Commercial diver died in India after being trapped underwater for more than two days.

[AXL72]

I very much doubt that there was a failure to shut down the station for commerical reasons. Hydro power stations can be started and stopped very quickly at minimal cost, this one in particular is designed to run forward as a generating unit during the day and backwards as a pump storage unit during the night so in my opinion this poor sole wasn't trapped by something connected to the operation of the turbines themselves.

Dave

PS Sorry I cannot post the link to details about the station but google "Purulia power project"

I very much doubt that there was a failure to shut down the station for commerical reasons. Hydro power stations can be started and stopped very quickly at minimal cost, this one in particular is designed to run forward as a generating unit during the day and backwards as a pump storage unit during the night so in my opinion this poor sole wasn't trapped by something connected to the operation of the turbines themselves.

Dave

PS Sorry I cannot post the link to details about the station but google "Purulia power project"

Wait, the kinetic energy of the water flowing downwards through the dam always flows in one direction. At off-peak hours, some of the power that is generated by the kinetic energy of the flowing water through the turbine(s) is routed through wires to pumps that pump water from a lower reservoir back to the higher elevation reservoir to be stored back again as potential energy which in turn quickly becomes kinetic energy as the water flows back through the dam. The pumping is through a totally seperate pipe or set of pipes that the inlet tunnels for the turrbines.

Previous news reports indicated that the leak was affecting the efficiency and amount of power generation. This indicates that his foot was stuck in something that affected power generation.

Right or wrong (and I could be wrong), I assume that power plants such as Parulia simply cannot shut down. There is usually power supply contractual obligations that must be met by Parulia or heavy fines are levied against the Parulia power project. This power generation dam / project has 4 units (turbines), and I assume that one unit (if not 2 or 3) is always operating while one to three (the second third and/or fourth) is undergoing maintenance or is shut down during offpeak demand hours. However, at least one unit is usually always running. Complete shutdown of the power generation is usually not an option.

The pumped water flows in one direction through seprate pipes thatn the intake pipes or tunnels that flow water through the turbines.

 

[sydney-diver]

Wait, the kinetic energy of the water flowing downwards through the dam always flows in one direction. At off-peak hours, some of the power that is generated by the kinetic energy of the flowing water through the turbine(s) is routed through wires to pumps that pump water from a lower reservoir back to the higher elevation reservoir to be stored back again as potential energy which in turn quickly becomes kinetic energy as the water flows back through the dam. The pumping is through a totally seperate pipe or set of pipes that the inlet tunnels for the turrbines.

That's not how the pump storage plants I've worked on operate. During peak hours, the turbines operate as generators, the energy in the water spins the tubines producing power which is sold into the grid. During off peak hours, the turbines run as pumps, drawing power from the grid and pumping water back up. So you're using water to sell power to the grid when the power price is high and buying power from the grid to pump when the price is low. It's also possible to shut the penstock gates to prevent any water flowing through the pipes to the turbines, or to pressurise the turbine with air so the penstocks are full but the turbine is idling.

So it would appear that the leak was above the gate system so couldn't be isolated.

Dave

PS DecoDave is also my account, I created it, forgot the details so created a new account.