List of hydroelectric power station failures

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This is a list of major hydroelectric power station failures due to damage to a hydroelectric power station or its connections. Every generating station trips from time to time due to minor defects and can usually be restarted when the defect has been remedied. Various protections are built into the stations to cause shutdown before major damage is caused. Some hydroelectric power station failures may go beyond the immediate loss of generation capacity, including destruction of the turbine itself, reservoir breach and significant destruction of national grid infrastructure downstream. These can take years to remedy in some cases.

Where a generating station is large compared to the connected grid capacity, any failure can cause extensive disruption with in the network. A serious failure in a proportionally large hydroelectric generating station or its associated transmission line will remove a large block of power from the grid that may lead to widespread disturbances.

List of failures

Plant Location Description Year Reference
Möhne Reservoir Ruhr destroyed during WWII by RAF Lancaster bombers during Operation Chastise. 5.1 MW capacity lost for about 6 weeks. 1943
Edersee Dam Ruhr destroyed during WWII by RAF Lancaster bombers during Operation Chastise. 1943
Schoellkopf Power Station Niagara Falls, NY Destruction of the plant as it fell from the gorge wall and collapsed into the river, caused by water seeping into the back wall of the power station. One worker was killed and damage was estimated at $100 million USD. 1956 [2]
Mangla Dam Kashmir, Pakistan The power house was damaged due to an Indian Air Force raid during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The 1000 MW hydro project was temporarily out of service. 1971 [3]
Banqiao Dam China 26,000 dead from flooding, 145,000 dead from subsequent famine and epidemics, 11 million homeless. Caused loss of generation, dam failed by overtopping in a 1-in-2,000 year flood[4] 1975
Srisailam Dam India Due to poor reservoir operation, flood water overflowed into the semi underground power house (770 MW) from the point where a protection wall was to be constructed before power house commissioning in 1987. Flood water deluge caused the complete submergence of power house, massive debris accumulation, electrical equipment replacement and loss of power generation for a year 1998 [5]
Bieudron Hydroelectric Power Station Switzerland 1269 MW loss, penstock rupture, three fatalities, flooding and loss of generating capacity 2000 [6]
Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station Missouri, USA Due to its being designed without a spillway and continuing to operate when management knew the gauging system was faulty, the upper reservoir was overtopped when water continued to be pumped from the lower reservoir after the upper was already full. A large section of the upper reservoir failed, draining over a billion gallons of water (4 million m³) in less than half an hour. There were no fatalities, but five people were injured. The failure resulted in permanent damage to the surrounding landscape and power generation did not resume until 2010. 2005 [7][8][9]
Itaipu Dam Brazil 18 GW power generation loss due to storm damage of transmission lines 2009 see also: 2009 Brazil and Paraguay blackout
Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam Russia 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro accident, 6 GW power generation loss, 75 fatalities, due to turbine failure 2009 [10]
Srisailam Dam India Unprecedented flood and poor reservoir operation and an upstream dam failure causing the complete submergence of power house (770 MW). Massive debris accumulation, electrical equipment replacement and loss of total generation capacity for a year. 2009 [11]
Vishnuprayag hydro electric station (400 MW) India Flash floods resulted in accumulation of huge quantity of muck and debris in the dam reservoir 2013 [12]
Dhauliganga hydro electric station (280 MW) India Unprecedented flash floods in June, 2013 in the State of Uttarakhand causing the complete submergence of power house. Massive debris accumulation, electrical equipment replacement and loss of total generation capacity for more than six months. 2013 [13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Schoellcopf collapse
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-forgotten-legacy-of-the-banqiao-dam-collapse-7821
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ http://www.bpa.gov/power/PG/NW-HydroOperators-Forum/Materials/CaseStudyT-Sauk_Ehasz-Paul.pdf Missouri University of Science & Technology: The 2005 Upper Taum Sauk Dam Failure:A Case History
  9. ↑ http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/safety/projects/taum-sauk/staff-rpt.asp Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Staff Report
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Managing historic flood in the Krishna river basin in the year 2009
  12. ↑ http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/directive-to-vishnuprayag-project-builders-on-dumping-of-silt.html
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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