Island Energy Systems Tour - Micro-Hydro

[jwaflergmailcom]

That is awesome!!!! where can you buy those?

[IslandEnergySystems]

@jwaflergmailcom We can supply the parts. drop me a note with the particulars of your site (head and flow) and I'll get you a quote. Thanks. Eric

[tjohnathon30]

where does the water go ???????????????

[IslandEnergySystems]

@tjohnathon30 Theres is a 6" flexible plastic pipe caulked into the bottom of the concrete culvert pipe section, and a concrete floor in that vault about 18" down. The water goes out that flex pipe and back into the creek. And then theres another hydro intake right there for a bigger system that goes down the hill another 650 feet.

[Joshkennedy77]

Awesome set up! Great work!

[WizzleThump]

Sounds like your in the San Juans, what island?

[birdwing98]

Nice job Eric! Have you ever considered relocating the rectifier assembly closer to the battery bank? That way you're running AC to the house and could use smaller wires. Is the decision to run DC a safety factor? Thanks.

[IslandEnergySystems]

@birdwing98 Thanks for your note. The decision to run DC was mostly based on what equipment was available when I built it and my technical understanding at the time. If I were to do it again I'd go with a 240VAC 3-phase generator with a transformer/rectifier set-up in the power house. I'd like to add a second turbine in parallel to take advantage of high flow times of the year to help heat my house. Maybe the new system will be higher voltage, But I'd have to pull more wires! Yikes

[74VDC]

Why do you not grid tie it? How many months out of the year can you produce 800W? What do you calculate the overall efficiency at ...since you have 110' of head and 315 gpm flow?

[IslandEnergySystems]

@74VDC It would cost $8,000 to $10,000 to bring in the utility power. At 800W output from the turbine that works out to 19 kWh/day total generation. We consume about 10 kWh/day here at the house/office/shop, so the surplus is only 9 kWh/day, or 3280 kWh/year of energy that I'd end up selling to the utility. Its just not worth it. Especially with $25/mo base charge just for being connected.

But really, I built this system to live off-grid, thats the whole point.

[Bnewman8629]

600 feet of distance is a long way for a lower voltage to charge a bank of batteries as it loses some voltage as the distance becomes greater. what you can do is put the batteries right next to the alternator/generator, and run your converter up the hill instead, though it may be a bit costlier...

[toobroke2fight]

@Bnewman8629 His batteries have to stay warm! The ratings are at 77 deg F and the colder they get the less they put out! Puting the bats outside in the woods would be a bad idea! Closing the gap between the two is usually a good idea. With using the large cable he has and the fact that its 50 volts "plus" helps to push the power through the wire! Its hard to "keep it all" in a remote area like that!Hey, Move the house to the stream! Thats the best option. HA HA

[ianjames15]

Fantastic video,about to do the same myself in Scotland,cant get in touch with you,very interested in the intake would it be possible to send me detailed drawings of the weir/intake box.

[vention4wh]

I'm just a diesel mechanic, not a hydraulics expert but that turbine doesn't look all that efficient to me. The water blasts into the cups but then it's flung out as it spins. That water being flung out seems like it would collide with the other streams as they are entering the cups. My gut instinct tells me that shooting the streams in at a slight downward angle would work better since the water being flung of the turbine would be flung out without colliding with the input streams.

[Hornj21]

Do some research on the physics of a pelton turbine. The nozzles are aimed right.

[IslandEnergySystems]

@vention4wh Thanks for your question. What you can't see in the video is that the cups of the pelton runner are split with a smoothly shaped point in the middle. The nozzles need to be aimed right at that middle point so the stream of water is split and the exhaust water exits smoothly to the side.  Look up 'pelton turbine' to find a cross sectional picture of what it looks like and you'll see what I mean.

[vention4wh]

@IslandEnergySystems

LOL! You answered a question I asked 2 years ago. LOL! That's got to be some kind of record. Thanks for answering though.

[0urGaia]

Impressive, there is a story on the internet where someone did similar in america and the government wanted charge him for the watts he produced (go figure!). Very nice setup, 200 watts when the creek is low is still great.

[wilsonatore]

That's so badass! So basically the amount of power that can be made is based on GPM and vertical drop?

[gfabster]

You guys kick butt. I love your videos!

[sehonggi]

How are you?

I have a question for you..

If ....

Would you tell me about your micro system's specification?

1) Penstock length and size, Height,,

2) GENERATOR TYPE : PMG or Other and capacity

3) turbine type: is it a pelton ?

thank you..

[ginnybiv]

great job,would love to see more hydro set-up all over the island! keep up the good work.

[sehonggi]

Thank you for your favor...

[sehonggi]

Thank you... for your favor...

[sehonggi]

hi....

How many electric power produce in a mounth.

nice..

[IslandEnergySystems]

The power varies with the seasonal creek flow variation. When I shot the video it was making about 850 Watts of power, which is about 20 kWh per day, around 600 kWh/month. Right now (September) the creek is much lower, only about 40 gallons per minute. The turbine is producing 4 amps @ 52 volts, or about 200 Watts. We work hard to conserve as much energy as possible this time of year.

[sehonggi]

Thank you... for your favor...

[RickMHobson]

It looked like in low water times, you would have the option of shutting down one, two or three of the nozzles in order to maintain water pressure? I noticed individual valves on the manifold. Nce job!