Please help make it happen for PanzaPath in our crowd funding drive on Indiegogo.

Just click on the logo

http://Indiegogo.com/PanzaPath

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

The only infrastructure project mentioned during President Zuma’s state of the nation address was the Umzimvubu river and community project.

A 2006 water resource study of the Mzimvubu Water Project identified 19 possible dam sites, and from these preliminary investigations the Ntabekanga Dam, on the Tsitsa River — an Umzimvubu tributary — was selected as the most promising site. It was estimated the dam would have a reservoir capacity of 600-million cubic meters, and was capable of yielding 180-million cubic meters a year.

Amatola Green Power has invited us to be a participant in the project with a view to install our Power Pontoons in several places along the river for remote, off grid, rural mini grid electrification of communities.

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

The Blue Crane Route Municipality (BCRM) is located within the Cacadu District Municipal region in the Eastern Cape. The Blue Crane Development Agency (BCDA) is the development arm of the BCRM and is currently tasked with investigating the potential generation of renewable energy in the BCRM region.

The Cookhouse wind farm comprising of 138 Mega Watts at an estimated cost was recently awarded by the Department of Energy and will entail an investment estimated at R2,4 billion facilitated by  the contractors, Industrial Development Corporation and commercial banks.

The common misconception that potential hydropower sites in South Africa have already been exploited is proven mistaken in the BCDA district as evidenced by various studies, including a recently completed mini hydro pre-feasibility study commissioned by the BCDA.

The study was focused on “run of river” technologies which indicated 9 possible locations along rivers and canals.

We were contacted by the BCDA who asked us to review the feasibility study. The idea is to place as many of our power pontoons as possible between the run of river installations in order to harvest more energy from several water ways.

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

River In Stream Energy Conversion

Waterwheel near Kakemas SA

Water Wheels  are arguably the oldest source of mechanical power from ancient days used in primitive industrial processes to convert hydro energy into mechanical energy from low head slow flow rivers and streams. Uses of water wheels included milling flour in gristmills and grinding wood into pulp for paper making, but other uses include foundry work, machining, and pounding fiber for use in the manufacture of cloth. Thousands of these wheels were used all over Europe, but with the advent of cheap electricity, waterwheels were taken out of service and replaced by electric motors.

It is generally believed that turbines evolved from waterwheels, and which also contributed to the abandonment of waterwheels as mechanical power machines from hydro sources. Whereas turbine designs have evolved into two classes, or families (Reaction and Impulse) the water wheel design principals have pretty much remained stagnant with no design improvements with modern waterwheel manufacturers today still using design manuals from the late 19^th century. (Sustainable Energy Research Group, University of Southampton; Müller G. and Kauppert K. 2002).

From the  Group’s Water Wheel publication:   “Although stream wheels could be potentially quite interesting since e.g. their application would not constitute a major change of the river, no such wheel has been built for more than 100 years and very little is known about the performance characteristics and design requirements for such wheels.”

The renewable energy industry throughout the world is adding generation capacity at a pace exceeding conventional fossil fuel with investment in the renewable energy sector surpassing fossil fuels in 2010 with principally wind and solar technologies, and there are numerous hydro power dams being built (with a dam building boom underway in Canada) mainly in the developing world as traditional fossil and nuclear fuel fired power stations are not an option.

Hydro electric dam builders are facing increasing scrutiny and pressure from international funders, NGO’s and environmental groups who argue that dam based hydro electric power plants are destructive to habitat and humanity, and “river de-damming” lobbyists in the USA and elsewhere are increasingly drawing attention to some dams that made sense to build in years gone by, but in hind sight turns out ought not be there anymore for valid reasons. Some dam construction projects in some parts of the world are controversial, giving rise to armed affected disenfranchised and displaced citizen opposition.

In the USA, two federal agencies recently released studies indicating the U.S. could significantly increase its production of renewable power by adding generation equipment to the nation’s existing non-powered dams.

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s study findings were announced at the National Hydropower Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.  found that the U.S. could add 12,600 MW of renewable power capacity to the grid by adding hydropower to 54,000 existing dams. Of the nation’s 84,000 dams, only 3 percent are used to generate electricity, the study found.

Brennan Smith, a water resources engineer at Oak Ridge, told attendees at the NHA conference that about 8,000 MW is concentrated at 100 dams in the South and Midwest. “If we want to make a big bang, all we have to really do is look at 100 dams,” Smith said. “That’s a much more manageable program.”

