Earlier today we visited the Henry Borden power plant in Cubatao. The facility was located deep in the mountains in a forested region, which resulted in some great views and scenery during both the bus ride and tour. The winding road through the mountains, with views of rainforests and waterfalls, looked like a fake postcard you buy at the airport in order to convince your friends you're having more fun than you actually are. All in all, the views alone were worth the trip. Easily cracks my top 5 mountain views of all-time.
My initial expectations of the plant were a lot wetter than reality. I didn't know what to expect, but figured there'd be more splashing water and rushing channels. I'm sure it was there, but it was very well contained in the dam's infrastructure. Wouldn't even know water was involved if I didn't know this was a hydroelectric plant. This was an exciting tour, as I had no idea what this type of powerplant would look like, how the equipment was set up, or how the facility would be laid out. In this respect, the entire tour was new and adventurous. Its amazing that mankind can manipulate nature this way in order to benefit our power needs. Just up and moved a giant waterfall, directed it down pipes exactly where we wanted it, then made electricity that powers the world. Incredible.
Our friend Robert told us that the plant can generate up to 900 MW of power, which I believe is significant for a hydroplant. Compared to the 1.1 MW of the solar plant (granted it was primarily research, but for the sake of comparison) this was an eye opening number. They have the ability to control the water flow to allow for energy generation based on the current power needs, of which currently is around 500 MW. This power is then sold to a distributor nearby, who sells it to multiple states within Brazil. However, being that the entire operation is dependent on a resource (water/rain) that is not always dependable, the system is very susceptible to droughts and/or natural disasters. Obviously a lack of water would shut down the process, but what if a storm overfilled the reservoir? Would this lead to catastrophic failure of the pipes and turbines? Would it spill over and destroy the entire complex? Is there a way to counteract something like this? Or is this just not a possibility in Cubatao Brazil? Who knows, but makes you think.
The 'external' turbine room was pretty interesting to see. The scale of the shell used to catch the water was staggering. Each one must have been 15' in diameter, and the turbine shafts were 3 feet of solid steel (this is assumed, probably some kind of steel-hybrid). There were 8 turbines for the external operation, which in total produced 460 MW of power. Every day during the week they test one of the turbines for general maintenance, to check for cracks and any malfunctions. This is done with a magnetic power thrown into the nozzle, with magnets dragging the powder into any imperfections.
The internal operation was my favorite part of the tour. We walked into some lighted cave deep into a jungled mountain, and keep going down. These turbines rotate in the vertical axis, rather than horizontal like the external ones, which I assume is most beneficial based on the water flow underground.
Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to the Henry Borden plant today. Hydroelectric is an incredibly viable source of power, and completely renewable as long as nature allows. The location was amazing to see, and the views were worth it alone. Hardhats made us all look like legit engineers. All in all, it was a great and unique experience, and I really came away with a better understanding of how hydroelectric power is generated and applied in the working world.
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