Living Off-Grid: Our Micro Hydro Alternative Energy System
by Jennifer Lance in Blue Energy, Technology
As a follow up to Sean’s post on Micro Hydro Essentials, I thought I would share an overview of my system, which has powered my home for over 13 years. We are fortunate to live on rural mountain property in Northern California with a creek that is not seasonal, although the volume of water does drop significantly during the arid months of summer. The beauty of hydro power is that it produces power 24 hours a day and is not dependent upon weather patterns, such as sun and wind. The drawbacks are having to maintain the system by cleaning the intake and dealing with varying creek flows.
Turgo micro hydro runner
17 years ago, my alternative power system consisted of one solar panel, one golf cart battery, one DC light, and one DC car stereo. Today, I live in a modern off-the-grid home complete with many large energy-using electrical appliances, such as a washing machine, air conditioner, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, and baseboard heaters. Using these appliances off-the-grid is only possible by limiting their usage to one at a time, with the exception of the refrigerator (which remains on 24 hours a day). Unlike grid-connected homes, where it is common to see multiple large loads running simultaneously, most people living-off-the grid cannot run their washing machine while vacuuming, their heaters while washing dishes, etc. Alternative home energy systems are limited to the amount of power stored in the battery bank and what is being currently produced via wind, water, and/or sun for available power. Since hydro systems provide power continuously, the battery bank does not need to be as large as with other alternative energy systems.
Our micro hydro set up
Our system consist of approximately 2500 feet of two inch PVC pipe from intake to turbine. We “borrow” water from our creek which is diverted back to the creek after running through the turbine. At the bottom of the pipe, we have 230 PSI for our static water pressure (valve closed, not running). Our dynamic pressure (running pressure) changes to 185 PSI from pipe friction loss. Four inch pipe would greatly reduce this friction loss; however, the cost is prohibitive for us.
We run a turgo wheel coupled to a three phase induction motor that produces 220 volt, unregulated, “wild” AC power, which is sent long distance (1500 feet) from the creek to our power shed. This power cannot be used directly in appliances because it is unregulated, but it can be used for baseboard heaters and diversion loads, such as a hot water heating element. Our system differs from most micro hydro systems which produce DC power requiring the turbine be located close to the home because of line loss and cable size needed for direct current. To get the most head (vertical fall from intake to turbine), our wheel has to be located at the bottom of our property or else we would make very little power using a traditional DC micro hydro system close to our home (200 watts). With micro hydro systems, high head is more important than water flow for producing maximum power. Low head, high flow is hard to harness.
Turbine disconnected from water source
Once the “wild” electricity reaches our power shed, it is transformed and rectified to DC battery voltage and stored in our batteries like a typical alternative energy system. We then invert the power back to regulated alternating current through an inverter to use in our home. Excess power when the batteries are full is diverted to baseboard heaters in the house in winter and heat sink in the power shed in summer.
We make about 2 KWH continuously with our micro-hydro system. This is ample power for a family of four using CFLs, energy-saving appliances, etc.; however, there are times when our power is down: large winter storms that fill the creek with leaves, and push the intake out of the water; creek levels drop in the summer and the dam needs rebuilding, etc. One thing that is nice about having your own power system is that when it is down, it is within your own power to go and fix. You don’t have to wait for the power company to rescue you, but this often means you are standing waste deep in freezing water during a storm. This whole micro-hydro system costs approximately $11,000, including pipe, wire, inverter, batteries, etc., but we haven’t paid a bill to a a power company in over 17 years!
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Posted on Mar 24, 2009
alternative energy, blue energy, hydro, hydro power, hydro systems, hydropower, micro hydro, Micro Hydro Energy, micro hydro power, micro hydro runner, micro hydro systems, off-the-grid, turgo, water energy, water power
About the Author
Jennifer Lance
Jennifer lives on 160 acres off-the-grid in a home built with her own two hands (and several more skilled pairs of hands) from forest fire salvaged timber. Her home is powered by a micro-hydro turbine, and she has been a vegetarian for 21 years. She graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in art education and has been teaching art to children for over 16 years. Jennifer is the founder and editor of Eco Child's Play.23 Responses to “Living Off-Grid: Our Micro Hydro Alternative Energy System”
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Mike King
Mar 24, 2009
Very cool system. I love the idea of hydro and only wish more people had it as an option for their power generation.
Peter
Mar 25, 2009
Jennifer,
Could you perhaps provide more detail on the system, and post it at appropedia.com? You would be able to make the design ‘open’, meaning it’s available to anyone to use without worrying about patent or copyright issues, and it becomes available to all humankind.
Christopher
Mar 25, 2009
Jennifer,
Thanks for posting – nice description of a nice system. Can you confirm one or two points?
230 psi static = ca. 16 atmospheres pressure = about 530 ft of drop from your creek intact through the 2 in PVC to the turbine half a mile away, correct?
And your generation of about 2 kWh was daily (24hr) production, right?
Marius
Mar 25, 2009
“We make about 2 KWH with our micro-hydro system. ”
In how many hours?
Jennifer Lance
Twitter: @ecochildsplay
Mar 25, 2009
KWH refers to Kilowatt hours. We make that amount continuously, not in a day. Another way to look at it is we are making 70 amps multiplied by 26. 8 volts (float voltage on batteries), so it is 1.88 KW (amps x volts=watts). 1.88 KWH x 24 hours is 45.12 KW for a day on our system.
