Water power can be
utilized in numerous ways; tidal flows can be used to generate power
by building a barrage across an estuary and discharging water in a
controlled and systematic manner by a turbine; large dams accumulate
water, which can be utilized to provide ample quantities of power;
wave power is also harnessed in different ways. It is a method that
has been in use throughout the world, by a diverse range of cultures
and societies. Water can be harnessed from small to large hydro
electric plants.
In United Kingdom,
water mills are in use for the past 900 years. Their numbers grew
rapidly and by the end of 19th century, there were over 20,000 water
mills in operation in England itself. In Europe, Asia and few parts
of Africa, water wheels were utilized to propel various industrial
machineries, such as mills and pumps. First effective water turbine
appeared in the middle of 19th century and they started replacing
water wheels in various applications. In contrast to the water wheels
and turbines, modern turbines are small, highly efficient and are
capable of running at high speed. Hydropower is a reliable
technology, relying on non -polluting, renewable and indigenous
resource, which can easily integrate with irrigation and water supply
projects all across the globe. Of the total, china constitutes more
than 85,000 small-scale, electricity generating hydropower plants.
Get PDF Brochure
for more Professional and Technical industry insights :
http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4170
In the last decade,
there has been a growing realization in emerging economies in which
micro - hydro schemes have played an important role in the economic
development of remote rural areas, especially mountains. Micro hydro
schemes can generate power for domestic, agricultural and industrial
uses through direct mechanical power or by the coupling the turbine
to a generator to develop electricity.
In order to
determine the power potential of the water flowing in a river it is
important to determine both the flow rate of the water and the head
by which the water can be made to fall. The flow rate is the amount
of water flowing past a point in a specific time. Generally, flow
rate units are liters per second. The head is the vertical height
measured in meters from the turbine up to the point, where the water
enters the penstock.
However, some amount
energy is always lost when it is transformed from one form to
another. Small water turbines hardly have efficiencies more than 75%.
Power will also be wasted in the pipe carrying the water to the
turbine, due to some frictional losses. By a systematic design, this
loss can be lower down to a small percentage. A rough guide used for
small systems of a few kW rating is utilized to take the overall
efficiency as approximately as 45%. Hence, the theoretical power has
to be multiplied by 0.50 for more accurate results.
Growing population
and developing economies are some of the key drivers of the micro
hydroelectric generator market. However, limited exposure
regarding micro hydroelectric generators can hinder the growth of the
market. Ample opportunities are there for the micro hydroelectric
generator market owing to rapid industrialization taking place in
Asia Pacific countries such as India and China.
Some of the key
companies in the business of Micro hydroelectric generator market are
Rainbow Power Company Ltd, Brownell Micro Hydro, Hebden Bridge
Alternative Technology Centre Ltd., Canyon Industries, Inc., Addnew
Technologies Limited, Alps Power Technologies (P) Limited and Addnew
Technologies Limited among others.