Hydrokinetic micro-power generation in small rivers - A new approach

Abstract

The so called German electrical “Energiewende” is mainly based on the installation of solar photovoltaic and wind energy converters as the main new renewable European generation resources. The third renewable energy resource, the hydropower has been already developed within the last decades and grew not significantly in the last years. Since some years the development of smaller hydrokinetic turbines increased. The smaller size of some hydrokinetic turbines enables new, unused sites to be harnessed in smaller rivers. The paper deals with the key specifications of hydrokinetic turbines and their influence on a villages’ energy supply. It introduces the concept of a turbine with variable immersion depths to exploit also locations with a varying water level. Based on historical hydrological data a propeller and oscillating hydrofoil type of hydrokinetic turbine are compared, it was found that the variable immersion depths increases the energy harvest. Furthermore, it is shown that in a generation portfolio of hydrokinetic and solar power plants an average Luxembourgish household theoretically renewable supplied has to exchange less energy with the power grid, the higher its share of hydrokinetic generation is.