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Micro-Hydro
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The simple working of the micro-hydro power generation is that the water from a stream is channeled into a small valley being build and drop it from a height in to a turbine with the help of a pipeline. If a person has got a good source of running water near his house, two or three turbines are more than enough to run the total electricity of his house. In order to calculate the total power a hydro power generator can produce, there are few micro hydro power calculators available which can give you exact idea as to how much energy will the generator is able to produce and how much is required by the house to run its required electricity. Thus it is quite helpful to calculate how many turbines or generators are needed by the person to run his full required electricity.
One of the biggest advantages a small micro hydro power system has is that it limits the damage to the environment and climate, where the bigger hydroelectric systems do have some social effects. Another advantage of such a low head micro hydro power generation is that’s it very reliable. The whole system is able to provide a continuous supply of energy as compared to other small scale renewable technologies. The system is even able to provide its services in the peak times of winter when a much larger consumption of electricity is there. Also as discussed earlier the system doesn’t require a large investment and no big reservoir is required for its construction. The average cost that is required to construct a small scale hydro power system is around more than thousand dollars. The only requirement which is required for the system is a source of running water and thus mostly termed as ‘run-of-river’ systems. Due to its small structure and use of natural resources mostly the system effects very little to the ecology. The effectiveness and reliability of the system is really advantageous and thus most of the developing countries are bringing this technology to their power generation areas. Its small cost of construction is another reason why it is being preferred by the small and developing countries where most of the population is living in small communities and villages. Also, if there is some excess energy being produced by these generators, there are many power companies which can buy back the electricity overflow, thus there is also a presence of income opportunities for the ruling bodies.
Besides all the above mentioned advantages, there are some limitations which should be considered while building a homemade micro hydro power plant. First of all the very basic requirement is the availability of suitable site characteristics. These characteristics may include the size of the stream, the distance between power source and the end location where that energy is actually required. Another limitation is that this kind of low head micro hydro power plants lack future expansions. These small micro hydro plants are considered seasonal. It’s because less micro hydro electricity is generated in summer because of lower water level in the streams.