Need Someone with Major Experience with building a 50KW Micro Hydro System

Hi, new poster to the site.  I built a lake which is spring fed and ran into a local creek.  Even during drought, the spillway still produces 1200 Gallons per Minute in over flow (measured).  My spillway pipe is steel.  The stack is 32 feet high and 4 feet in diameter which feeds into 142 feet of 3 feet steel horizontal pipe on grade.  I want to be able to use electricity as well as sell back to the electric cooperative.  I need to bypass during floods as the 18 acres has an emergency spillway and I don't want it to overflow.  Anyone have ideas?  I think this would be a great summer intern problem and would love to be able to use this as a way to give a college student or team the project to design.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

Christopher Carlile wrote:Hi, new poster to the site.  I built a lake which is spring fed and ran into a local creek.  Even during drought, the spillway still produces 1200 Gallons per Minute in over flow (measured).  My spillway pipe is steel.  The stack is 32 feet high and 4 feet in diameter which feeds into 142 feet of 3 feet steel horizontal pipe on grade.  I want to be able to use electricity as well as sell back to the electric cooperative.  I need to bypass during floods as the 18 acres has an emergency spillway and I don't want it to overflow.  Anyone have ideas?  I think this would be a great summer intern problem and would love to be able to use this as a way to give a college student or team the project to design.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi Christopher, first off would be where abouts are you?

David Baillie wrote:

Christopher Carlile wrote:Hi, new poster to the site.  I built a lake which is spring fed and ran into a local creek.  Even during drought, the spillway still produces 1200 Gallons per Minute in over flow (measured).  My spillway pipe is steel.  The stack is 32 feet high and 4 feet in diameter which feeds into 142 feet of 3 feet steel horizontal pipe on grade.  I want to be able to use electricity as well as sell back to the electric cooperative.  I need to bypass during floods as the 18 acres has an emergency spillway and I don't want it to overflow.  Anyone have ideas?  I think this would be a great summer intern problem and would love to be able to use this as a way to give a college student or team the project to design.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi Christopher, first off would be where abouts are you?

Great project?  I would try the colleges and universities.
 I’m not sure what you mean by   “The stack is 32 feet high and 4 feet in diameter which feeds into 142 feet of 3 feet steel horizontal pipe on grade”. Is it a vertical stack?

Flow = 1200gpm
Head = 32ft
Peak Power = 1/5 x Flow x Head = 1/5 X 1200gpm x 32ft = 1/5 x 38,400 = 7234W
Net Power = 1/10 x Flow x Head = 1/10 1200gpm x 32ft = 1/10 x 38400 = 3840W, just about 4KW
In a 24hr period we are talking around 100KWH.
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/planning-microhydropower-system


You could use 1/3 of that power and sell back 2/3. Collecting Around $1,000/yr or $100/month plus the $100/month you saved

Before you jump the gun here, think and ask some questions.  

Most utility companies have a limit as to how much power you can sell back (usually around 25kw per year).  How much does your local utility allow you to produce and sell back and how much will they pay for this "service".  Is it worth it?

Are you creating 12 vdc, 24 vdc, 48vdc then converting to AC for use?

How much would an inverter be to handle amount of energy you desire to produce?  Power controller cost?

How much electricity do you need for your own use?  The average home consumes approx. 3.5kw per day of 115 VAC.  Minimum 30 amps.

How are you going to "store" excess energy?  Batteries?  How many and what kind of batteries will you be using?  It is not a great idea to use the power created from your hydro unit directly. Power surges, phase differentials, etc. can be devastating to a hydro system.

How are you going to make your 50kw reach 480 volts and at how many amps?  How many phase power is required by the utility?  One phase, 2 phase, 3 phase? (Grid Tie)  How about synchronization?

Current building codes require a certain amount of amperage into the house at any given time.  Off grid we do not have those same limitations, but they should be looked into if selling back power to the grid.

Producing a great amount of wattage is not the same as producing amperage.  How many amps does your local utility require to sell back power to them?  What kind of copper do you need to make the connection and how far do you need to run the line?  How much will that cost?

Bottom line is what is your R.O.I?  How much are you going to spend versus how much are you going to earn?

These are my first thoughts and questions which you might choose to ask or not.

Utilizing hydro power is a wonderful concept.  However, selling it back to the utility can be really a quest which is not beneficial in the long run if not prepared.

Frank F.

Any updates??? I’m very curious what you learned an figured out. I’m looking for a hydro project to help with. I took the microhydro course with Solar Energy International and have helped build a couple of systems. And have done many solar energy systems. Anyone feel free to contact me if you have a energy system you want to build.
Sounds like a crossflow turbine might work well there. It would be awesome if you had some energy intensive operation to support such as heated greenhouses. There is a lot of red tape going with grid tie.