Once the force of a flowing river is turned into electricity at hydropower dams, it still has a long way to go before reaching your house, business, or school. The energy must flow along transmission lines, sometimes hundreds of miles from its source.
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When electricity first leaves a dam, it is high voltage, meaning it’s very powerful—too powerful to run our appliances and electronics. High- voltage transmission is the preferred method to move electricity across long distances because less electricity is lost in transit. High-voltage transmission wires, or conductors, are typically strung between tall steel towers—the kind you see along highways and in the countryside.
When the electricity nears cities and communities, it passes through a substation that uses transformers to change the electricity into a lower, more usable voltage. From there it travels on distribution lines, which use thinner, lighter conductors that are typically strung between wooden poles. These lines carry energy through neighborhoods to the electric outlets that power your lights and charge your smartphones.
Getting hydropower to homes and businesses takes careful planning, as transmission lines can only carry the amount of electricity that will be consumed. To keep the right amount of power flowing, computers calculate how much electricity should be sent when and where, across the system.
It may seem like magic that water can turn into the energy that powers your television and lights at the push of a button or the flip of a switch. None of it would be possible without skilled individuals building and maintaining the system that brings electricity to your home. Transmission lineworkers manage the world behind your light switch.
These highly skilled women and men are electricians who are specially trained to work on transmission and distribution lines. They not only construct lines, but they also maintain them and restore power when there is an outage. Some work on the ground. Some work on the lines and towers. Some even work from helicopters that lift and place transmission towers. The job they do is dangerous and requires carefully managing the powerful electricity that flows through the lines. They risk electric shock and burns and work from great heights, often on nights and weekends, and in less-than-desirable weather conditions.
Thanks to transmission systems—and the lineworkers, substation operators, dispatchers, and countless other people who keep the grid operating—our communities are able to enjoy the benefits of hydropower generated far from our front door.
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Hydropower plants capture the energy of falling water to generate electricity. A turbine converts the available energy from falling water into mechanical energy. Then a generator converts the mechanical energy from the turbine into electrical energy, which is supplied to the electrical grid.
Falling water is the power source that is used to turn a metal propeller-like piece called a turbine (Pelton Wheel in Utica’s case), which then turns a metal shaft in an electric generator, which produces electricity.
In most cases, a dam is built on a river that has a large drop in elevation (there are not many hydroelectric plants in Kansas or Florida). In Utica’s case, the snowpack stores a huge amount of water during the winter and spring, which melts and runs off into reservoirs in the high country (Alpine, Utica, Union and New Spicer) along the Highway 4 Corridor, which store water and release water throughout the year. A reservoir on the North Fork Stanislaus called McKay’s Point Reservoir diverts water into an 18-foot-diameter tunnel, which runs from Arnold to Camp Nine, where the water is used to make power by the Northern California Power Agency.
In Avery, Utica has a pipe that taps that tunnel and it receives water via gravity that it runs through a 27-mile-long conveyance system. On its way down the hill, it is stored in several reservoirs before passing through two penstocks and two powerhouses in series – one in Murphys and the second in Angels Camp.
Gravity causes the water to fall through the penstock (large pipe). The farther the water falls, the higher the pressure inside the pipe (head pressure), and the more energy can be produced.
At the end of the penstock there is a turbine propellor (Pelton Wheel) which the high-pressure water turns. The Pelton Wheel is connected to a large, metal shaft that goes up (or over) into the generator, which produces the electrical energy. The generator is connected to a substation and electricity is provided to homes and businesses. The water’s potential energy is used when spinning the Pelton Wheel, and then it continues past the Pelton Wheel where it exits into an afterbay (small pond). Learn about the history of the Pelton Water Wheel Co. and how many were installed in Calaveras County by reading this eBook.
Once the water leaves the powerhouse, it flows back into a stream or river, where it builds energy as it continues to fall down the canyon. Further downstream, that water can enter another penstock and be used to make power again.
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