Water Powered Electricity...

The turbines we use generate electricity with an output range of 50 Watts to 6 Kilowatts providing energy from 1,2 to 144 kWh (Kilowatt hours) per day. Depending on the flow and head (vertical drop) of the available water we can install Pelton, Turgo and low head propeller turbines.

The head can vary from 1 to 150 meters and the flow from 0.67 to 60 litres/second. The higher the head and the bigger the flow, the more power you can produce. The output tension range is 12, 24, 48 and 120 volts DC and 230 volts AC.

Example : A flow of 10 litres per second and a head of 6 meters will generate 350 Watts times 24 hours which is 8,4 kWh per day, more than adequate to power a big house.

Who can benefit...

Not everyone will be in a position to benefit from hydro produced electricity. The obvious reason for this is that not everyone has a stream, river or acequia running passed their property.

For those of you that do have a water supply that passes by then you may be able to gain substantial amounts of energy from it.

One of the great things about hydro generated electricity is that it does not affect those below you on the waterway. You can (with the appropriate permissions if the waterway is not yours) simply divert the water through your turbine and then back into the waterway. No water is lost and no changes to the flow rates are made.

Why go Hydro...

Hydro power is cheaper than you would think! A turbine in the above mentioned example would cost around 30% of an equivalent solar pv panel system excluding installation.

In most cases water is running everyday, the sun is not always shining! The combination of solar, hydro and wind power can provide enough energy to run a heat pump for central heating purposes, certainly in the case of under floor heating.

And as always, it is a very very environmentally friendly way to power a dwelling.

So how does it work then...

There are a couple of main types of turbine that we use. There is the Stream Engine and there is the Low Head Turbine both of which are based on the same principle but use different propeller designs.

You can take a look at this page to see a fuller description of the two systems.

The in-depth details

But as a quick overview, the idea is this:

If you have access to a fairly good head (the distance from the top of the pipe to the bottom) then you can use the Stream Engine. If you have a fairly small drop, as shown in the picture on the right, then you can use the Low Head system.

Water passes through both systems under pressure, forcing the propeller within the turbine to spin, hence generating electricity via a generator (a motor in reverse if you want to think of it that way)

What's next if I want to use hydro generated power...

There are a number of things that you need to check before starting the ball rolling:

• Do you have access / rights to the waterway.
• Does the water flow regularly or is it intermittent.
• Is the waterway close enough to run a power supply to the property.
• How clean is the waterway (debris and detritus that will harm the generator.

Our engineers will be able to do a complete survey of the waterway and its proximity to your property, but you will need to ensure that all relevant permissions are in place (normally only need consideration if the water is not on your property).

If you have further questions or need more advice, then check on our forum for more FAQ (frequently asked questions) and / or sign in and ask your questions there.

So back to those Batteries...

The nice thing about hydro power is that it can easily be combined with PV (photovoltaic) systems or other battery charging systems with inverters. This means that you can supplement your solar on bad days or long evening....

And what about running costs...

Well there is the initial startup costs, but these units are pretty robust so will keep you going for a long time. There is a bit of maintenance needed with these systems as the water flow can bring all sorts of unknown objects into the system, but they are easily taken off line and cleaned. You can do this yourself or we can provide a maintenance service for you.