Mission Into The Future - A Quest For Sustainability

LIVERPOOL, GREAT BRITAIN15 - 19 April 2013

A VISIT TO A POWER PLANT:HEPP Lotru - Ciunget

Presentation made by the Romanian team:Teachers: Ioana Stancut and Monica Ciulei

And students: Roxana Cocean and Damian Flori

How do we get electricity from water?

Hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants produce electricity in a similar way. In both cases a power source is used to turn a propeller-like piece called a turbine, which then turns a metal shaft in an electric generator which is the motor that produces electricity. A coal-fired power plant uses steam to turn the turbine blades; whereas a hydroelectric plant uses falling water to turn the turbine. The results are the same, but using water is a much CHEAPER and NON – POLLUTING way to produce electricity.

This is how a hydroelectric generator

looks like.

A hydraulic turbine converts the energy of flowing water into mechanical energy. A hydroelectric generator converts this mechanical energy into electricity.

A Visit to HEPP Lotru - Ciunget, Valcea County

On 31st of March 2013, 50 students and teachers from Magura School visited HEPP Lotru - Ciunget, situated in a mountainous area of Valcea County.

If you want to see the plant, you have to go 140 meters underground through a 1200 meters long tunnel . It took six years to build it, between 1966 and 1972.

The first hydro aggregate was put in use in November 1972.

When talking about its power (510 MegaWatts), Ciunget is the third biggest hydroelectric power plant that was installed on the rivers from Romania. It is the

country’s second biggest plant , after Portile de Fier 1, when it comes to the hydro energy that is produced.

In order to produce all this energy, HEPP Ciunget uses the water from Vidra Dam, the third man-made lake from Romania. The water from Vidra Dam is directed

through a 13.719 meters long network of underground tunnels. So the water falls from 809 meters.

This is Vidra Lake in summer

VIDRA DAM

The 1200 m long tunnel through which we were taken inside the plant

One of Ciunget hydro aggregates

The area and the entrance in the tunnel seen by students

The Generators and turbines’ Room – in reality

And seen from a student’s perspective …The drawing was made by Cristina Coada, a Romanian student you met during the project meeting in Syke , Germany.

The generators and the turbines: the biggest part of them is underground.

Curiosity: the Pelton type turbines were built in Resita, Romania, during the rule of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and were used from 1972

till 2009.

Note: the photos were taken from the Internet, as we were not allowed to take any photographs outside or inside the plant.

The turbines and generators seen by the students:

Watching a film about HEPP Ciunget

During the visit, an engineer explained us how everything works, he showed us a big map with : Vidra Dam and Lake, 4 other additional dams (Galbenul, Petrimanu, Jidoaia, Balindru), 3 pumping stations and the 3 hydroelectric plants: Ciunget (510 MW), Malaia

(18 MW) and Bradisor (115 MW).We also watched a film about Ciunget : the beautiful area where it is located,the building

of the plant and what it means for Romania’s energetical system.

We visited the plant divided in two

groups, so we have 2 group pictures

31st March 2013, HEPP Lotru – Ciunget

In 2009, Lotru-Ciunget hydroelectric power plant was shut

down completely for re-technologization. Until that moment

it produced 26 millions MW, summing-up over half a million

hours of functioning. The plant was back in use in February 2011, after a re-technologization process that meant investments of 88 millions

euros. The equipments of the hydro aggregates were modernized and thus the plant entered a new life cycle that will last for another 30

years.

This is a photo from the official inauguration.

Thank you for your attention!

ROMANIAApril 2013