Building a Waterwheel
If you are fortunate enough to have a stream running through your land then you are blessed with a source of clean green renewable energy. In this article we will follow the construction of a complete DIY waterwheel power generation system.
Pete from Mawdesley in West …
Calculation of Hydro Power
Before embarking on any hydro power generation project it is essential to survey the proposed site to calculate the amount of available hydro power.
The two vital factors to consider are the flow and the head of the stream or river. The flow is the volume …
Pico Hydro Power
Hydropower is one of the most efficient renewable energy sources. It is particularly suited to small-scale applications typically being far cheaper per unit (kWh) of electricity produced than wind power or solar power.
Enormous hydro projects such as the 22.5GW Three Gorges Dam make all the news, …
UK Hydro Power Stations
There are very many hydropower generators in the UK ranging from a couple of hundred Watts up to hundreds of Kilowatts. Below are listed details of some of the largest (80MW+) hydro power stations in the United Kingdom. All are located in Scotland with the …
Run of River Hydro Power
As more and more people become concerned about the potential global warming effects of hydropower and the other environmental concerns arising from constructing huge dams and flooding vast swathes of land, there is increased interest in run of river hydro-electricity generation. These smaller projects could not …
Introduction to Waterwheels
A Water wheel (or Waterwheel) is a system for extracting usable power from the water flowing in a river or stream. Along with windmills, water wheels have being powering the milling of flour and other industry for hundreds of years. Waterwheels are still in common …
Low Head Waterwheel Invention
Waterwheels are traditionally quite expensive to construct and have been practical only for situations where water drops many metres (high head). Until now it has been difficult to find a way to find a cost effective way to extract electrical energy from streams and rivers …
Electricity from Waterwheels
Historically Waterwheels (aka watermills, water wheels) have been used to extract power from flowing water and convert it into mechanical power for turning grinding stones and other machinery. Although waterwheels have now died out of use across most of the world thanks to national grid …
Introduction To Hydro Electric Power
Hydro-electric power is electricity produced by the flow of fresh water from lakes, rivers, and streams. As water flows downwards thanks to gravity the kinetic energy it carries increases. This kinetic energy can be converted into mechanical energy - e.g. by turning a turbine - …
Rainbow Power 300W Hydro Generator
Australian company Rainbow Power offer a great 300 Watt hydro power generator system for small scale Pico-hydro projects. This unit can be used to charge a 12 or 24 Volt battery bank.
The HYD-200 is a low maintenance long service life micro hydro generator available in …
Hydro Contributes to Global Warming
A study carried out by the National Sun Yat-sen University and National Central University of Taiwan has concluded that Hydropower generation is likely to increase climate change more than fossil fuel power stations.
This surprising result runs contrary to the popular belief that hydropower is one …
Micro Hydro Simplified Guide
If you have found our Introduction to Hydro Electric Power and Guide to Pico-Hydro Power interesting, then you are should take the time to read the downloadable guide to Microhydro-electric Systems in this month's edition of Home Power Magazine.
Available free of charge as a PDF …
Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China is the World's largest dam, largest Hydro-electric project, and one of the largest construction projects ever. This power station generates an incredible 22.5GW of electricity from its 32 700MW hydro turbines - equivalent to the …
Hydropower Abstraction Licensing
The water supply is limited and must be protected by law to stop people from diverting streams and rivers, polluting, or taking large quantities of water from them for their own personal use to the detriment of others or the environment.
Anyone who takes more than …
British Hydro Association
The British Hydro Association is a trade association which represents the interests of those in the hydropower industry in the United Kingdom lobbying to protect the interests of their members. They also promote micro-hydro and Pico Hydro power generation.
There has recently been a lot of …
Run Of Water Hydro Power
As more and more people become concerned about the potential global warming effects of hydropower and the other environmental concerns arising from constructing huge dams and flooding vast swathes of land, there is increased interest in flow of river hydro-electricity generation. These smaller projects could …