A Low Head Hydro Scheme Suitable for Small Tidal and River Applications

The need to provide small communities with electrical power is well recognised. In many cases these communities are close to rivers or small estuaries which have energy capacities in the 10 kW to 100 kW range, and with an available head of 1 m to 2 m which is considered low in conventional hydro terms. The paper describes the operation of a modular device consisting of a chamber which acts as a water to air gearbox as water enters and leaves so expelling and inhaling air into and out of the chamber via a Wells turbine. Model tests of device performance are reported, and are used as input to the simulation of a full scale turbogenerator. Outline full scale design and costings are also discussed.