Lou,
Q: Lou asked me to visit a few river saving Web sites. Interesting stuff. After looking over the subject covered and the evidence, as it was presented, I put together the following response. [In fairness to Lou I have edited the post a bit]
A: You really should investigate in-stream hydro or run-of-river hydroelectric designs further. It’s a good design that incorporates river eco-balance too. Europeans are very much in favor of this technology. There is a 100 year history of Hydropower with both successes and failures to learn from.
By pressing the ‘not in my back yard’ case for Small & Micro hydro we easily create a no win ecologic and bad economic ROI situation. There is much to be lost ecologically by considering rivers as strictly off limits. Instead we should press for making responsible use economical and requiring governments to assist in the process instead of planting a multitude of conflicting regulations in the path to success.
The reality is that all the lost hydropower will be replaced with nuclear power, oil, gas and coal in nations that have that capacity. Those aren’t a good eco-energy-option in the long 300+ year term. These river use or restriction choices have potentially detrimental outcomes that go way beyond a simple local model to predict. These impacts affect economies and food supplies that must in turn depend on low cost local energy.
Unfortunately in the rush to paint Dams and Hydro as evil we left out Instream run-of-river Hydro systems which provide a much better eco balance than any other renewable energy source. Including solar which has large power fluctuations, chemicals & energy to produce, also takes huge land areas, wind which has large power fluctuations, bird & bat strikes, causes new vibrations and flashing blade visual psychological impacts on people living nearby, etc.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, nor a free energy. Every act has consequences.
Sincerely,
Jess
April 30th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I am chairman of Mendip Power Group, a shared interest group in Somerset UK. We have 15 mill site owners who are in the process of installing or restoring turbines in run of river sites. There are another 7 groupes in SW England doing the same thing. My own site has a 60kW Ossberger double regulated kaplan which produces about 330 MWh a year (rolling 12 month load factor at the moment is 72.3%). So you are correct run of river is a GOOD THING.
Anthony
April 30th, 2009 at 11:26 am
HI MARK[Jess] , I READ ONLY ONE POST ABOUT SMALL AND MICRO AIR HAMMERING . MY SLIM UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THIS ISSUE IS MUCH GREATER THAN MANY PEOPLE USING MICRO WOULD RUN INTO ??
WHAT I AM HOPING WILL TAKE PLACE IS THE LAY PERSON UNDERSTANDING HOW , WITH SOME GREATER CONFIDENCE , BE ABLE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WITH A GREATER CONFIDENCE — WATER TO REQUIRED TORQUE AT TURBINE — TO DRIVING A GENERATOR HEAD OF
( X ) KWH REQUIREMENTS ?
MICRO IS A PART OF THE INDUSTRY THAT , BACKYARD INVESTORS , PARTICIPATE IN . I NOTICED THAT SMALL-MICRO ARE TOGETHER IN THE TITLE , AS I UNDERSTAND CAN CAN BE BIG DIFFERENCES FROM THE TOP OF SMALL TO THE BOTTOM OF MICRO ?
MY INTEREST FOR CLARIFICATION IS TO SUPPLY TO 1700SQUARE FOOT HOUSES MAX .
I AM A BIT EXCITED TO SEE WHAT DEVELOPS ,I AM NEED A GOOD SOURCE OF RESEARCH AND UNDERSTANDING .
DO YOU THINK AT SOME POINT YOU WOULD DEVELOP AN ONLINE SEMINAR , AT SOME POINT ?
THANKS ,MIKE
April 30th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I’m interested in contacting companies that specialize in the installation of run of river hydro. Thank you and Stay Blessed.
I.b
May 1st, 2009 at 7:09 am
DO YOU KNOW IF I CAN BUY A TURBINE JUST ABOUT LIKE YOUR LOGO ON THIS PAGE?
WENDELL
May 1st, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Wendell – Were you asking about the 350 kW Pelton wheel? Or were you asking about the original Lester Pelton – Water wheel Patent at the top of the page by the logo on this SmallHydro blog site?
May 1st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Like to introduce myself. We are renewable energy and doing small to medium scale renewable energy projects in Indonesia.
New technologies in Hydro we are very interested in next to possible JV.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I have a low head of water,200 mm fall, is there a generator on the market which will work on this level of water ? Many thanks, Richard.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Dear Jess, Bangladesh is country with more than two hundred rivers and with nearly 500 sites where small hydroelectric are possible. But we lack technical and financial support. See you can find interested investors. We can arrange govt and public support. Thanking you.
SHEIKH DIN MOHAMMAD
May 20th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Hi my name is Andy and i live in the SW of the uk, Devon too be exact – please excuse me as i am a complete novice and just begining to find the right infomation to form a project brief for a river hydro system. I would be interested to know if there is a system that works like a dynamo using a paddle wheel to generate electricity. we have a fast flowing river in our locality and i am certain if i could find the right equipment and advise i could create a huge amount of energy.
Please let me know of any sites that may produce the equipment i am interested in or if i may have to consider designing and producing it
thanks in advance
Andy
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
Dear Andy,
I am quite sure that you have good motive and dream to recreate your stream for some thing more useful. But I am affraid if you can materialise your dream as you have confirmed that you have little knowledge about the hydropower.
I will suggest that you put more effort in getting the knowledge of hydropower.. It takes a team of several professional to construct a micro hydropower,.
I think,other freinds can equally contribute to this situation.
A good study and a fisibility is the key for a successful implementation of a hydropower.
Regards.
adokoi
June 11th, 2009 at 4:56 am
Dear Andy,
Perhaps I could be of some assistance in your endeavor. The company I work for (Fountain Design Ltd) has recently developed a direct-drive permanent magnet generator incorporating a fully sealed rotor and stator. This design is totally unique and the robust construction lends itself to the harsh environment of an on-river hydro application.
Also, with regards to pre-feasibility and/or feasibility studies, these are basically initial assessments purely to predict the potential power that could be generated from the site. The main purpose of this assessment is to give an indication if a site could be viable for development by establishing if there is enough potential power output to warrant development (also considers other affecting factors such as ecology, geology etc) .
The proof-of-concept of our device is available to view on our website http://www.fountaindesign.co.uk . If you are interested in our device, you could send us some figures (we can tell you exactly what we need and how to get it) and we’ll crunch some numbers to estimate hydropower potential of the site and calculate the electrical output that could be generated using our waterwheel at the site. Our full contact details are available on the website if you would like to get in touch.
Wishing you the best for your future enterprises.
Debra Taylor