Post by marc on Jun 11, 2013 17:47:20 GMT -7
A customer sent me pictures of his new system that is totally off grid, 100% driven by hydro from natural springs. I haven't been there yet, but will go soon because he needs help fixing the original design by someone else. (The guy knows his stuff and really doesn't need me, but I won't tell him that until I get there 
)
The system uses 5 micro-turbines that produce 1500 watts per hour, each. Running wide open he can produce about 180,000 watts per day, or about 5,000 kwh per month. That's enough juice for several all electric homes, including air conditioning in a hot climate.
Once again, I've met a person who is investing his own resources to develop a system to share with those around him. The simple elegance of the system using naturally flowing water and gravity is impressive. The water comes from natural springs on a small hill, with no history of going dry in the last 100 years.
For the techie types:
- Manifold pressure averages 80 psi on the header to the turbines
- Nozzles on the turbines can modulate for capacity matching, but staging is working GREAT with a simple step controller
- System is 48v on the DC side in order to maintain compatibility with off the shelf components
- Two Radian stacked 8KW inverters provide 120/240 AC with a whopping surge capacity of 32 KW
- Battery bank is made up of (24) sealed AGM's, 12v, 258 ah each for a total of 75,000 watt hours of storage
- The SCADA is reporting a 97.5% average SOC for the last 90 days, so I am looking into alternate usage for the power
- Dump loads are convection type resistance heaters, but are being changed to hot water heaters
- Spare parts are in deep storage in a manner that I consider good - and I'm picky about shielding.......
The bottom line is that a man had a vision of harnessing the power of water flowing down a hill to make electricity, without "using up" the water - it just passes through and keeps going. Much like the wind blowing past you on a prairie.....
His low speed turbines should provide a mechanical life of 20-30 years with virtually no maintenance. If we hit the wall, the system will still function mechanically producing juice but without inverters/regulators/batteries. It will be simplistic but good. His simple vision has turned into a model system that could be replicated in many areas with free flowing water.
Oh wait...... that has been done for a very long time already. It's called a water wheel........
Pretty cool system, no matter what I've seen so far!
Watching the river flow.......................
Marc
)The system uses 5 micro-turbines that produce 1500 watts per hour, each. Running wide open he can produce about 180,000 watts per day, or about 5,000 kwh per month. That's enough juice for several all electric homes, including air conditioning in a hot climate.
Once again, I've met a person who is investing his own resources to develop a system to share with those around him. The simple elegance of the system using naturally flowing water and gravity is impressive. The water comes from natural springs on a small hill, with no history of going dry in the last 100 years.
For the techie types:
- Manifold pressure averages 80 psi on the header to the turbines
- Nozzles on the turbines can modulate for capacity matching, but staging is working GREAT with a simple step controller
- System is 48v on the DC side in order to maintain compatibility with off the shelf components
- Two Radian stacked 8KW inverters provide 120/240 AC with a whopping surge capacity of 32 KW
- Battery bank is made up of (24) sealed AGM's, 12v, 258 ah each for a total of 75,000 watt hours of storage
- The SCADA is reporting a 97.5% average SOC for the last 90 days, so I am looking into alternate usage for the power
- Dump loads are convection type resistance heaters, but are being changed to hot water heaters
- Spare parts are in deep storage in a manner that I consider good - and I'm picky about shielding.......
The bottom line is that a man had a vision of harnessing the power of water flowing down a hill to make electricity, without "using up" the water - it just passes through and keeps going. Much like the wind blowing past you on a prairie.....
His low speed turbines should provide a mechanical life of 20-30 years with virtually no maintenance. If we hit the wall, the system will still function mechanically producing juice but without inverters/regulators/batteries. It will be simplistic but good. His simple vision has turned into a model system that could be replicated in many areas with free flowing water.
Oh wait...... that has been done for a very long time already. It's called a water wheel........
Pretty cool system, no matter what I've seen so far!
Watching the river flow.......................
Marc
....
