Not Your Father’s Hydropower
It’s not your great, great, great, (etc.) grandfather’s hydropower, either.
Over the past century, hydropower has generally utilized huge turbines sitting behind a immense dam, providing power to entire cities and regions. Even midsize systems powering towns have operated on the same principles. Since 1970, the total hydroelectricity generation in the U.S. has remained roughly static, around 300 billion kWh.
The Association focuses upon a largely untouched market for this technology, one where dams with a large imprint on the environment are not necessary or desired: smaller systems serving a single home, single organization, or a very small community.
Our efforts focus on low flow / low head turbines with minimal ecological impact and are fish safe, reduce environmental harm, and serve electricity needs without using fossil fuels.
Accessible Technology
A major goal of the Association is to utilize and promote hardware with low maintenance and low knowledge barriers, reducing the need for specialized experts. At time of writing, in order to build a microgrid off a small creek powering 1-2 structures and a couple of electric vehicle (EV) power stations, it is necessary to engage a number of experts and custom design/build water turbines suited to the terrain. In contract, one may simply call a company selling solar or wind systems and they’ll provide a quote to come in and perform the installation, much the same as doing any construction project.
The Association wants to work to change this, lowering those barriers. To do this, our strategic goals are to:
- Provide an pool of experts in relevant specializations, available to our membership for remote consultation;
- Develop a library of resources to support local maintenance by the unskilled, such as videos and how-to guides;
- Create an online community for members to provide mutual support, success stories, ask questions, and collaborate;
- Foster replicable systems by creating blueprints, partnering with commercial providers, and increasing awareness and adoption; and
- Actively sponsoring systems especially in disadvantaged, energy poor, and at-risk communities.
Benefits of Micro Hydropower
At its core, hydropower is green energy which comes simply from gravity. Water flowing spins a turbine, which powers a generator to produce electricity. Meanwhile, ~65% of energy produced in the U.S. comes from burning fossil fuels and ~20% from nuclear plants, each of which have significant negatives.
Major power grids often are shown to lack resilience. For example, Puerto Rico and Texas in recent years have shown strain. In other areas of the country, it is common for there to be issues resulting from storms and other incidents.s In the future, these will lilkely continue and grow worse, as the demands on energy grow.
Microgrids are inherently quite reliable. In particular, a hydroelectric microgrid is the smallest footprint and least susceptible to any storm or other damage.
Not only will an independently-powered microgrid be more reliable, it provides a surplus of energy generation which can be sold to the main grid, providing additional resilience to the surrounding community.
There are other benefits, notably to the low-head turbines endorsed by the Association. They are fish friendly and have minimal to no impact upon the environment. Maintenance is also minimal, with decades of life to any individual component (the turbines themselves can last 50 years or more).
Transition to Renewable Energy
With installation of a microgrid, there are ancillary benefits. It’s possible to transition from fossil fuels to electric appliances, tools, heating, and vehicles either for immediate savings or when existing items reach end of life and need replacement. For example, one could immediately sell gas or diesel vehicles and obtain EVs for lower total cost of ownership when you account for lower maintenance cost of EVs and near zero cost of electricity per mile. The same is true of tools such as lawn mowers, blowers, and other gas-powered equipment.