Microhydro microgrid
There is a considerable amount of available but so far unused energy at U.S. non-power dams in rivers and streams and at canal drops in man-made water channels. Unfortunately, this resource is disseminated across thousands of locations, each with different head, flow, and site conditions. An affordable technical solution is needed to allow the widespread exploitation of this clean, renewable energy asset. Cadens identified large 3D printing as a key enabler for affordability and efficiency of very low head, small capacity microhydro systems (15’ and less, 100 kW and less). Debris mitigation is also critical for small capacity turbines to continuously operate at design conditions for peak performance and output. The overall long term project goal is the design of a highly customizable turnkey microhydro system with a cost-effective and efficient turbine-generator leveraging additive manufacturing (AM, or 3D printing) and suited for low head applications, and integrated with other power sources and with batteries for reliability, scalability and cost effectiveness. The specific technical objectives of this project were 1) to design and build an optimized 3D printed microhydro testbed, 2) include in this testbed, test and validate debris mitigation and fish-safe runner designs, and 3) lay the foundations for microgrid operation. Torque output, flow and power from the turbine were measured with a prony brake and a transit time flow meter. The optimized turbine runner and stator were connected to a generator, a load, and battery storage. In Phase 2, a full four-way microgrid is planned: microhydro as baseload, solar panels, battery storage, and loads.
- Research Organization:
- Cadens, LLC
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0022895
- OSTI ID:
- 1994241
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-0022895
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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