Hydropower Engineering MCQ with answer and solution

Concept

Pondage in a hydroelectric plant

Step-by-step solution

1. Pondage is the small storage just upstream of a run-of-river power house. 2. It stores water when the load is low and supplies it when the load is high. 3. This lets the river flow be used at an almost constant rate, while the plant meets the daily load variation.

Explanation

Pondage evens out the hourly or daily variations between the river flow and the power demand. Storage (reservoir) deals with seasonal variations, while pondage deals with short-term variations.

Shortcut

Pondage = daily/hourly regulation. Reservoir = seasonal regulation.

Common mistake

Choosing "increase turbine efficiency".