Microhydro is generally the most cost-effective technology we offer, primarily due to it's predictability and constant 24x7 operation. There's a lot of hype and mis-information these days about the impacts of microhydro. The systems that EA installs are very low-impact, generally all done by hand. This particular site has a winter-only creek, which is common in coastal
British Columbia. This site has a 3 kW solar PV array which produces lots
of energy in the summer months. In the winter the microhydro takes over.
The turbine is an Energy System and Design Stream Engine, operating at
48 VDC and charges batteries. The client previously relied on a 12 kW
propane generator for the winter months, consuming easily $20,000 worth
of propane in a year. The microhydro installation paid for itself in under
2 years. Energy Alternatives uses a labour-intensive (as opposed to machinery-intensive) approach to microhydro installation. HDPE pipe is transported to the site in 20' lengths. A pipe fusion machine is used to fuse the sections together, producing a joint that is stronger than glue, faster and cheaper than mechanical couplers and is as strong as the pipe itself. . Once each section is fused together, the pipe is pulled
It's a meditative type of installation. A couple minutes of pulling, several moments of waiting for the next section to be fused, then pull another 20'.
Final system in operation
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