In another study, the U.S. Department of Interior identified 70 non-powered dams operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that have

“reasonable potential” to produce electricity and create jobs.  with about 226 MW of renewable power capacity to be added to the grid if hydropower were added to all 70 sites.

The Hydropower Improvement Act, which passed the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee in April is awaiting a vote by the full Senate.  The legislation would establish competitive grants for adding generation equipment to non-powered dams, more capacity to existing hydro facilities and efficiency improvements to existing plants.

The re-branded concept of the of water wheels as “River In-Stream Energy Conversion” (RISEC) is a centuries old idea with a new name.

As can be seen on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Database, hundreds of projects are in various stages of development using a variety of technologies, each with its own set of pros and cons, as (mostly non-traditional hydro power) industry players are beginning to recognize the value of energy to be harvested from moving water.

The basic concept is to use it or lose it: The untapped hydrokinetic energy contained in the water flowing through your neighborhood to be dispersed (lost) in an ocean, that is.

There is much speculation about the efficiencies of various technologies, but the speculators sometimes miss the point; Efficiency differentials between technologies harvesting free energy which would otherwise be wasted is not as important as a discussion of squeezing every possible bit of BTU out of a lump of coal or a gallon of diesel because these are not free. The argument of efficiency is significantly elevated as to which turbine to use in relevance if one is going to spend a couple of billion Dollars building a dam wall. You need to then squeeze every little bit out of the machine (turbine) you can.

Power Pontoons (big ones are called a Power Barge”) results in flexibility due to the machine floating on the surface of a flowing river, stream or current (other than the types moored rigidly to the river bottom) and does not have to be rigidly imbedded in a river bank structure like the water wheel picture above.

Without question, these machines have the least effect on fauna and flora, does not alter the water course, involves no civil engineering works or construction, could almost be blindly “type certified” as a “Low Impact” technology, does not impede river traffic or fish migration, and can be deployed in a matter of days.

As mentioned above, each of these systems have unique pros and cons. One drawback all of the technologies illustrated above share in common is that they all require a relatively deep and fast flowing stream of water in order to harvest energy and are very site specific. Most of the designs are not feasibly adaptable to industrial or utility scale and are subject to technical and stress challenges which lie in the inherent weakness of the power transfer shaft which needs to be able to withstand stresses directly proportional to the amount of energy harvested by the turbine blades. Because the system floats on water, the mass of material used for the turbine and shaft needs to be such that the machine will not sink, or the turbine blades not scrape the bottom.

Since there are many more slower and shallower rivers and streams in the world than big strong current rivers, there is a great need, with many potential opportunities and locations for RISEC which can harvest energy from low head, slow flow rivers throughout the world, and more so in developing countries. RISEC is ideally suited for community island micro power and remote mini grid applications, especially when blended with low speed permanent magnet generators and single wire earth return (SWER) power lines.

Enter a South African based technology startup which recently completed R&D work on a newly designed turbine blade (international patents pending) which could be viewed as the first improvement to the waterwheel in more than a century. The turbine rotors are mounted on a horizontal shaft similar to in-plane axis, the blades having the effect of a waterwheel. Taking it a step further, the turbine design and assembly method also effectively combines Reaction and Impulse energy forces with performance characteristics similar to the Banki/Ossberger (cross flow) design, and is feasibly scalable from micro hydro to commercial and industrial sized applications.

How it Works. The pontoon is designed for use in river and ocean currents with a horizontal axis turbine. Almost like mounting several water wheels on the same shaft but better, as the advantages of a vertically submerged blade has similar performance characteristics to a horizontally mounted Cross flow turbine.

The core of the international patents pending turbine technology is in the design of the turbine blades and the variable assembly methods. The leading edge offers reduced resistance, while the trailing edge is aerodynamically optimized to reduce the Flat Dynamic Effect as well as the Flap Bend Wise Effect. The turbine is horizontally mounted on a catamaran or SWATH type hull or barge and partially submerged into the water flowing beneath the barge.

In an open-river setting, hydrokinetic power projects in a constant flowing river will have a capacity factor (CF) of better than 98% because power will be generated by using a constant water current to the effect that it would be considered a “base load” plant.

