Authorized Personnel Only - Inside The Bottom Of A Hydroelectric Power Plant

this video gave me an unreasonable amount of anxiety.

To add any one watching. This is a Kaplan Turbine. It is a reaction turbine, the water flowing over the blades moved the blades , the opposite of a ship’s propeller where the blades push the water. So high flow, low water pressure , called head, because the dam is not high. My dam is 100 feet high and is a Kaplan. For very high dams you use an Impulse turbine called a Pelton. Imagine a garden hose solid stream hitting the blades of a pin wheel. No wicket gates, a valve regulates the flow in the hose nozzle. Other dams use a Francis Turbine , more pressure than Kaplan , less than Pelton. The main regulation of speed when under no load is the wicket gates signaled by the governor. When under load the governor controls the power produced by moving the same wicket gates but the speed does not change it stays at grid synchronous speed. The blades on the propeller , called a runner in a Kaplan Turbine, also move Under governor control but this is more fine tuning to increase efficiency as the water level upstream changes or unit is not running at design load.

Just seeing a video of a guy in a room that can be completely full of rushing water gave me anxiety.

I am petrified of being near hydroelectric turbine when its running and Im also petrified of being sucked into a intake pipe near a turbine

Love stuff like this. I wish more hydro plants would let us look inside.

I always wondered how ladders like that are attached to the wall. They always look so unstable but seem to last forever.

Well I sure do admire Chris’s enthusiasm for his hydroelectric powerhouse. How fortunate to have such a passion for his work. And his efforts to pass along his knowledge and access.

I don't don't normally get anxious about situations like this, but seeing a person in that space that is normally be filled with water made my chest tighten right up! Very cool to see the moving parts of the intake.

Always crazy to realize how truly ancient these power plants are. Similar to how NASA today, builds spacecraft designed in the 2000s with at the time 20 year old tech, witch makes them nearly 50 years old. This power plant was first commissioned in the 80s or so, at witch point the plans where probably already 20 years old and at the time those plans where based on technology from 20 years ago. So basically the powerplant you are running today was in one form or another designed in the 1940's and its till running today. I myself am working on hydropower plants, and we have a backup generator that was cast by a company that went out of business in the 1850s. This thing is still standing today (granted only for use in emergency's) in our mashineroom over 150 years later.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to produce this type of content. As a member of the public, I realize there are literally hundreds of thousands of dams world wide. Not many people are willing to show off this remarkable feet of engineering. Altho it be a smaller plant this is still amazing to see these concepts haven't changed too much. Thank you! Truly keep up your amazing job.

Comes back from lunch: "Who tf turned #2 off?"🤔 Flips switch back on.

Rushing water is terrifying, the power behind water is just so amazing!

I remember watching the building of a small plant like this in Maine and I walked through the concrete structure with the temp dam holding back the river before anything else was put in. Really amazing This reminded me of that experience

This was absolutely amazing to see! Thank you

Check out my other Hydro Dam videos here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-3Y2XexL9dRz9zskedt9ve… If you like what you see here, I'd appreciate your help to continue making free, educational videos for all: ko-fi.com/captainboden

That was the adrenaline rush I needed without leaving the house haha super cool aspect to see, thanks! Oh, I subscribed, I love these civil engineering masterpieces!!

I am 41 years old and have always been fascinated with hydroelectric dams having vacationed in TVA country all my life. These videos are absolutely incredible (and just a little bit terrifying). I can't thank you enough Chris. One question... does the outflow water level tend to be fairly close to the turbine blades at all times? I'm trying to understand how in certain parts of the video the water on top of the turbine blades looks stationary.

Very nicely put together video and very entertaining as well. Thanks for posting this.

Now these kinds of vids are what I truly love about YT! Bingo, subscribed!

This is so cool. Thank you for sharing this rarely seen peek into a hydro electric plant!