Two or More Hydro Electric Power Stations Interconnected
- Some of the stations connected may run on river flow, without any catchment area or reservoir, while other may have a forebay large enough to run the turbines for number of hours. While some may have high head installations with a large storage capacity to provide continuous running for a long period at full load output.
- If such type of power stations are interconnected to operate economically, the best way is to utilize as much as possible of rainfall in the catchment area during heavy rainfall by running plants fed by long open channels and rivers, otherwise such water will drain out from spillways. Hence, during heavy rainfalls, open channels and rivers get considerable amount of surface water which drains into streams and it may be more than the quantity required for power generation by turbines running to full-load.
- It is therefore, a practice to draw the forebay down to a low level just before heavy rains set in and reduce the load on the stations with high heads plants and ample storage capacity.
- Such type of arrangement results in high water levels of storage reservoirs at the beginning of dry season and maximum possible energy generation before the rainy reason sets in. The interconnection of two or more hydro-electric power stations result in more efficient utilization of water for producing electrical energy.