PSI on the static pressure is multiplied by 2.31 to obtain vertical drop. For our system that means 531 feet of vertical drop (head). Yes, that is correct. We run about half a mile of pipe, but the turbine is about 1500 feet from our house.
Jennifer Lance
Twitter: @ecochildsplay
Mar 25, 2009
Also, if you want more details, there is a great chart for sizing your wheel to the speed of the motor at Hartvisgen-Hydro (target rpm pdf files).
http://h-hydro.com/
David - green thoughts
Twitter: @PlanetThoughts
Mar 26, 2009
Very well described, including the standing in freezing water during a storm. Overall it sounds so trouble free and low-cost. I wonder where I can find a stream in New York City…..
Tim
Mar 31, 2009
Great write up. It definitely sounds like a nice setup. Have you had any major problems with it?
Jennifer Lance
Twitter: @ecochildsplay
Mar 31, 2009
Tim, the biggest problem we had was when a forest fire burned up all the pipe and wire. Luckily, our home owner’s insurance covered the costs. There has also been a tree that fell on the pipe before and broke it, and it was a little unnerving seeing a mountain lion chewed up deer carcass near the creek once. There is ongoing maintenance, and our biggest problem is when the creek is too large and dangerous to go into for maintenance during a big storm (I’m talking 11 inches of rain in a day). We are actually going to put a second smaller hydro in off of a smaller creek that feeds our pond for back up during these times. My biggest problem is poison oak.
hipArriffFamp
Twitter: @Twitter Name (optional)
Apr 07, 2009
Great site this bluelivingideas.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor :)
Stihy
Aug 25, 2009
Looks good, i’m fan of this types of projects, few questions:
1.What kind of converter do you use for ac conversion
2.Do you use some sort of battery packs to level consumption
3.Do you plan to use some sort of automated sistem, like to charge batteries and then when for instance batteries are on more then 75% shut of turbine…
Also this could be used with solar panels (for hot water).
Jennifer Lance
Twitter: @ecochildsplay
Aug 26, 2009
Stihy,
1. We use an old Trace inverter 4024.
2. We have batteries to store excess power
3. It is automated. The turbine doesn’t shut off, but our Enermaxer (heat shunt) burns off excess power when the batteries are full until we need it (running a heavy load, Enermaxer turns off).
bill
Aug 30, 2009
nice set up
i live at the end of canal in Florida that drains about 72 sq miles the water is always flowing it is a saltwater canal that leads into the gulf sometimes the water goes the other way because of tides.
do you have any ideas for a set up for me
thank you
snookfisher@gmail.com
Cory
Sep 05, 2009
I like what you have going but poly vinyl chloride pipes are hazardous when they are used without the water first going through a filtering system before reuse.Have you considered replacing them with something that doesn’t have the potential to give fish in the stream( that I am sure is fished0a cancer causing new body chemistry.Watch blue vinyl a documentary about the dangers of pvc and it’s effects from manufacturing to distribution all the way through to its disposal and it;s effects on the food chain.I am not chastising you but most people do not know about PVC and it’s effects.If you care about the water supply in your area or the fish and animals who eat the fish it is worth learning about.I live 35 miles from the nations biggest supplier and manufacturers of PVC and you should see our cancer rates.I only mentioned this because you are telling other people how they can do this to which I applaud but PVC used in this fashion by many would be devastating.
Jennifer Lance
Twitter: @ecochildsplay
Sep 08, 2009
Cory, I know PVC is nasty, but what are the alternatives? The poly pipe is not much better, and there is now way we could afford to use that much steel, nor would it bend as needed down the creek. I hope you have a suggestion as to a better pipe material.
Ryan
Oct 08, 2009
KWH is a unit of power. KW is the unit for the rate.
you have about 2KW constantly for a total of 45.12 KWH per day.
just clarifying. neat system.
Buz Watkins
Oct 19, 2009
Hi. Thats a nice runner you have> I have a system using a reverse centrifugal pump thats actually heating my house at the moment. I am norteast of you in Cape Breton N.S. Canada. My system is producing 5 kw at the moment, direct AC no batteries. I wanted to tell you about my intake which needs no cleaning. It is called a coanda screen and it works like a charm for leaves and debris. Google coanda screen or hydro screen. I think you will find it. I sent for mine from CO. about 10 years ago…Buz
Buz Watkins
Oct 21, 2009
HI would like to make a website called. Champions of micro hydro, I have been doing it for almost 30 years. If you still have a problem with your intake i have the solution. Would you like to be involved, we are elite………Buz
steven
Oct 28, 2009
Hi, Just wondering how many rpm you will produce by your turbine that at the end,runs the shaft of generatore?Thank you
lisa
Dec 31, 2009
hi thanks for sharing ! We’re in Buncombe county, in a watershed, do you think its legal to do this?
Jennifer Lance
Twitter: @ecochildsplay
Jan 05, 2010
Lisa, It depends on whether or not you have water rights. Some of my neighbors get permits from the forest service to put their intakes in the creeks on public land.
Donald
Jan 30, 2010
You know I would do all I could do to be off the grid just as fast as I could. My wife and I don’t make a lot of money. I know to start out gong green is expensive. Why dos en’t the government start helping out. It would pay for itself. No brainer. Oh yeah they would not get kick backs from big oil. we are fucked