Low Head and Ultra Low Head Hydro on the Farm
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Hydraulic energy has been used for centuries to provide work in rural areas. Formerly this was done by directly harnessing moving water for mechanical operations; sawmilling, grain grinding, wool milling and so on. Monuments to the age of water power are scattered on farms across much of North America. Today hydro technology has advanced to a stage where it is more productive and convenient to create electricity from moving water meaning we are not tied to doing work at the hydro source.
Relatively recent advances in hydro technology and utility encouragement of "distributed generation[1]" mean that farms may be able to once again profitably take advantage of their hydro resource. Hydro electricity can, of course, be exploited at many scales depending on the volume of water flowing and the drop or "head" it falls before going through a turbine. This web site has been developed to appeal to those interested in relatively small-scale hydro on their rural property. At these farm sites we expect the head will be low or ultra-low; that is less than 10 and more than 1 metres. Sites will be "run-of-river", that is, they will not erect large dams to regulate water flow but will extract energy by tapping in to the flowing river. This website will appeal to small rural developers of hydroelectricity of no more than 250 kW capacity.
Farms may wish, at the very small end of this capacity (i.e. picohydro of 5 kW or less), to develop hydro for uses remote from the power grid often charging batteries as back-up. These systems can run modest homesteads or power fencing and pumps. Of course at the larger scale systems can also serve remote demand or, depending on the available programs with the utility, may be able to sell power into their local distribution grid as a long term source of additional income. These systems can sometimes provide, as an additional benefit, a secure source of power in case the grid fails.
[1] Distributed generation refers to relatively small and dispersed generation sources connected to the utility distribution grid. These sources supplement large centralized fossil fuel, hydro or nuclear generators.
Modified: 02-18-2008
