Magat Dam

History[edit]
The construction and appurtenant structures was authorized by P.D. 693 signed on May 7, 1975 by
the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The Magat Dam was constructed in 1978 and inaugurated
by the Late Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos on October 27, 1982 [1]and started operations in 1983.[2]
Implementation of this multipurpose project was based on the preliminary study conducted in 1973
by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) with the assistance of the United States Bureau of
Reclamation (USBR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Subsequent detailed and extensive dam site investigation and engineering studies further confirmed
the feasibility of what is now known as NIA's most daring infrastructure project and one of Asia's
biggest dams today.
It was Southeast Asia's first large multipurpose dam.[3] The dam is part of the Magat River
Multipurpose Project (MRMP) which was financed by the World Bank and whose purpose is to
improve on the existing Magat River Irrigation System (MARIS) and to triple the production of rice in
the Cagayan River basin.[1]
The project was jointly financed by the Philippine Government and the World Bank which extended a
US$150M loan to finance the foreign exchange requirement. In addition, a US$9M loan
from Bahrain was obtained for the purchase of other equipment for thediversion tunnels, soils
laboratory and model testing.

Discussion
Magat Dam in Ramon, isabela used to be the largest dam in the Philippines back when it was built in 1983.
The controversial San Roque Dam (featured previously) has since eclipsed it in both structural and reservoir
size in 2004. Magat Dam generates 360 megawatts of electricity (with a water head of 81 meters high) and
supplies irrigation water for approximately 85,000 hectares of farmland in Isabela and surrounding areas.
The dam was constructed at a cost of 6.5 billion pesos and consists of 3.1 kilometers of rock-fill
construction. The dam and its watershed is managed by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), while the
National Power Corporation (NPC) managed the hydroelectric plant, before the plant was turned over to SN
Aboitiz Power Inc. in April 2007 as part of the privatization of power plants under the Electric Power Industry
Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.
Like the San Roque Dam, Magat Dam had its share of controversies, issues, and problems. For one, the
reservoir inundated the traditional lands of the Ifugao tribes. Second, the useful lifespan of the dam was
shortened from 50 years to around 35 years because of increased sedimentation in the reservoir

(aggravated by the massive 1990 Luzon earthquake) and damage to the dam itself. Finally, Magat River,
which is the river dammed, forms the boundary between the provinces of Ifugao and Isabela. Well, you can
correctly guess that theres a dispute between Ifugao and Isabela regarding with the dam: Ifugao is
contesting the tax proceeds from the privatization of the hydroelectric plant and the compromise reached
was that the two provinces would share equally in the tax revenue.

Advantages of Hydroelectric Dams

Cheap Electricity: The operating cost of a hydroelectric dam is minimal as there is no costly fossil

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fuel required. Hydroelectric dams also tend to last longer than thermal power plants.
Less Emissions: Hydroelectric power plants produces less green house gas emissions when
compared to a thermal power plant.

Disadvantages of Hydroelectric Dams

Effect on Eco-Systems: The construction of a dam affects the eco-system of the river and

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surrounding area. Some species of fish cannot increase their population because of dams.
Relocation: Dams are often constructed in populated locations causing both humans and animals
to relocate.

Green House Gas Emissions: Althoug hydroelectric dams have considerabley fewer emissions
than thermal power plants, the blocked water in the dam does cause the release of methane into the
atmosphere.

There are many advantages to using hydroelectric power, but no form of producing energy is without its
downfalls. We hope continued research and development will minimize the disadvantages.

Familiarization of equipment system in pp

Six Important Components of Hydroelectric Power Plants (magat dam)

1) Dam
The dam is the most important component of hydroelectric power plant. The dam is built on a large river that has
abundant quantity of water throughout the year. It should be built at a location where the height of the river is
sufficient to get the maximum possible potential energy from water.

2) water reservoir

The water reservoir is the place behind the dam where water is stored. The water in the reservoir is located higher
than the rest of the dam structure. The height of water in the reservoir decides how much potential energy the water
possesses. The higher the height of water, the more its potential energy. The high position of water in the reservoir
also enables it to move downwards effortlessly.
The height of water in the reservoir is higher than the natural height of water flowing in the river, so it is considered to
have an altered equilibrium. This also helps to increase the overall potential energy of water, which helps ultimately
produce more electricity in the power generation unit.

3) Intake or Control Gates

These are the gates built on the inside of the dam. The water from reservoir is released and controlled through these
gates. These are called inlet gates because water enters the power generation unit through these gates. When the
control gates are opened the water flows due to gravity through the penstock and towards the turbines. The water
flowing through the gates possesses potential as well as kinetic energy.

4) The Penstock
The penstock is the long pipe or the shaft that carries the water flowing from the reservoir towards the power
generation unit, comprised of the turbines and generator. The water in the penstock possesses kinetic energy due to
its motion and potential energy due to its height.
The total amount of power generated in the hydroelectric power plant depends on the height of the water reservoir
and the amount of water flowing through the penstock. The amount of water flowing through the penstock is
controlled by the control gates.

5) Water Turbines
Water flowing from the penstock is allowed to enter the power generation unit, which houses the turbine and the
generator. When water falls on the blades of the turbine the kinetic and potential energy of water is converted into the
rotational motion of the blades of the turbine. The rotating blades causes the shaft of the turbine to also rotate. The
turbine shaft is enclosed inside the generator. In most hydroelectric power plants there is more than one power
generation unit.
There is large difference in height between the level of turbine and level of water in the reservoir. This difference in
height, also known as the head of water, decides the total amount of power that can be generated in the hydroelectric
power plant.
There are various types of water turbines such as Kaplan turbine, Francis turbine, Pelton wheels etc. The type of
turbine used in the hydroelectric power plant depends on the height of the reservoir, quantity of water and the total
power generation capacity.

