Solar/wind back up power.....where do I start?

[peakbagger]

IMO, there should be more promotion of, investment in, and utilization of micro hydro.

I have been looking for a good site for several years, unfortunately streams tend to be used as property lines in my area and the only way a microhydro can be built is if I own both sides of it. That and winter weather tends to make them very difficult to keep running. If someone has a good site its hard to beat them.

 

[maple1]

We've got a dilly of a site here - nice waterfall in a small gorge, fair sized flow. It's a km or so back in the woods though.

Plus I would imagine there would be some Environmental Hoops to jump through - as with everything, sigh....

 

[DougA]

IMO, there should be more promotion of, investment in, and utilization of micro hydro.

It's not exactly micro hydro but I've been a proponent of building small, house sized gas fired generators in industrial/commercial zones that are large enough to supply just that one zone. They can be remotely turned on and used only when peak power demands require it. Having dozens of these spread across a state means that you don't need mega projects that cannot be turned on/off rapidly. The output is more costly but you only use it when demand warrants.

 

[semipro]

I am not sure how the Franklin unit works but I think I read somewhere that it sort of turns a single phase pump into a three phase pump using the start winding?

Info here: http://franklinwater.com/products/drives-protection/residentiallight-commercial/subdrivemonodrive/
Thanks for mentioning this Peakbagger. I'd looked into a variable speed well pump before but was under the impression I had to replace the pump. My system may be suitable for the MonoDrive controller.

 

[iamlucky13]

It's not exactly micro hydro but I've been a proponent of building small, house sized gas fired generators in industrial/commercial zones that are large enough to supply just that one zone. They can be remotely turned on and used only when peak power demands require it. Having dozens of these spread across a state means that you don't need mega projects that cannot be turned on/off rapidly. The output is more costly but you only use it when demand warrants.

This actually does happen, although there's still enough benefits to centralization that they don't get distributed by neighborhood.

I know one plant I occasionally drive by, for example, that has a ~400 MW combined cycle natural gas turbine. It's extremely efficient when running near peak capacity, but was expensive to build, and gas turbines lose a lot of their efficiency when running at lower power outputs. They also get that efficiency by running at pretty extreme temperatures (~2700 deg. F), so the thermal cycling that occurs when ramping them up and down significantly takes a toll on them that can lead to relatively expensive maintenance overhauls.

So at the same facility, they built a second power plant that is actually 12 smaller plants totaling 224 MW. Each of those is a marine diesel adapted to run on natural gas. Although not as efficient, the diesels hold their efficiency better at low loads, and they do better at being started and stopped frequently. Since there's 12 of them, they can keep however many are needed at any given moment running near their peak efficiency point, with the rest shut down.

They can go from shut down to full power in 10 minutes, where as for a gas turbine, 30-60 minutes is more typical.

http://www.wartsila.com/energy/refe...bean/port-westward-unit-2-portland-oregon-usa

Each of these dozen "smaller" generators, by the way, are 2,000 liter V-18's with over 18" diameter cylinders, rated somewhere around 25,000 horsepower. They're adapted from models used for large tugboats and cruise ships. Locomotive engines look small in comparison.

 

[lml999]

I don't lose power often enough and with net metering its just an expensive hobby (like my Unimog).

Um, in my experience a Unimog is more of an obsession than a hobby.

I haven't owned one, but my obsessions, er I mean hobbies include offroading and racing (both four and two wheels).