Exploring a Hydroelectric Power Plant

[Abby Brown] It's a beautiful day to be outdoors! There's some great fishing going on at Lake Red Rock right here in Iowa. There are a lot of waterways to enjoy, but from this particular spot I get to see something powerful: the Lake Red Rock Hydroelectric Plant. Let's go take a tour! Before we meet our tour guide, let's talk about hydroelectric power. "Hydro" means water, so at this plant they're using fast moving water, like falling water, to generate electricity. It's renewable, or clean, because water is a natural resource; it comes from the earth. And the same water can be used again and again to make more and more energy. This hydroelectric plant is right on a lake, so it has plenty of natural resource to keep it going. Let's go check it out.

Hey Vern! Nice to see you!

[Vern Cochran] Hi, nice to meet you.

[Abby] So this is a huge facility and you run it, but from this office space and all of these computers and gadgets you can do everything you need to do right?

[Vern] Yes we can.

[Abby] So what happens here?

[Vern] Well, this is our control room for the Red Rock Hydroelectric Project.

[Abby] Okay.

[Vern] And we can start and stop and run our turbines and generate electricity using water.

[Abby] So the power that you make here is used immediately? 

[Vern] Yes, we send it right into the grid in in the West Pella substation and it's used right here in the local area. So 13,000 homes on an annual basis; that's how much power this facility can generate.

[Abby] 13,000 homes, and all of those cell phone chargers, all of those refrigerators, all of those mixers, video game consoles, TVs, and every single thing that you plug into an outlet in your home all of that power comes from this hydroelectric facility?

[Vern] Yes.

[Abby] Wow! Check this out! Where are we?

[Vern] We're on the main operating floor of the Red Rock Hydroelectric Plant.

[Abby] Right where Otis hangs out?

[Vern] This is where Otis hangs out, he's our little plant buddy he's been coming here for three and a half years

[Abby] That's fantastic! Hey Otis! So what goes on here?

[Vern] So right in front of us here is one of our two generators;

[Abby] Okay.

[Vern] where we actually make the electricity.

[Abby] Okay. That's the generator...

[Vern] That's the generator.

[Abby] Then where's the turbine?

[Vern] The turbine is 60 feet below, 64 feet down, six stories, way down in the ground.

[Abby] Wow! Straight below us! Now I know that we want to get that turbine to turn right? and that's where the water comes in?

[Vern] And that's what the water does.

[Abby] Wo where does the water come from?

[Vern] The water comes from the lake right upstream

[Abby] Okay

[Vern] Comes down about 50 or 60 feet, through the turbine, and then out to the river.

[Abby] And the way it's designed it comes in all around this circle right? From every direction?

[Vern] It comes in like a snail shell, all the way around in a circle and then drops down in and then out to the river.

[Abby] And you can control that right? You want to control that, and why and how do you do that?

[Vern] We control the-- it has gates that open and close and that controls the water flow into the into the turbine and limits how much power we can make.

[Abby] Okay so the turbine is way down there, it's turning because the water is falling onto it, and you know exactly where those blades need to be to get it to go exactly how fast you want it to go to make the generator create electricity.

[Vern] Exactly, yeah.

[Abby] Awesome! So hydro power is renewable right?

[Vern] Yes it is.

[Abby] And how is that so?

[Vern] Well, water is a natural resource it comes from the earth. we use the water, it passes through the turbine, and it can go downstream and run another hydro plant. So we don't have to process it it's just a natural reoccurring substance

[Abby] The water doesn't get dirty, it doesn't get damaged, it doesn't get used up. It keeps raining we could actually use the same water over and over again...

[Vern] Many times

[Abby] ...to keep making more and more power. So does hydro power or a facility like this have an impact on the environment?

[Vern] This particular facility has very little impact on the environment. It has the most fish friendly turbine that's available in the hydro industry

[Abby] So the fish go right through there?

[Vern] They have the ability to pass through the turbine and right into the river.

[Abby] What a ride for them. Hydroelectric power has actually been around for thousands of years. Back then people used water wheels to grind flour and to saw wood. Can you think of any other ways hydroelectric power could have been used way back then? Natural resources offer lots of ways to have fun, but using that same natural resource for energy in a clean and renewable way makes me think of this water in a whole new way.

[Announcer] Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by the following supporters.

(text on screen Find Iowa, Coons Foundation, Pella, Gilchrist Foundation)

(text on screen Iowa PBS Education)