Small Town Hydro Tools

Small towns and small hydro tools are beginning to make big news – slowly but surely. Let’s define a small town – Let’s say 10,000 people. Sound reasonable?

Now, where the town is located will also be important when considering whether hydropower is feasible. In a dessert, or very dry area with little running water (rivers or falls) and little annual rainfall, it’s not likely that hydropower will be an option.

And of course any area with plenty of flowing water and rainfall, hydro will be a natural. This is true whether the ultimate user is near a grid connection or not, Hydro is most certainly user friendly.

We all know what turbines are – or at least think we do. We see them on airplanes and powerful cars. We know they are used in generating electricity at the big dams.

We know they use the flow of air, gas or water, to create motion which in turns can cause a vehicle to move, or fly. We also know they can cause rotation that can be used to generate electricity – in a big or small way.

And it’s in the small way that hydro can generate electricity – even in your backyard if the flowing water is there.

There are three kinds of little turbines that can be used to make power: (1) Impulse or “high head” turbines, (2) Reaction or “low head” turbines, or (3) Submersible propeller turbines. Yes, we know, more definitions needed.

“Head” is the vertical distance between where the water enters above the turbine system (usually a pipe) and where it reaches the runners within the turbine. High head is defined to be a drop of 20 feet or more. Low head, of course, is lower.

Impulse turbines are ideal where a relatively small amount of water runs down a steep hill or a little waterfall.

Reaction type turbines require a much larger water flow than the Impulse types but can operate with as little as two feet of head.

The underwater propeller turbines are the least efficient but of the simplest design. With a propeller mounted on the front of the turbine, the unit looks like an outboard motor attached in reverse.

Care must be taken that the power be actually used when running turbines. If not used, the controlled power can cause damaging heat problems for the turbines.

And the good news is that all these units are now available in a number of sizes and at prices that truly compete with the local utility charges