Author Topic: Mapping My Hydro Prospects  (Read 944 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

taylorp035

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1204
  • Country: us
  • Stressed spelled backwards is Desserts
Mapping My Hydro Prospects
« on: December 27, 2023, 05:49:56 PM »
With my farm I bought, it has a decent stream that flows year round that runs along the 800' of frontage I have near the road.  My driveway goes over this by means of a 40' long x 5' diameter plastic pipe.  Over the last few days, I've done some measurements to see the suitability for hydro in the future.

The stream flows about 100-200 GPM on most days that it's not raining.  In the summer in a dry spell, it might get down to 50 GPM.  In the ~48 hrs after a rain, 300-600 GPM is expected.  During a light rain or a medium snow melt day, I estimated about 1800 GPM.  On the high snow melt days, it fills half the tube....so probably 1-2 m^3/second.

The downside is I don't have much drop.  Over the 800', it's about 8-9 feet.   If I just look at end of the pipe into the stream, I could get about 1'.   The 100' leading up to the end of the pipe is about 21", so that would be about my reasonable limit for doing a "run of the river" type design with either a 4" or 6" pvc pipe.  4" at that length would only be good for about 100 GPM, 6" could do 300 GPM.

After much thought, I don't think I have enough to get this past the "toy" stage and reasonably grid tie it.  With the GPM * head(feet) / 10 = watts formula, I'm probably 10-60 watts for an undershot Poncelet wheel (1 foot * 100-600 GPM).  A run of the river style will be throwing a lot of water away give the minimal GPM I could get through the pipe consistently year round and how long the pipe would need to be.  If I came across a bunch of free 6" pipe and I did the whole 800' at 150 GPM, then I could do 100 watts, but it would also be ugly on what is a fairly visible stream by the neighbors.

Grid tie would be fairly easy if I did a good job matching the MPPT voltages to the same Enphase IQ8+ microinverters that I plan on buying for my solar array (future post  8) ).

SparWeb

  • Global Moderator
  • Super Hero Member Plus
  • *****
  • Posts: 5452
  • Country: ca
    • Wind Turbine Project Field Notes
Re: Mapping My Hydro Prospects
« Reply #1 on: December 31, 2023, 12:35:09 AM »
I agree with the under-shot wheel approach.  It's easiest to set up and disturbs the water flow the least.  Meanwhile you can get some energy captured and measure what you get.  After a year or so of experiments, then you'll be in a much better position to decide if you should be more ambitious or not.
All of these kinds of turbines are vulnerable to freezing in the winter, so add that to the stack of "lessons learned" in the future!

Random numbers...  100 Watts continuous = 2.4 kWhr/day = 25 cents / day = 90 dollars per year...  is that towering stack of cash worth the headache of a grid-tie agreement with the utility company?

It would make more sense to get yourself an array of solar panels first, and grid-tie them in a way that is worth doing for its own sake.  Then, once all the inspectors and contractors and engineers have left your house and you're sure they won't come back again, you'll be free to augment your system with "additional" sources as you please.
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
www.sparweb.ca

joestue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • Country: 00
Re: Mapping My Hydro Prospects
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2023, 12:39:43 AM »
Cross flow turbine.

I made one for a similar sounding stream.

I cut a hot water tank into 24 strips of 2" wide 40 inch long pieces of slightly curved metal.

Then welded them to two 24 tooth 12 inch saw blades, such that i had a 14x diameter wheel.

Got about 50 watts out of it.
My wife says I'm not just a different colored rubik's cube, i am a rubik's knot in a cage.

taylorp035

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1204
  • Country: us
  • Stressed spelled backwards is Desserts
Re: Mapping My Hydro Prospects
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2023, 02:22:08 PM »
Quote
It would make more sense to get yourself an array of solar panels first, and grid-tie them in a way that is worth doing for its own sake.  Then, once all the inspectors and contractors and engineers have left your house and you're sure they won't come back again, you'll be free to augment your system with "additional" sources as you please.
  I plan on installing a large solar array on my house that will cover all my needs and my parents through a shared account.  I'm looking at about 34 kW....should pay off in under 5 years if I do it myself and the rebates/monetary side of it doesn't change.   What I was envisioning was using an extra single solar MPPT grid tie micro-inverter, so the added cost for a hydro addition would just be 300' of 14 gauge wire + the micro inverter.  It makes financial sense at ~50 watts or more assuming $0.18/kwh it is today.

I'm mostly afraid anything I put in the stream will be swept down stream when we get the big one.  I honestly think it would have to float up and down and anchored well to the spillway.


Cross flow turbine.

I made one for a similar sounding stream.

I cut a hot water tank into 24 strips of 2" wide 40 inch long pieces of slightly curved metal.

Then welded them to two 24 tooth 12 inch saw blades, such that i had a 14x diameter wheel.

Got about 50 watts out of it.

That's impressive! 

joestue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • Country: 00
Re: Mapping My Hydro Prospects
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2023, 08:07:27 PM »
https://imgur.com/a/l8s0SdO

here's what i had to work with.

most of the time the water was just an inch or so thick pouring over the 2.5foot tall dam.
My wife says I'm not just a different colored rubik's cube, i am a rubik's knot in a cage.