New to Hydro - What can I do with my situation?

[calculator]

Hi all!  I've done lots of research over the past ten years, and know a bit about microhydro.

I'd like to hear your ideas about if I can make any power here, and how.

I just bought a place, that's not ideal for hydro because it's mostly flat.  However, there is a steep 40'+ drop at the back of the property.  I'd like to make a pond/very large water tank to collect water and run the pipe from that to the turbine at the bottom of the hill.  The GPM will be based on how large a pond/tank I build (and the replenish rate).  It will be mostly rainwater and some groundwater-no springs.r

How best to do this?  How much power can I generate here? 

Ideas?
Thanks!

[admin]

Well, you have the head figure.
Now you just need cubic feet per second to complete your math.
Theoretical power available in falling water (before all losses):
kilowatts = ((head in feet) x (flow in cubic feet per second)) / 11.81

[calculator]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm more interested in what is possible from a technology standpoint.  What sort of turbine?  How steeply can I run pipe?  (Most info out there is for longer runs of pipe at lower slopes). 


Secondly... I do have a hard time understanding the electric needs.  A solar guy told me he'd build a 15kw system for the house.  So, if I wanted to try to build a 15kw system from hydro,  I'd need more water than I have . . . Would this be right: (15Kw*11.81)/40feet of head = required cubic feet per second of 4.43.  How to convert that to cubit feet per minute- multiply by 60?

[XeonPony]

yup.

to make 25Kw with a francis runner you'd need 500gpm at 100 psi, basically you'd need a 300 foot water fall that was raging!

Basically it sounds like a good idea but is impracticable in cost and resources, you will find allot of the investment wasted (Unless it rains there more then here! and 3mths solid rain is average here!) most it will sit there dry and doing nothing.

Normally I never discourage hydro but in your case it may not be the best route to go, wind would be better investment at that point!

[hydrosun]

With solar you can generally decide how much power you want to use and order enough solart panels to produce that much power. With hydro you have to see what your resource is capable of producing first. You have 40 feet of fall but don't know how much water you have available.You talk about building a pond but don't know how long it will take to fill the hole. You don't mention a stream so I have to presume you think the rain and surface groundwater will fill it. If all of the rain from 1 acre flows into the pond then each inch of rain could produce 100 kwh. How fast that is produced will depend on the hydro equipment yo install. but that is just theory untill you really know how much water you will collect. Until then there is no way to design a real hydro setup.
Chris

[keithturtle]

Storage for use later is most viable when you can replenish your stores daily.   Without a steady supply of water, you'll have a lot of resources tied up in a very intermittent power station.

Solar or wind will likely serve you much better

Turtle

[ghurd]

there is a steep 40'+ drop at the back of the property.  I'd like to make a pond/very large water tank to collect water and run the pipe from that to the turbine at the bottom of the hill.  The GPM will be based on how large a pond/tank I build (and the replenish rate).  It will be mostly rainwater and some groundwater-no springs.r

I know a similar place with a maybe 15' drop from a pond over flow pipe.  Not a huge or consistnt flow, but 24/7, and most of the year.
"at the back of the property" is not as relevent as what feeds the pond, which is off that guy's place.
Sadly, I never got to play with his water.
160W of solar supplied all the power he needed, without bearings, belts, rust, etc.

If you can get even 25W cheap and easy, even 10W sometimes, thats great.

The flow is the flow, pond or no pond.
Building a pond sounds like a big investment which could buy a lot of solar panels.
G-

[calculator]

Yeah.  Thanks all for your contributions. 

I have 4-5 inches of precipitation every month, and 6+ ac drains into the future pond.   There is also a high water table -but not a spring- meaning there's a lot of surface water and groundwater.  I'm just trying to find what's feasible. 

I don't need to power the entire house.  The house electric demand is high because it's a geothermal heat pump system that relies on compressor and pumps.

I could use it to power an outbuilding with freezers, or a car powering station, or other things.  It's a farm.

I have funds for the pond/storage.  The solar array is huge and the township stands in the way due to setback requirements.  There's no wind.

So, I'm trying to find out what I can create in this place.

Thanks, J

[keithturtle]

I have 4-5 inches of precipitation every month, and 6+ ac drains into the future pond.   There is also a high water table -but not a spring- meaning there's a lot of surface water and groundwater.

It's a farm.

I have funds for the pond/storage.  The solar array is huge and the township stands in the way due to setback requirements.  There's no wind.

OK then, you can cipher out how much water you can retain with rainfall, depending on how much you can direct into storage without it soaking into the ground first.

From  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre-foot  , an inch of rain will give you 27,154 gallons per acre, if all of it is captured.

Other calculators in this section will give you the power you can generate from a given quantity of water falling a given head.

That should get you calculating

Turtle