Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
(OP)
htt p://www.fo rbes.com/s ites/willi ampentland /2012/04/0 5/water-to -wire-turb ine-produc es-power-f rom-pipes/
Reminds me of thread633-220449: Hydropower from water mains.. minus the perpetual motion part.
Reminds me of thread633-220449: Hydropower from water mains.. minus the perpetual motion part.





RE: Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
OK, so $3,000-5,000/kW puts them in the range of anywhere from twice the cost of NatGas fired generators to slightly higher than solar PV. All that when hydroelectric is maybe 3/4 the cost of NatGas. Next time I need 500 MW, I know who not to call.
What would you be doing, if you knew that you could not fail?
RE: Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
We started using pelton wheels to generate electricty from the high pressure water, but the cost there isen't cheep to have a person checking on it.
This is better than solar, because it is 24/7.
The nice thing is a solar inverter can be used avoiding most of the protection issues with a rotating generator.
And no it isen't 500MW, but it can have a purpose other than just power generation.
RE: Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
Flow was 20 million cubic feet per day
Transmission line pressure was 500 psig
End user pressure was 90 psig
There was a simple pressure-reducing valve taking the 500-to-90 drip.
Put a turbine in parallel with the PRV, got about 950 kW out of it, 24/7. Simple induction generator. Cost back then was just a hair under $400,000. We used a plain steam turbine with special seals, controlled it to 90 psi backpressure.
We had to heat the gas back up to send it on to the plant, due to ground-freezing issues.
Net sale (electric revenue minus cost of gas burned to re-heat the gas stream) was over $150,000 per year.
It was a really fun project! It worked dandy for about 10 years, then fell victime to maintenance neglect.
Good on ya,
Goober Dave
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RE: Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
Your cost estimates are probably right for large scale hydro projects but for smaller scale hydro power <20MW 3000$-5000$/KW can be competitive.
U.S. DOE on Hydroelectric power
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Comprehension is not understanding. Understanding is not wisdom. And it is wisdom that gives us the ability to apply what we know, to our real world situations
RE: Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
What would you be doing, if you knew that you could not fail?
RE: Water-to-Wire Turbine Produces Power From Pipes
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter