Guidelines for Design of Intakes for Hydroelectric Plants

Today, the designer of a hydroelectric facility has to take a variety of issues into consideration including the protection of and mitigation for fish and wildlife, the protection of recreational opportunities, and the general preservation of environmental quality. This results in the need for accurate, continuously-regulated bypass flows, fish entrainment prevention, and other environmental mitigation. These can reduce the amount of head and flows available for power generation. Therefore, power plants have to operate at maximum efficiency to make the most of the available head and flows in order to be economically viable. Under the Energy Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a multi-discipline task committee was formed to develop a state-of-the-art guidelines document for the sound environmental design of hydropower intakes. This document, "ASCE Guidelines Design of Intakes for Hydroelectric Plants", includes over 400 pages, many of which are graphics and photos, that provide information on intake types and features, hydraulic design considerations, forebay, trashrack and gate design, structural design, fisheries considerations, ice, sedimentation, environmental factors, hydraulic models, and evaluation of existing intakes. These guidelines factor in years of experience of specialists from the engineering and biological communities, and is intended for use by new planners and designers of intake structures for hydroelectric plants, as well as provide specialized information on a variety of topics related to intake design.