The rotational speed of the turbine is very low and can be stopped from spinning in a matter of seconds through automated fault sensing equipment and the turbine can be lifted out of the water and placed in service mode in under 2 minutes.

The barge on which the turbines are mounted (and the turbines themselves) is able to cope with fluctuations in water levels, substantial velocity increases, and direct impacts from large and fast-moving debris, (the turbine is self-cleaning for small debris and floating plant material) and the only flow parameter that would decrease power output would be a decrease in the flow rate of the water underneath the pontoon. During extraordinary adverse conditions or flood events, the pontoon could be removed from the river if necessary.

Since the available power that can be harvested from a flowing river is proportional to the cube of velocity and density of the water, a slower flow rate of (say) 1 meter per second will yield less energy than a flow rate of (say) 3 meters per second, and depending on location and other factors such as depth, the turbine blade size would be engineered for optimal performance given specific site conditions. For instance, the turbine blade could be long and broad for slow moving deep currents, or shorter and narrower for fast moving shallow currents.

Most river flow speeds have seasonal variations which has a direct impact on the amount of energy which can be harvested. The Pontoons are designed to accommodate such variables in that either one, or two generators could be used. It is best to engineer the Pontoons for the worst case scenario; when the flow speed is at it’s lowest, yet also be able to take advantage of increased water volume and flow speed.

With this in mind, the pontoons are ideally fitted with two generators with load sensing controls. If there is insufficient force to produce from both generators, one of the generators will “go off line” and spin freely without resistance while the other continues to function normally and when flow conditions improve, the sensors will again re-activate the second generator.

Location Not all rivers have suitable annual flow rates due to seasonal rainfall variations, or flow deep enough to sustain the flotation requirements due to the weight of the barge. In many parts of the world river beds are exposed during dry seasons, and would be much less practical for the installation of a power pontoon. The pontoon will theoretically operate much more efficiently in the middle of a straight section of a river, or closer to a bank in a winding river where the water flow speed is higher, and in either case, the location needs to allow river traffic to pass unimpeded and at a safe distance.

Tying into the electric power grid should ideally be at a location close to distribution lines, or alternatively, close to an agriculture, industrial or commercial end user in order to avoid the major expense of lengthy overhead power lines.

The environmental effects of water wheels have for centuries been accepted as totally benign unless one would regard an ugly and obtuse old design in a scenic natural setting as “eye pollution”. Unlike turbine designs which move at high speed across the flow of water and can cut fish, the rotation of the turbine is in the same direction as the water flow, but slightly slower than the water flow speed. A fish migrating downstream getting in the way may be pushed deeper under water for a few seconds and pass unscathed underneath, and blind fish swimming upstream into the turbine may come away from the experience with a bruised lip.

Run of River. Because the use of a Power Pontoon does not require civil engineering or construction such as which is involved in pouring concrete, laying pipes or digging canals, trenches or tunnels, or a need to build “power houses” or pump stations for Run of River systems, it has a minimal environmental footprint.  Since many run of river systems have been built over the years in numerous parts of the world, and several more are either under construction or in planning stages, it may be feasible to introduce Power Pontoons into such existing systems in order to generate auxiliary, or additional power from the same flow of water, or to design new run of river systems to incorporate the hydrokinetic pontoons or barges for optimal harvesting of hydrokinetic energy.

Bold Move: Large Scale Power generation

Dams are sometimes necessary for the control of rivers for the protection of property and lives, and a Hydrokinetic Power Barge could be an alternative or complimentary potential source of hydro energy which would make it unnecessary to build some smaller dams on rivers solely for electricity generation purposes.

Vessels and barges of the catamaran or SWATH hull type today can exceed 3,500 tons load capacities, meaning that the turbine could be engineered and built to exceed a hundred tons, perhaps delivering a hundred or more Mega Watts per Power Barge. It can be deployed on large rivers like the Rhine, Mississippi, Congo, and Nile to name a few, where several Power Barges could be strung behind each other, or on large ocean going vessel SWATH or Catamaran type hulls in strong ocean currents.

