Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment

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George W. Active Contributor Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment 04/06/2009 2:43 PM
	Our Local REMC has just announced they are going to double our rates starting in June - - - - I have a stream that 9 months of the year starts on my property ( out of springs ) that will keep a 24" culvert full year around ( the other three months I get run off from neighbors up stream as well ) I also have a named creek flowing thru another part of the property that runs about 12" deep and 20' wide during low flow. I have about 10' of fall in the mile it goes thru my property. It would be easy to dam the small stream up and hold about 15 acres of water with out affecting my neighbors so that I could hold the massive runoff we get every spring and fall. The creek is considered "navitagible" by the state so I'm sure I cannot dam it although when the beavers did a couple of years ago I could not believe the energy stored and released when we blew the dam. What equipment is available ( in this state I would be allowed to sell my excess back to the grid) or do I have enough potential to make it worth while? On the flat ground about 50 miles north of here many farmers are putting up wind mills and selling the power to the grid.
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edignan Guru Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Borrego Springs Posts: 2636 Good Answers: 62	#1 Re: Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment 04/06/2009 2:59 PM
	One of my favorite (engineering lite but sweeping span) resources; Homepower. Note that many of these systems use head without dams, because....for the issues associated with damming navigable or non-navigable waters check with a local attorney who deals with water rights. There is NOTHING trivial about this in most of the country. Should you get lucky and find you have the right to do this, then you are into a whole new set of engineering issues - and I would seriously consider whether you actually want to since I could not believe the energy stored and I bet you can generate all the power you want without. __________________ "If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
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april05 Power-User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Troy, NY Posts: 388 Good Answers: 3	#2 Re: Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment 04/06/2009 4:08 PM
	Hi George W. - I organized a tour of a historic hydro plant in rural Halfmoon, NY. The equipment's industrial-spec. - energy source is the Hudson River, north of Albany - but maybe you could glean some ideas from the blog and and YouTube video (video link is inside blog): http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/7029/Charles-Proteus-Steinmetz-The-Wizard-of-GE-Part-4. Much luck with your project. - Larry
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lighthasmass Guru Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Burnt Ranch, State of Jefferson Posts: 688 Good Answers: 20	#3 Re: Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment 04/06/2009 11:28 PM
	If you have a large enough volume to measure in CFS (cubic feet per second) give Canyon Industries a call. They'll custom build a unit to your specs. Expect to pay a dollar a watt for the unit plus installation. If your looking at GPM try ES&D. They have a low head unit which will put out 1kVA. A simple equation for hydro production is feet of head X volume in gallons per minute X .10 will give you your expected production in watt hours. Good luck. __________________ “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” -Mark Twain
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George W. Active Contributor Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	#4 In reply to #3 Re: Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment 04/07/2009 8:08 AM
	Thanks so much for your input. This is the type of info I need to make a decision.
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dadw5boys Guru Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Piney Flats, Tennessee Posts: 1740 Good Answers: 23	#5 Re: Sourcing Hydroelectric Equipment 04/10/2009 8:19 AM
	If you build a dam plan to build to prevent under cut when you do. The water falling over a dam will cut back at the bottom of the dam. __________________ If you never do anything you never have problems.
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