by teddlesruss dat who

Created on: October 29, 2008

First of all, you should realise, that like all alternative energy solutions, micro hydro power is one of a long list of alternatives energy solutions. It may work in your situation, you'll need to evaluate this before you commit money and resources to the project.

- What it is:

A micro hydro power installation is either a water wheel or turbine which is powered by the energy in flowing water and which drives a generator or alternator or some other way to provide useable energy. The water may be flowing along a shallow course or a steep waterfall, there are several ways to exploit and use the energy of the failling water. That energy is supplied in the first place by sunlight which evaporated the water and rained it down on a higher spot, giving the water the potential to do work. Gravity releases this energy in the form of kinetic energy we use to generate useable work.

Most micro hydro power projects fall into one of two categories, a single-household solution (much like the waterwheels of old harnessed the kinetic energy of water to turn a mill wheel) or a small community project. (The term "micro" tends to be applied to plant that generates up to 10KWh, after that it's generally accepted that you're no longer designing a micro system.)

- What it needs:

You need a place where water is either flowing at a decent rate and you can intercept it, or a place where you can divert the water over a fairly decent drop. This will determine if you use a paddlewheel or a turbine. This place also needs to be fairly close to where you want to use the generated electricity. (But see below)

Don't forget that at each transformation, you will lose some energy to mechanical and electrical inefficiencies, so you need to consider all of this when you design the plant. You also need to survey the site to establish that it can provide the requisite energy - how much water can you intercept, how high a drop can you run it over, giving how much kinetic energy?

- One thing to keep in mind:

A device called a "hydraulic ram" can be used to raise the height (known as "head") of your water supply, if you have a storage device (high water tank, or a small dam higher up the hill) to hold a supply of water. The hydraulic ram is placed in an area of less useable flow, and it uses the energy of a lagre amount of water to raise a smaller quantity of water to a much greater height. The chief attraction of hydraulic rams is that they are very low maintenance and will reliably operate in an area of low

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