Not pictured is the penstock or pipe that delivers the pressurized water to the business end of the system (power house). I will not cite my disaffection for Eurasian Milfoil at this time, but you can see how that might definitely gum up the works over time with its prolific expansion. Here in this picture is upstream side of the system the canal coming from the creek is feeding the forebay or intake. This one unit powered the whole homestead! The off-grid homestead that I visited had a 500 Watt “low head” (designed to work without a lot of drop) microhydro system manufactured by Energy Systems and Design out of Canada. Where water is steadily falling, you have horsepower to work with. Any simple observation of a child playing with a paddle wheel toy and a cup of water is the simplest form of the principles in action namely distance (vertical drop or “hydraulic head”) and flow (volume or quantity of water falling).
MICRO HYDRO POWER FOR OFF GRID HOUSES GENERATOR
With enough drop, a microhydro turbine offers great efficiency.įor the force of water to spin a microhydro generator we rely on gravity. Back to Isaac Newton, to spin that generator takes energy of some kind which has to be of a greater strength than the minimum force required due to friction losses and other inefficiencies. The amount of electricity that you require will dictate how large that generator needs to be. So to generate electricity, something needs to be spinning a generator (except solar) by the force of wind, hydro, fossil fuel powered, coal fired, nuclear, etc. However, some people are not tied into the grid due to personal choice or geographical location. The question is where are you going to get it? If you are plugged into the grid, then you are the benefactor of cheap, clean, stable electricity that is the envy of every developing nation the world over.
However, if you are lucky enough to be set up where there is constantly flowing (laminar) water with a significant drop then microhydro electricity offers some very attractive benefits.Įnergy has a cost, it always is, just ask Isaac Newton.
Solar is promising as the technology gets more efficient every year (PRO Tip: shop by watt-per-dollar). On grid or off, everyone needs to power something to move, heat, spin, or illuminate-so the question becomes, how best to do that in your situation? Well, if you are at a location well endowed with moving water (potential energy in nerd parlance) then alternative energy, like microhydro power may be for you.Īlthough I have not exhaustively quizzed wind generator users, the basic sentiment seems to be that it is not worth the investment due to the non-laminar conditions of wind-that is to say that the wind is not always blowing at a steady rate. I recently visited some new friends who live at their homestead off the grid here in beautiful NW Montana. What does it actually take? From everyone I have spoken to who actually has done it, the answer seems to be, “Take your estimated cost for time, energy and money and triple it.” Microhydro, its simplicity is so attractive.