Disruptive Innovation. We think the “re-invented waterwheel” has the classic characteristics of a disruptive innovation. The hydro electricity segment of the renewable energy industry is currently the largest contributor to electricity worldwide, and is poised to be an even larger contributor with concepts such as small hydro power beginning to make a mark on the world scene. Concepts such as small hydro and hydrokinetic energy are likely to provide a range of business opportunities to small and large businesses worldwide.  (Altprofits)

Some advocate for instance that while in the U.S., hydrokinetic energy is still in its infancy, current advances will make this form of renewable power generation technology as common as wind turbines within the next 10 years. (Industrial Info Resources) Some analysts, researchers and advisors find that clean tech has proven to be a significant business opportunity during the past 10 years, and its growth rates now rival that of earlier technology revolutions like telephony, computers, and the Internet. (Clean Edge)

Leapfrogging is probably one of the most remarkable aspects of Disruptive Innovation in the sustainable development endeavors for developing countries which accelerate development, skipping inferior, less efficient, more expensive, more polluting technologies. It moves directly to advanced, high quality and most demanding use. It avoids the environmentally harmful stages of development and does not follow polluting trajectories of industrialized countries. Energy infrastructure is not based on fossil fuels, but “jump” directly into the renewable energy age with relatively inexpensive technologies and equipment which have been developed, tried, tested and proven, is free of defects, have been debugged, and is readily available “off the shelf”.

While disruptive innovation through decentralized hydrokinetic power generation could be perceived by traditional hydro dam developers as competing with existing business models, or, due to its somewhat deceptive characteristic,  not be recognized or thought of as “small” and inconsequential, or be dismissed due to its “newness” as a crackpot idea not in line with “conventional wisdom”. Fact is; Disruptive Innovation is conventional wisdom.

Dam busting could be an entirely new and complimentary source of business for dam builders. After all, those engineers who built them would probably be the best qualified people to “bust” them. Removing dams could open up entirely new strategic relationships with the anti dam movement to the effect that old enemies could actually partner on win-win projects. Communities and markets served with electricity from these old dams need not despair; the dam hydro electricity could be replaced by power from one or a few barges strung out behind each other where the dam used to be – perhaps not as much electricity, but certainly some.

SWATH hulls can be used as Power Barge Platforms

We would like to see the technology deployed as far and wide as possible on rivers throughout the world and would like to hear from interested, suitably qualified organizations to take up licenses in order to build and deploy the Power Barge and Pontoons. Those like minded persons who like the concept can also help make the technology available to remote rural communities by making a donation to our recently formed Non Profit,  PanzaPath.

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2011 (No. 24 of 2011) published in the Government Gazette on 10 January comes into effect on 1 April, 2012. The best description of the amendments we could find is an article published by the National Research Foundation last year on 30 November under the heading “Tax Incentive Changes Good News for Research Entrepreneurs”. you can read the full article here.

What does this mean?

Qualifying individual investors can deduct (or offset) 150% of the amount invested in a qualifying research and development project from their future taxable income. This is not a new law, it is a significant improvement of an existing law. It is administered and enforceable by the Department of Science and Technology, not SARS. SARS can’t fight with you over your deductions allowed – they are out of the picture.

We provide references and links for your ease of reference to government and SARS websites below which will verify what we state.

http://www.dst.gov.za/r-d

http://www.sars.gov.za/lnb/mylnb.asp?/jilc/kilc/alrg/ulrg/vlrg/n2k0a

Our qualifying criteria is R250,000 minimum per investor in one or more participation in one of, or three three specific  partnership agreements with a maximum of R4 million per partnership structure only available to 20 investors per project who will qualify as a sophisticated and high net worth individual in South Africa.

Only three R&D business ventures are currently open to private individuals who may qualify. Investment in our tech development has no investor entitlement to, or extend to humanitarian, military, aerospace or oceanic tactical warfare applications.

================

This Offering (which may be amended or withdrawn without notice) is not an invitation or solicitation to invest in any jurisdiction to any person who may not qualify as an accredited or sophisticated investor pursuant to Section 144 (b) of the South African Companies Act of 1973,

For further information, please contact us.

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

Bloomberg New Energy Finance finds that the trillionth dollar has been invested in clean energy since its records began:

-  Clean Energy: – Bloomberg New Energy Finance has recorded the trillionth dollar of investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart energy technologies since its records started in 2004. The milestone was passed as negotiators and world leaders gathered in Durban for the latest round in the stalled international climate negotiations.

