demand centres.
- Details of soil bearing capacity and rocky foundation conditions. It has to have very high bearing capacity to take on the high stresses developed due to dam structure and the thrust of water in the reservoir.
- V Availability of construction materials.
- Access to site for men and material.
- Availability of transport facilities.
- Cost of project and the period required for completion.
- Free from earthquake damage.
- Free from mineral deposits of harmful nature.
- Less possibility of sediment collection.