6) Generators
It is in the generator where the electricity is produced. The shaft of the water turbine rotates in the generator, which
produces alternating current in the coils of the generator. It is the rotation of the shaft inside the generator that
produces magnetic field which is converted into electricity by electromagnetic field induction. Hence the rotation of the
shaft of the turbine is crucial for the production of electricity and this is achieved by the kinetic and potential energy of
water. Thus in hydroelectricity power plants potential energy of water is converted into electricity.

Fuctions
Dams have two main functions. The first is to store water to compensate for fluctuations in
river flow or in demand for water and energy. The second to raise the level of the water
upstream to enable water to be diverted into a canal or to increase hydraulic head the
difference in height between the surface of a reservoir and the river downstream. The
creation of storage and head allow dams to generate electricity (hydropower provides nearly
a fifth of the worlds electricity); to supply water for agriculture, industries and households; to
control flooding; and to assist river navigation by providing regular flows and drowning
rapids. Other reasons for building large dams include reservoir fisheries and leisure
activities such as boating.
Hydropower generation capacity is a function of the amount of flow and hydraulic head.
Although the head is usually related to the height of the dam, a low dam can have a high
head if the powerhouse with its turbines and generators is located some distance
downstream of the dam. Pipes known as penstocks direct water to the turbines. Once the
water has spun a turbine it flows into the tailwater below the dam through a tailrace pipe.
One advantage of hydro over other forms of electricity generation is that reservoirs can
store water during times of low demand and then quickly start generating during the peak
hours of electricity use. Thermal power plants take much longer to start up from cold than
hydro plants. Hydros suitability for generating valuable peaking power has in recent years
encouraged a boom in what are known as pumpedstorage plants. These involve two,
normally relatively small, reservoirs, one above the other. During peak hours, the water from
the upper reservoir falls through turbines into the lower one, generating electricity. The water
is then pumped back uphill again using cheap offpeak electricity.

Weirs and barrages are different types of runofriver dams, this means that while they
raise the water level upstream they create only a small reservoir (head pond) and cannot
effectively regulate downstream flows. A weir is normally a low wall of stone, concrete or
wicker. A barrage can be a huge structure ten or twenty metres high extending for hundreds
of metres across the bottom reaches of a wide river. The electricity generation of a runof
river hydropower dam is proportional to the flow of the river at any one time.
While they tend to have less damaging consequences than storage dams, runofriver
dams are far from environmentally benign, and the distinction between a runofriver and a
storage dam is not always clear. Dam proponents have in some cases sought to downplay
the impact of planned dams by claiming that they will be runofriver. Thailands Pak Mun
Dam, for example, is repeatedly described by officials as a runofriver project yet for much
of the time the dams gates remain closed and it operates as a storage dam. Despite years
of protestations from its builders and funders that it would have minimal impacts on the river,
Pak Mun managed within a couple of years to destroy one of the countrys richest
freshwater fisheries.
Just as every river and watershed is unique, so is every dam site and every dam. There are,
however, three main types of dam design embankment, gravity and arch selected
mainly according to damsite topography and geology. Earth and rock embankments, which
are usually the cheapest to build, make up more than 80 per cent of all large dams.
Embankments are generally built across broad valleys near sites where the large amounts
of construction material they need can be quarried. Large embankment dams are the most
massive structures humanity has ever erected. The most voluminous dam in the world,
Tarbela in Pakistan, contains 106 million cubic metres of earth and rock, more than 40 times
the volume of the Great Pyramid.
Gravity dams are basically thick, straight walls of concrete built across relatively narrow
valleys with firm bedrock. Arch structures, also made from concrete, are limited to narrow
canyons with strong rock walls and make up only around four per cent of large dams. An
arch dam is in form like a normal architectural arch pushed onto its back, with its curved top
facing upstream and its feet braced against the sides of its canyon. The inherent strength of
the shape enables the thin wall of an arch dam to hold back a reservoir with only a fraction
of the concrete needed for a gravity dam of similar height.
A dam contains a number of structural features other than the main wall itself. Spillways are
used to discharge water when the reservoir threatens to become dangerously high. Dams
built across broad plains may include long lengths of ancillary dams and dykes. The five
reservoirs of Phase 1 of the La Grande hydropower scheme in northern Quebec, for

example, are impounded by eleven dams and more than 200 accompanying dykes
stretching for a total length of 124 kilometres.

Procedure:
-the operation of hydroelectric power plants start from the water stored in the
reservoir.
-the inlet gates that serves as the intake of water in the system will be open.
-the water flows in the in the penstock of the dam that serves as the tunnel or way
of the water.or
-the height of the water reservoir will be directly proportional to the stored energy in
the dam, then the waters flows to the turbine of the generator.
- the water flows in the river while the power generated from the flow of the water
will going to stored in the power house that serves as a big power bank.
-the power from the power house of generator has the connection to the power lines
for transmission.
-the inlet gates will be close again for the end of operation.
Conclusion:
I therefore conclude that there is six important components of the hydroelectric
power plant (Magat Dam) , namely the dam, water reservoir, intake or control
gates, penstock, water turbine and generator.