Annual clean energy investment has risen nearly five-fold, from $52bn in 2004 to $243bn last year, a compound annual growth rate of 29%. Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects figures for 2011 once again to be in record territory, driven by funding for US solar thermal projects, some large European offshore wind financing, continued high levels of activity in China and Germany, and the flowering of national renewable energy programs in India.

“The trillionth-dollar milestone shows that the world is not waiting for a deal on climate in order to start turning the super-tanker away from fossil fuels,” said Bloomberg New Energy Finance chief executive Michael Liebreich. “It should serve as a message to the UN and all those in Durban to stop obsessing about a binding deal to cap carbon emissions, and to think much harder about how to speed up investment in the solutions. Another five years of investment growth at the same compound rates, and the world will have broken the back of emissions growth.”  Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Onsite Energy continues to encourage both institutional, as well as private investors to pay attention to the huge investment opportunity in the hydrokinetic power barge concepts in hydro  power generation as intrinsic part of the clean and renewable energy unfolding revolution.

Our International Patents Pending Technology was nominated as a Semi Finalist in the South African National Cleantech Competition.

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

Bold Move: Large Scale Power generation

Michael Jantzen's Great River Turbine Concept

We believe that our Hydrokinetic Power Barge makes it unnecessary to build dams on some rivers solely for electricity generation purposes and is an excellent source of alternative energy.

Vessels and barges of the catamaran hull type today exceed 3,500 tons load capacities, meaning that our turbine could be engineered and built to exceed a hundred tons, delivering hundreds of Mega Watts per Power Barge. It can be deployed on rivers like the Rhine, Mississippi, Congo, Nile, and Amazon to name a few, where several Power Barges could be strung out, or on large ocean going vessel SWATH or Catamaran type hulls in ocean currents.

 Hydrokinetic Energy

Renewable energy advocates, governments and investors are increasingly becoming aware of river currents and the huge associated energy potential. Because hydrokinetic power generation relies simply on the extraction of energy from the natural velocity of water, these power systems can be placed into sources of flowing water with minimal infrastructure or environmental impacts.

Hydrokinetic energy is not a new application of the concept of using the energy from moving water to create electricity – “dam-less” as opposed to conventional dam wall hydro power or other man-made barricading structures behind which potential energy in the water is stored – water wheels of various types have been used in numerous applications for centuries.

The ideal location for a hydrokinetic turbine is to be located in deep strong flowing rivers or immediately downstream from an existing conventional hydro power plant where electric transmission wires and interconnection facilities are located, and where the energy remaining in the water current exiting from the turbines in the dam can be reused. Small Power Pontoons  could easily be floated in channeled and engineered waterways such as irrigation canals, and several hundred bigger Hydrokinetic Pontoons could be strung behind each other on big rivers close by communities for both electricity and power generation, which would work as distributed electricity on a small scale. This would make costly high  voltage overhead transmission lines and substations unnecessary.

How the Hydrokinetic Power Barge Works

The hydrokinetic power barge is designed for use in river and ocean currents with a horizontal axis turbine. Almost like mounting several Pelton wheels on the same shaft but better, as the advantages of a vertically submerged blade has similar performance characteristics to a horizontally mounted Cross flow turbine.

The core of our patented pending turbine technology is in the design of the turbine blades. The leading edge offers reduced resistance, while the trailing edge is aerodynamically optimized to reduce the Flat Dynamic Effect as well as the Flap Bend Wise Effect. The turbine is horizontally mounted on a catamaran or SWATH type hull or barge and partially submerged into the water flowing beneath the barge.

In an open-river setting, hydrokinetic power projects will have a capacity factor (CF) of better than 98% because power will be generated by using a constant water current to the effect that it would be considered a “base load” plant.

The rotational speed of the turbine is very low, and can be stopped from spinning in a matter of seconds through automated fault sensing equipment and the turbine can be lifted out of the water and placed in service mode in under 2 minutes.

The power barge is designed to last for at least 20 years lifespan, and because of very few moving parts, will have very low maintenance costs and downtime.

Location

Not all rivers have suitable annual flow rates due to seasonal rainfall variations, or flow deep enough to sustain the flotation requirements due to the weight of the barge. In many parts of the world river beds are exposed during dry seasons, and would be much less practical for the installation of a hydrokinetic power barge. The barge will theoretically operate much more efficiently in the middle of a straight section of a river, or closer to a bank in a winding river where the water flow speed is higher, and in either case, the location needs to allow river traffic to pass unimpeded and at a safe distance.

