Could piped water produce hydroulic electric power?

Question

we are builting a dam for domestic purposes on the highlands (of 2400m asl) to supply it to lowland (0m asl). the horizontal distance would be 60km at most. for this purpose we are going to use a 250mm diameter pipes, from the dam to the lowland city.

It is just came to mind if the gravity difference could be of any use, as we will have high potential energy. Is there any technology that can change this potential engery (hydroulic) of the piped water into some other form like electical energy that would be used for other small purposes. give me if you have any clue, it is really not a hypothetical quiestion.

thanks
Filmon

Answer 1

The amount of power is a simple calculation.

It is P = Q * gamma * h

where P=power(J), Q=flow(cubic meters/second), gamma=density of water(kg/cubic meter) and h=height(meters)

You have to take away the losses and inefficiencies from this.

Answer 2

Yes it can, below is an extract from wikipedia.org theres tonnes on there if you are interested, theres a nice diagram there too.
Timster

Hydro-electric power

Hydraulic turbine and electrical generator.Hydroelectric power now supplies about 715,000 MWe or 19% of world electricity (16% in 2003). Large dams are still being designed. Apart from a few countries with an abundance of it, hydro power is normally applied to peak-load demand, because it is readily stopped and started. Nevertheless, hydroelectric power is probably not a major option for the future of energy production in the developed nations because most major sites within these nations with the potential for harnessing gravity in this way are either already being exploited or are unavailable for other reasons such as environmental considerations.

Hydropower produces essentially no carbon dioxide or other harmful emissions, in contrast to burning fossil fuels or gas, and so is not a significant contributor to global warming through CO2. Recent reports have linked reservoir construction to methane, which forms out of decaying submerged plants which grow in the dried up parts of the basis in times of drought. Methane is a greenhouse gas.

Hydroelectric power can be far less expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuel or nuclear energy. Areas with abundant hydroelectric power attract industry with low cost electricity. Recently, increased environmental concerns surrounding hydroelectric power, have begun to outweigh cheap electricity in some countries.

The chief advantage of hydroelectric dams is their ability to handle seasonal (as well as daily) high peak loads. When the electricity demands drop, the dam simply stores more water. Some electricity generators use water dams to store excess energy (often during the night), by using the electricity to pump water up into a basin. The electricity can be re-generated when demand increases. In practice the utilization of stored water in river dams is sometimes complicated by demands for irrigation which may occur out of phase with peak electrical demands.

Answer 3

Yes, put the amount of power created is based on flow. the basic problem is collecting the water for the next use of it.

Answer 4

why no longer ? idea-about this means source too . there might want to might want to be a by technique of bypass for mantinance yet might want to paintings large .with three hundred.000.000 human beings the bypass might want to be consistent .or be fore a storage section . preflow ?