advice for unique hydro power potential setup

[crwilson]

Hello everyone i have kind of a unique situation and i am looking for someone with knowledge to give me some options and advice on a hydro power setup.

Here is what i am dealing with. Picture this.

A stream at the bottom of a long narrow gorge valley.
The valley is blocked in half by a solid sandstone cliff about 40 feet high and 100 feet thick
the stream passes through the base of this cliff through a concrete culvert
which runs through this sandstone cliff to get to the other side of the gorge.

Water cannot pass from one side to the other without going through the culvert which is about 2 feet in diameter

on the water exiting side of the cliff a cave runs directly over top of the culvert but not clean through to the other side. maybe 85 feet


when the stream is full "all winter long" water shoots out from the culvert about 3 feet straight or more out before dropping almost like a gigantic squirt gun. the culvert is completely full almost.
The culvert mouth is completely submerged on the intake side all winter.

I think the culvert is at a pretty low decline not steep at all I often walk on top of it through the cave.

the water only drops from the end of the culvert mouth about 3 feet to the stream bed
below, so not much "head" to work with.

I can put a hydro system either in the cave inside the culvert by opening it up or i can put it at the end of the culvert.. my first choice would be inside the cave away from the elements.

What kind of system can i use and how much power do you think it will produce.

in my head i am picturing a device the fits perfectly inside the culvert vertically .almost like a jet turbines blades.

sorry if this is really confusing i just got off working a long night and i need sleep..

thanks everyone

[Ken Scharabok]

Do a Google search on hydro power. Lots of information out there on small scale production.

However, consider the cost against buying electricity from the grid.

[TnAndy]

Hydro is the cheapest way to go of all alternative energy.

Problem with most sites is people don't have NEAR the water power they think ( no reflection on yours ), OR if they do, it's enough water to get into permitting process, and that's such a headache, they give up. IF you can do have a lot of water flow, and can hide the turbine/generator/wiring, you have a little gold mine there.....but MUM is the word.

[jennigrey]

A major part of your problem would be keeping debris from your turbine. If you could prevent debris from entering the culvert in the first place, you could perhaps place a pelton wheel in the culvert, I think.

[65284]

I've always been interested in hydro power and would love to see a pic of your situation. The first question is: do you own the land including the culvert, cave, and the area where the outlet is?

[SirDude]

CRWilson, those are all really good points, and I too am very interested in the whole hydro thing.

A couple of things I've seen with Hydro systems. If you don't own that culvert, etc, but your land is up or down stream from that water supply then you might want to look at other Hydro systems to tap into that goldmine.

If you can tap into that water flow and just redirect a small amount of that water into your system and then direct it back the flow you'll be better off then messing with the county's sewer drain etc.

Or..

If you're on a hillside and have that much water available, I would look for video clips from a TV show called ??? Invention Nation (planet green channel) ??? It's the show with the three college age guys driving the bus from coast to coast.

Anyway, they met up with these guys who installed that black drain tubing in the ground. From side to side up on top of their hillside property and then ran 4" (?) PVC piping down from it, and then at the last point in the system reduced the pipe down to a small one inch or so opening before it went into the hydro's turbine. The water for their system came from just the rain falling on the hillside and seeping into the drain tubing, but there was such a steep vertical drop that the water pressure in that run of PVC tube, and then the reduction gave it great pressure.

Good luck and if you have pictures that would be great.

[Old Vet]

Do you own the land on each side of the culvert and over to the other side of the hill that it is ruining through? If the answer is no to either question then you are up a creek with out a paddle. If you own the land and it will not inter fear with the flow go for it. Get a permit! how would you like it if once you worked on it and got it working and some court said you must remove it. The best place to put a turbine is where you have the greatest flow which is just after the culvert.