North Shore Small Scale Hydro

Good morning,

I am a technology guy relocating from the oil patch in the US to the north coast.  I'm at retirement age but can't seem to stop working so have undertaken some months of evaluation looking at low tech and cost effective alt energy solutions.

Basic guiding premises:

1) Systems at larger scale are less costly on a per Kw since civil costs (at least in hydro) don't increase in a linear fashion with respect to capacity.  Plus, smaller system footprint, 24X7 operation, greater energy density, etc, etc, assuming no insurmountable hurdles and favorable flows in the right places.

2) Some low tech low head hydro systems in which all civil works can be done with local concrete work are providing a < 3 year payback in other regions that have lower Kw and higher labor costs than the DR.  Hard evaluation may well suggest an even shorter ROI with engineering completed.

3) Issues to be dealt with include permission to utilize in stream flow, with or without small diversion and then back into water course. (All of the tech I am looking at in this regard is low maintenance, debris tolerant and fish safe)

4) Bang for the buck looks to be in about the 15 Kw range for the hydro I'm most partial to at this point.  This implies that power generated should be utilized by multiple homes so some density in consumption could be desirable.

5) With respect to PV, there are at least a score of quality flexible, thin film PV manufacturers with good product on the market at this time and I'm keen to investigate the feasibility of direct roof application to concrete roofs with suitable orientation.

6) It is my understanding that one of the issue favoring larger scale projects (15 - 30 Kw) is that interconnects to the grid require automatic disconnect from the grid in the event that the grid goes down.  The cost of these controls also does not increase in a linear fashion and is standard on inverters meeting UL 1741 standards.

I am planning to do some site work in Cabrera in the next month or so as I haven't been able to gather the topographical and stream flow information I need remotely and I want to meet some of the expats in the area.

Overall, with the net metering provisions, tax advantages, economies of scale and what I take (at least at this time) to be the possibility of suitable local skilled labor, I'm keen to dig into this further.

Meanwhile, if you know anyone who need some consulting on Enhanced Oil Recovery technologies, hook me up!

All slings, arrows and comments welcome.

Kind regards,

Jay Reynolds