Specifications

6
Hydroelectric Power Hydroelectric power plants use mechanical energy from falling
water to turn a generator.
Newer Renewable Energy Of the power generation approaches discussed so far, only
Sources hydroelectric power is a renewable energy source. Hydroelectric
power has been around from the earliest days of electric power
generation. In recent years, a small, but growing, percentage
of electrical energy is generated using wind or solar power or
through a host of other renewable approaches.
AC Generators Most of the technologies in use today to generate electricity
utilize an AC generator. AC generators operate on the theory
of electromagnetic induction. This simply means that, when
conductors are moved through a magnetic field, a voltage is
induced into the conductors.
Although commercial power generators are complex machines,
for the purpose of explanation, a basic generator can be
constructed of magnets, an armature, slip rings, brushes, and
some type of resistive load. An armature is any number of
conductors wound in loops which rotate through the magnetic
field created by the magnets. For simplicity, one loop is shown
below.