Solar and Hydro Power Generation

[adrianggl]

Hi all I live in San Juan, Puerto Rico known for its rampant power outages. I have a Sol-ark 8K PV inverter and 6 x 5.12KW EG4 Electronics battery system. The solar has been a great life saver when the power outages come but the thing about this magical tropical island is it rains half as much as when the sun shines. So, I was thinking of getting another power generation system running out of water like a hydro plant but in a much smaller scale like 3-5KW. If someone has tried or has done this, could you send some helpful links to buy the materials or comment more about their experience with hydro power systems would help a lot. TYIA.

 

[timselectric]

You will probably have better luck finding people with answers, if you post here.

DIY Wind Turbines and Hydroelectric

diysolarforum.com

 

[Hedges]

Determine gallons per minute, feet of head, and horizontal run.
Volume of course may vary with seasons and weather.

Those basic numbers should let you determine what size system is possible.
3 ~ 5kW would be huge by most people's standards, could spin a generator for conventional hydro power to the home. Which some people do.
More common is 50W to 500W, which you use to charge a battery. Along with PV and an inverter, that would make a great all-season system.

To deal with variable flow, I think 4 nozzles to turbine (e.g. Pelton wheel if high enough head), one pair low flow and one pair higher flow. Could be manually set, or could pop a large solenoid valve open whenever water rises to top of catch basin, off at bottom.

The other consideration is your loads - peak watts daytime, night time, kWh each of those times, and peak starting surge for motors.