Micro Hydro Turbines: The Expert

the first time I opened my eyes I saw light up there I was born into the eyed electric business our family it's been I don't powered 60 years my uncle and my father did the development on the first plant we lived on a little farm down in the Eastern Cape and there was electricity was an unknown thing in that part of the world at that time since 1978 Pat Downey has been an alternative energy pioneer he designs micro hydroelectric power stations known more simply as micro hydros like they're much larger cousins these small plants generate electricity from kinetic energy released from falling water but the similarity ends there until recently Downey's small systems were too expensive to compete with grid electricity prices but the increase in power costs and new technological breakthroughs have now driven consumers to his workshop in the small town of Hoffmeyer South Africa about nine hours drive from Cape Town your hydropower was not economically viable because the the government actually subsidized the production of electricity so South Africa had one of the cheapest electricity rights in the world that is now changed dramatically now subsidies are being reduced and national utility is now going to show a profit by not getting a handout from the government South Africa's state-run energy company called Escom has raised electricity tariffs by 40 percent per year for the last few years and vows to continue so downy sprung into action and partnered with local engineer Dennis Clark to create vortex hydro systems the company helps farmers and rural communities develop small scale hydroelectric power systems that reduce their power costs but he doesn't just want to cut costs he wants to clear the skies coal-fired nuclear power stations I don't like those things and I mean what is a coal-fired power station do appear when you get up in the Janice Berg area you look at all the smugly where's it come from it comes from a coal-fired power station people want the systems and they realize not only the advantages of generating their own power from a cost point of view but also the the effect it has on the environment micro hydro is roughly classified as any plant that produces less than 300 kilowatts of electricity vortex hydro markets cross flow turbines like this one that produce about 56 kilowatts this is enough power for roughly 20 homes each plant prevents about 16 tons of carbon and sulfur dioxides from being released by a coal-fired power station but there is a stigma attached to micro hydro power that has prevented it from being widely adopted the biggest challenge is awareness of what it's really all about where the moment you mentioned hydropower the thought comes up or massive dams massive either bow schemes the advantage of micro hydro is that you small portion of the river to generate the fall and without actually interfering with a flower the environmental impact of a micro hydro scheme on the ecology of a river is limited to the footprint of the turbine itself unlike large-scale dams like this one the Caribe dam which flood huge areas of land cut off migrating species and cause habitat loss Downey feels that the environmental benefits of micro hydro systems far outweigh their small impact it is ecologically sustainable because you you you're not using a resource in in South Africa water is a scarce resource but you only using the energy in order Downey has built more than 60 micro hydro power stations across Africa his turbines are generating power in Malawi lassoo to South Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo the government has commissioned two that he is currently working on his most famous invention is used around the country it's an electronic governor that automatically adjusts the electrical load on a spinning turbine I believe this was the first fully electronic governing system in this country and it took a lot of development but nine months I spent huddled over that little table there and that the rewards have been worth it the energy in falling water has powered human systems like grain milling for thousands of years and today Downey believes it is still one of the best hopes for removing our dependency on fossil fuels if we could have thousands of micro hydros feeding into the National Grid and shutting down our coal-fired power stations that's that's a dream you

Channel: Jeffrey Barbee

Views: 381,936

Rating: 4.7964287 out of 5

Keywords: Micro Hydro power, Hydro power, microhydro, turbines, pelton wheels, cross flow turbine, south africa, alternative energy, water energy, hydroelectric, vortex, jeffrey barbee, cradock, electrification, governor

Id: iHBRf2bUNXU

Length: 5min 21sec (321 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 08 2010