One BIG and One small Micro-Hydro Project + a Micro-Hydro Calculator

This entry covers a couple nice micro-hydro projects as well as a good calculator for estimating micro-hydro system output.

Micro-Hydro Calculator
This is a nice and easy to use calculator that provides both power output and optimal pipe size for a given vertical drop, flow rate and pipe length.  This calculator has a good deal more capability than most of the small hydro system calculator, but is still very easy to use.

The calculator is a small program that you download and run on your own computer.

Details here...

Judy of the Woods New Hydro System
Judy is a very self-reliant person who lives on her own homestead in Wales.  Her website has a wealth of information on living a simple and self-reliant  life.

Anyway, Judy has managed to combine the output from a few springs and route them downhill several hundred feet to a small hydro generator.

Details on Judy's new hydro system here...

A Big Micro-Hydro System
This is a detailed description of a relatively large micro-hydro system in Chile.

Turgo runner for the hydro generator

The system uses  a long run of 6 inch PVC pipe to run a Turgo wheel turbine that drives an about 4KW synchronous brushless AC generator.

The synchronous generator with runner attached.

Lots of detailed pictures covering the whole hydro installation...


Gary