Water Turbines

Don't know anything about the energy quotient of such an installation but would urge you to consider the possible environmental impacts to the area when considering the means of construction and also when considering any potential derogatory impacts to the inhabitants of your water shed.

 

You characterize too much, I think. People are people. Regardless of political bent, some will argue, some will help, and some will lie without giving it a second thought. Neither party (or supporter) has a corner on any of these traits.

As for an informative forum on hydro stuff, try this one http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/Forum/viewforum.php?f=27&sid=06e3850b00d27bb03ef04714d7633bf0

 

Mr Horse,

Google around for "Micro hydro". There are a several different options available. The costs really depend on your specific situation. Micro hydro is the best home energy option, I think, because the power derived from it is really reliable and if your installation is good you're capacity factor (how often your sytem is running and how close to it's max rating it's running at) can be really good. Sounds like you're located near a pretty sizable stream so you could potentially generate loads of power. Local regs/restrictions may apply. You'll defo want to talk with a professional about. You're in a great situation to stop paying energy bills to the utility. Good luck with and defo let us know what the outcome is! This is a first on PC AFAIK so I'll be really interested to hear about it.

 

I would recommend also going to:

homepower.com

Their focus is on power (solar/wind/water) for individual homeowners, not corporations or large installations. Note that one of their issues is free and downloadable. Take advantage of it.

 

Homepower is definately a good place to start looking. From everything I have looked at, micro hydro is by far the most cost effective renewable if you have a suitable location for it. Environmental impact is usually pretty negligible, as you are usually only looking at a partial diversion of the natural flow (no damming) and then returning the diverted part of the flow to its original path within a 100 yards or so.

rob

 

The last issue of Home Power (DEC/JAN) has a detailed story of a water turbine installation gone wrong (clogging, jamming, constant maintenance and repairs, low output). Then the owner gets a vastly better system and reports all the lessons learned from a real installation. Required reading if you are really serious about a micro turbine.

 

Definitely read Home Power. Best magazine out there for renewable and independent power technologies.

On thing though. I don't know if a "fast moving" stream is really all you need.

My recollection is that you need a good "head" (height of water drop) to generate good power. Not just fast moving water (flow).

 

It depends. Velocity and Mass can substitute for head (which is just a measure of potential energy that can be converted to kinetic energy, a swift current and a lotta mass already have that kinetic energy).

A lotta head is essential if you don't have much mass to work with. In WH's case though, he did say river, which implies a lot of available mass. It also implies that there's not a lot of head to work with, unless he's near some falls.