Tying into the electric power grid should ideally be at a location close to distribution lines, or alternatively, close to an agriculture, industrial or commercial end user in order to avoid the major expense of lengthy overhead power lines.

Technical Innovations

Our patent pending design of the Vurbine® blade is much more efficient than conventional water wheel or other turbine types, reduces aerodynamic resistance against the leading edge, and also reduces the Flat Dynamic Effect of the trailing edge. The design combines impulse and reaction types for optimal mechanical efficiency.The turbine blades and turbines are easy to repair, modify or upgrade. If we improve our blade design or use other materials such as graphite, composites, metal alloys or industrial grade high strength plastics or make technical advances that achieve a higher power output, for example, we can lift the turbine from the water and modify the existing turbine in about a day.

Permitting

Many countries and governments around the world are pro-actively encouraging renewable energy and environmentally friendly projects, and are streamlining permitting and creating fast track incentives for such developments.

Aquatic Life and Environment: Low Impact Technology

Some wildlife advocates may be concerned that turbines may harm fish and other types of wildlife. This is generally a valid concern where traditional hydro turbines work at several hundred rpm which could cut and kill fish. The International Patents Pending turbine we designed is mounted on the hydrokinetic power barge which spins, or the blades move, at the same speed or less than the water flow rate, and in the same direction as the water flow, almost like a floating water wheel. We compared our turbine with published reports by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ for fish mortality equations in order to look at potential mortality to fish and predict less than 1% mortality.

The technology’s Low Impact characteristics has Zero Emissions: We believe there will be no material adverse impact to marine life, and we expect zero impact on water quality as pertains to temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity or harmful airborne particulate matter.

Examples of SWATH type oceangoing vessels which is ideal as a platform for a Power Barge

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

A Major Environmental Cause of Death:   

2 million a year

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) from primitive household cooking fires as the leading environmental cause of death in the world, as it contributes to nearly 2.0 million deaths annually – more deaths than are caused each year by malaria. Almost half of the planet lives in poverty, and those households generally use biomass (wood, crop residues, charcoal, or dung) or coal as fuel for cooking and heating. The primitive fires typically fill homes with dense smoke, blackening walls and ceilings and sickening those within. Three billion people worldwide cook indoors with open fires without proper ventilation, yet little public awareness surrounds what the World Health Organization describes as the globe’s top environmental killer.   Publication

Our International Patents Pending Power Pontoon technology was selected as a Semi Finalist in the South African National Cleantech Competition.

Pictures of smoke filled huts

Gathering firewood for indoor cooking also leads to deforestation and land degradation

Many communities in rural areas have no electricity  –   yet there are thousands of rivers from which micro hydro electricity could be harvested and used for clean, smokeless indoor cooking.

Very basic cooking stoves could avoid open fire cooking dangers by using local, electricity from clean, free renewable and sustainable micro hydro Power Pontoons.

A Power Pontoon from Onsite Energy is really easy to install and use: Just drop it in a river, and plug in a cooking stove, hot plate or slow cooker

 To see how you can help at PanzaPath, a non profit which provides hydro solutions to rural communities click here

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

We offer a unique and limited opportunity to acquire a license for power generation on rivers and canals with our revolutionary new International Patents Pending turbine design and assembly method which is a significant improvement in River In-stream Energy Conversion  (RISEC) -  River Energy – turbine technology which can generate electricity from thousands and thousands of rivers and canals where no other hydrokinetic power barge technology has heretofore been feasible to use, and is a great potential business opportunity in river energy power generation.

What is the opportunity?

Hydro energy is by far the largest renewable energy contributor to electricity worldwide. This renewable energy source is poised to be an even larger contributor, with concepts such as small hydro power beginning to make a mark on the world scene. River In Stream Energy Conversion of hydrokinetic energy is likely to provide an exciting business opportunity to small and large businesses worldwide.

The International Energy Agency projects hydro capacity growth to increase by 63% for the period 2002-2030 and some studies suggest that two-thirds of the world’s economically feasible potential is still to be exploited.

The hydro power industry is seeing new developments like micro hydro and hydrokinetic energy conversion which has great growth potential and is just starting to emerge from its infancy. This segment of the renewable energy industry is also a good business opportunity as micro hydro and small hydro is expected to grow three times as fast as large hydro in terms of installed capacity.

