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Here are some good references for planning, designing, and building a micro-hydro system. Step zero is to carefully determine if you have a hydro resource that is worth developing -- some of the references cover how to do this in detail.
Water pumping is covered under
Solar Water Pumping (including
Ram Pumps).
Directory for this page:
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| Small Hydro | |||||||||||||
| Microhydro-Electric Systems
Simplfied, Paul Cunningham and Ian Woofenden www.homepower.com/files/beginner/MicrohydroBasics.pdf
If above in unavailable try, |
 A
good introduction to micro-hydro electricity generation systems.
Covers the basic types of micro-hydro systems and the components that make them up. A free download from the Home Power site. |
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| Microhydro - Clean Power from
Water, Scott Davis, New Society Publishers Some extensive excerpts at Google
Books:
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 This is a very good, hands on book for designing and building microhydro systems. 176 pages. Published 2004. Covers site assessment, pipe design, turbine selection, nozzle design,
... |
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| Water Wheel
Engineering, Ron Shannon (Australia) http://ipc6.permaculturewest.org/ch08/shannon/index.html
|
 Water
Wheel Engineering by Ron Shannon provides the basics on water
wheelsand water turbines.Ron is willing to answer email questions in this
area -- you can reach him at:
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| Intro to Hydro Power |
 Home Power magazine article, issues 103, 104,
and 105Very good articles on small hydro power. Covers each part of the hydro system in some detail. Sizing information and some installation information. Part 2 covers in detail the process of determining if you have a sufficient hydro resource to be worthwhile-- a good starting place. |
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| Micro Hydro Articles from Home Power
An article on Micro Hydro basics:
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Home Power Magazine is providing the articles to the left. From the same link: |
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| Micro-Hydropower Systems -- A
Buyer's Guide, Natural Resources Canada Download The
Guide (pdf) |
 A
very good guide from Natural Resources Canada on planning, designing,
getting approvals, and installing a micro hydro system.Very well written with quite a bit of practical design and installation material. 56 pages.
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| EERN -- Small Hydropower Systems | General information on small scale hydro systems from the DOE EERN site. | ||||||||||||
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Living off the Grid – A New Era in Home-Owner Hydro James R. Udall
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 Mother
Earth News Article, Issue 143 April/May 1994Good Mother Earth News article on building small scale hydro systems. Several examples are discussed. Not sufficiently detailed to do your design from, but good basic material. |
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Site Evaluation and
Design for Micro Hydro Systems (Large download 11.5 MB pdf)
From:
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 This is a well organized collection of articles and papers on micro hydro applications. It covers most of what you will need to do to evaluate your site for hydro, select the right kind of generator, and design and install a small hydro system.
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| Homebrew Hydro Electric, Hydro Electric Experiment with Direct Drive Alternator From Otherpower.com http://www.otherpower.com/scotthydro1.html
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 This
is good series of pictures that show in detail the building of a completely
home made small Banki turbine. This setup works with very modest flow and head, to produce a small, but useful amount of electricity. |
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| Undershot Water Wheel
This is the paper that was used in designing this water wheel: Update 2/15/07 -- some email questions answered. |
 This
efficient undershot waterwheel looks like its been part of the scenery for a
hundred years. Full details on how it was built. |
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| Aspen Hollow Micro-Hydro System
Aspen Micro Hydro System Description: Turgo spoons, runners, nozzles,.. for sale: |
 Quite
a bit of detailed information on sizing, designing and building a Turgo
wheel micro hydro system, as well as what appear to be reasonably priced
parts to build such a system.Note the unusual inlet that requires minimal stream disturbance. The information is kind of spread around, so look around carefully. |
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| A Batteryless, Utility Intertie
Microhydro System Kurt Johnson with Paul Hoover How to get articles from Home Power ... |
Home Power Magazine article, issue 80 A very good article on the design and installation of a micro hydro system on a creek. The system is intertied to the utility grid. Good detail on planning and installation. |
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| Induction Motors for Small-Scale
Hydro Bill Havilland |
Home Power Magazine article, issue 71 Very good article on the pros and cons of using a three phase induction motor forsmall scale hydro installation rather than a DC alternator. Quite a bit of detail on systems using induction motors for generators. |
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| From Water to Wire Peter Talbot |
Very good hands-on article about building a high head, low flow small hydro system. Lots of design and construction information. A really challenging installation. |
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| 240VAC Direct Drive Hydro John Hermans |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 65Description
of a 240VAC, low head hydro system in Australia. Good detail. |
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| Micro-Hydro Electric Page | A built from scratch micro hydro system -- pretty good detail. | ||||||||||||
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The 10 Kinzel/Kingsley Rules for Surviving Micro Hydroelectric Power (and what the ads and manuals don’t tell you) Terry Kinzel and Sue Ellen Kingsley |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 47Very entertaining and helpful article on installing and living with a micro hydro power system. Ten rules are presented based on the authors experience. Rule 2 is "Never underestimate the ability of the technical elite to dazzle and befuddle us technological dummies". |
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| Powerful Dreams Undermine |
Home Power magazine article, issue 96 Description of 30kw grid intertied hydro installation. |
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Happy On One Kilowatt Bill Isely Mother Earth News |
 Mother
Earth News Article, Issue 180Good article on how one couple built a small hydro system that generates about 24KWH per day – just enough to meet their needs. Quite a bit of construction information. |
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Hydro Power Done Dirt Cheap Stephen M. Gima, Eileen Puttre |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 52Good article on a very cheap ($328) micro hydro system for a cabin. |
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| Overshot Water Wheel Design and
Construction Manual Published by VITA Another Vita manual on waterwheel design:
|
 Very
detailed design and construction information on overshoot water wheels.
The published data indicates that these wheels can be quite efficient. |
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| Banki Water Turbine Design and
Construction Manual Published by VITA or, |
 Detailed
plans for VITA for the design and construction of a Banki Water Turbine for
generating electricity.Some material is provided on sizing the turbine to the stream, and detailed instructions are provided for the construction of the turbine. Little is provided on the sizing and gearing for the generator. |
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| Water Motors | |
| Water Power in the Andes -- A water
MOTOR Ron Davis http://www.watermotor.net/indexflash.htm How to get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home Power Magazine article, issue 71Very interesting article on design, build and use of Pelton water MOTOR to directly power woodworking tools and other devices in a remote area. |
Home Power Magazine Article, issue 76