Author Topic: Can I dig a pond or use stored rain water for micro hydro?  (Read 3790 times)

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mconley

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Can I dig a pond or use stored rain water for micro hydro?
« on: March 22, 2013, 07:59:13 AM »
I want to build an off grid system. I am thinking of a combination of wind, solar, and would like to add micro hydro to charge a battery bank, then power the house.

But I do not have any water on the property. What I do have is a hill and the will! So is it possible to simply dig a pond up on the hill, or even use a 5000 gallon cistern to collect rain water, run it down the hill to a micro hydro turbine? How does one measure the head and flow that such a thing would provide?

gww

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Re: Can I dig a pond or use stored rain water for micro hydro?
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2013, 04:00:40 PM »
Maby you could pm gorden and compare notes.  He post on the outback forum.  Here is an answer to me on a question I had ask him about his system.

Report this postReply with quoteRe: Max Power Setup for FM80
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by Gordon-Loomberah on Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:59 pm

I realise I'm running a little OT here ...but the FM80s do get a mention ;)


gww wrote:
 So about 1300 gal of water will add up to about 4000 watts stored power?

It needs a bit more water than that with my 85m head! I have 24000litres (~6300 US gallons) available storage in 2 tanks, and if I can extract 75% of the potential energy, that will be about 4kWh of storage- at something like 500W for 8 hours to minimise friction head loss in the pipes. It will probaby be less than that, but I'll have to do the experiment to discover exactly how efficient it is. It doesn't really matter how much energy it takes to pump up, as that will be done when the battery is in Float.
Since I generally only use about 3kWh overnight, I could, in theory, just about keep the battery near 100%SOC for most of the time when I get the hydro systum up and running.

The LiFePO4 cells are going really well, even with loads up to 3kW at night when cooking on the induction cooktop, they stay above 26V. In a recent 3 day period of heavy overcast I took them down to 75% DOD and the voltage only just dropped below 26V on the 3rd morning, when the induction cooker was used to boil some water. The 2 FM80s (no hub or mate) control the charging really well :)

Cheers
gww

mconley

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Re: Can I dig a pond or use stored rain water for micro hydro?
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2013, 10:35:52 PM »
I did a search for Gordon and couldn't find him. Can you direct me to how to get i touch with him?

gww

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Re: Can I dig a pond or use stored rain water for micro hydro?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2013, 07:17:50 PM »