The hydro power industry is seeing new developments like micro hydro and hydrokinetic energy which has great growth potential and is just starting to emerge from its infancy. There are excellent business opportunities for SME’s as this renewable energy segment is expected to grow three times as fast as large hydro in terms of installed capacity for electricity generation.

Source :http://www.altprofits.com/ref/report/hydro/hydro.html

The technology  is ideally suited for low head, slow flow rivers, and dramatically increases and expands the number of places throughout the world where micro hydro power generation can be implemented in conditions heretofore not possible with existing technology. The technology is also feasibly scalable from micro hydro to industrial and commercial sized applications.

What is the market?

In the developing world, local, village level, micro hydropower can play an important role in energizing rural areas, in particular those areas far away from the national electricity grid. Many of these villages are located close by rivers where micro scale hydropower implemented through local isolated mini grids can provide higher levels of energy services than can be offered by wind or solar, and at lower costs.

In developed countries like the USA for instance, two federal agencies recently released studies indicating the U.S. could significantly increase its production of renewable power by adding generation equipment to the nation’s existing non-powered dams. One study found that the U.S. could add 12,600 MW of renewable power capacity to the grid by adding hydropower to 54,000 existing dams and that, of the nation’s 84,000 dams, only 3 percent are used to generate electricity.

Most micro hydro installations in the developing world are run of river designs. Our technology makes such systems obsolete since our equipment is designed to float on existing natural water streams, and could very easily be deployed on existing man made water ways.  It could literally be dropped in the water in days, thus giving entrepreneurs an headstart opportunity over conventional run of river methods.

What is our solution?

Our International Patents Pending design of a new turbine blade (“Vurbine”) and method of assembly could be considered a “re-invention”, or at least a significant improvement of the water wheel  and be viewed as the first improvement to the waterwheel in more than a century.

The Vurbine rotors are assembled on a horizontal shaft in such a way as to combine Reaction and Impulse energy forces. The Vurbine assembly is mounted on a floating pontoon or hydrokinetic power barge, and uses the hydrokinetic energy in the water flowing underneath it to spin the turbine, almost like a floating water wheel.. It is easily adaptable to various site specific conditions and is feasibly scalable from micro hydro to commercial and industrial sized applications.

The Vurbine is mounted on a floating pontoon which gives it the flexibility to operate on fluctuating water levels a flowing river, stream or current so that no civil engineering works or construction is required. Without question, these machines have the least effect on fauna and flora, does not alter the water course, could almost blindly be type certified as a “Low Impact” technology, does not impede water flow or fish migration, and can be deployed in a matter of days, and at about a third of the cost of run of river systems.

 Licensing

We believe that the most efficient, meaningful effect of our technology on sustainable development would be the wide and loud deployment of our technology through a licensing or franchising type of system to the effect that our implementation efforts in South Africa could be simultaneously cloned and replicated in as many countries as possible by SME’s, entrepreneurs and NGO’s, giving the most rapid and substantive effect not only to renewable power generation in industrialized countries with new business opportunities and associated job creation, but also to community upliftment in developing countries.

The well documented benefits of Low Impact hydro electricity from truly environmentally friendly renewable energy sources will undoubtedly have significant and measurable positive impact on the lives of each person in every community where the technology is deployed; whether in a highly developed industrialized country or at a remote impoverished community in a lesser developed country.

In the undeveloped world, the effect of the technology would have less of an impact on the environmental degradation through displacement of fossil fuel based power than it would have on social, financial and indigenous sustainability unless the technology was also scaled up and used on major rivers resulting in fewer dams being built.

We believe that our company would be an irresponsible corporate citizen and a short sighted selfish custodian of such humanitarian valuable and environmentally benign technology if we did not give a remote, rural community the opportunity to use it, and therefore would like to make it available to as many as possible in the shortest time possible.

We have already demonstrated our commitment to sustainability and humanity through our grant of a free license to be used by the Engineering School at Copperbelt University in Zambia which is destined to have a profoundly positive effect through implementation at its Mambilima community project.

We are interested in technology transfer and licensing discussions in all countries and welcome enquiries from suitably qualified companies.

