Humans have been harnessing the power of water for thousands of years. The potential energy of water has been used to drive mills, pumps and for numerous other applications. Converting the potential and kinetic energy of water to electrical energy however, is a relatively new concept. Modern hydroelectric power plants represent the pinnacle of hydropower engineering, but how do they work? How efficient are they? Are they really 'green'? In this course we are going to answer all of these questions and many more! You will learn:

• What role hydroelectricity plays in today's power engineering market.
• What the common hydro power plant components are (penstock, gates, spillway, turbines etc.).
• Hydro power plant terminology (headwater, tail race, etc.).
• How different hydro power plants work (dam, run of the river, tidal, pumped storage etc.).
• The differences between several hydro turbines and their typical applications (Kaplan, Pelton, Francis).
• And a lot lot more!

The course is designed to take you from zero to hero concerning hydroelectric power plant engineering knowledge. Even if you already have some background power plant engineering knowledge, this course will serve as an efficient refresher. Whatever your level of understanding, or engineering background (electrical engineering, automobile engineering, power engineering, oil and gas, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering etc.), we guarantee you will have never taken an engineering course like this one (unless you have taken one of our other courses!).

Interactive 3D models are used to show you each type of hydroelectric power plant, their main components and each type of hydroelectric turbine. 

Hope to see you on the course!