Click here for our Licensing Guidelines

Please contact us

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals

Micro Hydro – Technologies

Our International Patents Pending Technology was nominated as a Semi Finalist in the South African National Cleantech Competition.

We set out a very brief comparison of the installed costs of the various small renewable energy systems commonly used in Africa, and also compare the costs of run of river systems. The technologies compared is a simplistic high level and covers just the basics of run of river, in stream, solar, wind and fossil fuel.

Hydro electric power plants are generally classified in one of 5 categories according to a plant’s hourly generating capacity. A Micro Hydro power source is by far the most efficient and affordable renewable energy technology for small rural power needs where there is a flowing river.

• Pico hydro = < 1 kW – 4 kW
• Micro hydro = 5 kW – 1 MW
• Mini hydro = 1 MW – 10 MW
• Small hydro = 10 MW – 50 MW
• Large hydro = > 50 MW

River Diversions, “Run of River” systems etc

The Zengamina hydro project on the Zambezi River pictured above left took two years to complete (2006 – 2008) at a cost of about $3 million. ($4,285 per kW)

Micro hydro plants throughout Africa are usually “Run of River” type installations where water is partially barricaded with a weir at a certain elevation and piped down to a lower elevation to spin a turbine coupled to a generator.

This type of water diversion system installation inevitably requires some form of barricade to create an energy storage or accumulation reservoir which in turn requires civil construction and related engineering expenses and permits. (Water Use Permit, Construction Permit)  and in most cases have an impact on river habitats and eco systems which may need to be evaluated through an Environmental Impact Assessment.

We quote current information from the websites of companies who install these systems:

• Ossberger GmbH
• BGW Hydro
• Green Earth Consulting

• In a paper authored by Helmut Erdmannsdoerfer MBA, of Ossberger, the cost is between 2,500 and 3,000 Euros per kW with the expense allocation at a representative project in Kenya as follows:

Electrical work           14 %
Power train                27 %
Pen stock                     6 %
Civil work                   53 %

• BG Hydro quotes uninstalled (generation equipment only) prices as follows:

• Green Earth Consulting quotes ZAR 345,000 (about US$ 1,500 per kW) for a 30 kW plant excluding civils etc.

• By way of example, the 700 kW Zengamina Hydro Electric Project was completed in 2007 at a cost of $3 million. Almost $4,300 per kilo Watt.

Wind and Solar comparison.

The major advantage of a constant flowing river, stream or canal is that the energy source is available 100% of the time during a 24 hour period requiring no batteries to “store” electricity, whereas in-land wind industry averages less than 30% uptime and solar only works during daylight hours, requiring storage batteries.

Internal Combustion Engines.

Engine driven generators require petrol, diesel or bio fuels with significant costs and associated transport and storage expenses. Renewable energy systems like hydro, wind and solar have no fuel expenses. Small IC engines running either in standby mode or as a primary generation source have a limited lifetime and require routine service and maintenance by qualified technicians.

Power Pontoon

Unlike typical river diversion systems, the Power Pontoon is a River In Stream Energy Conversion (RISEC) technology.

The Power Pontoon is a twin hull pontoon with a turbine and electric generator mounted on the deck and which floats on water. The water passing underneath the hull turns the turbine just like a typical water wheel, which then spins the generator. It is a “Low Impact” technology which has no discernable negative impact on water flow or quality, or on marine life or plants, and is the most cost efficient “Water to Watt’s” micro hydroelectric system available in the world today.

When compared to other renewable technologies such as solar and wind energy based systems suitable for rural “off grid” applications, the Power Pontoon’s installed cost per kilo Watt is approximately one third of the cost of that of solar and wind, and about half that of “Run of River” systems.

Improving the sustainability of village hydropower in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Source: W Jonker Klunne  – Senior Renewable Energy Researcher  -  CSIR Built Environment www.csir.co.za

Local, village-level, micro hydropower schemes can play an important role in energizing rural areas in Africa, in particular those areas far away from the national electricity grid.

Substantial numbers of projects and programs have been implemented in Africa to provide solar systems to rural populations. However, it has become clear that the costs of photo-voltaic (PV) systems are very high and that they do not provide households with the level of energy services required. Micro scale hydropower, often implemented through local isolated mini grids, is able to provide higher levels of energy services than can be offered by solar PV or battery charging, and at lower costs.

Onsite Hydro Energy - Micro hydro power from rivers and canals