PowerSpout Newsletter

June/July/August/September/October 2019

Apologises for the late newsletter - we have been very busy :)

PowerSpout LH-Pro and a LH from ES&D working together in parallel to a common water heater - no electronics needed.
This is not a common application and is the only time one of our turbines has been connected in parallel with a different make of turbine - they seem to get along just fine - great to see hydro harmony :)

PowerClamps Used on an ES&D Turbine Rework

Hi Michael,

Got the 3 Stream Engines working with the PowerClamps yesterday.

I only ran a single negative to each powerclamp and connected the MPPT negative to the incoming hydro common negative in the junction box. I told him he should put a mesh or something to stop people touching the heaters but it’s not that hazardous at 100V.

I see they are rated at 1200W so I guess you used 200V12A SSRs in the end which is good. Turbine maximum output is under that (at around 65V) and by the time it reaches 98V it’s down to about 800W.

One of the three Stream Engines is optimised for low flow, and does 600W max.

There are 25A breakers on the turbines and a 63A breaker on the MPPT. I did not have time to measure short circuit current but I doubt if it is more than 25A. However they are very useful as isolators. Open circuit voltage is only about 135V and the MPPT is rated up to 250V so the clamps are really just to keep the noise down and prevent excessive wear.

cheers
Hugh

TRG in Mexico

A great install in Mexico, the pipe supplier supplied 0.7 bar suction hoses instead of 3 bar flexible pipe, as time was limited they fixed the ruptured pipe with rigid PVC, looks tidy but hard to tweak jet alligment with PVC fittings.

Low head turbine in France using our Smart Drive PMA's. If you want to generate power from heads <1m, then the equipment needed is going to be mechanically large and hence costly, but as you can see it can be done.

Low Cost Corrugated Pipe

Note the use of low cost corrugated pipe on this TRG80 install in the UK. Despite our best efforts to convince clients not to do this, some still do - I like that :) when it works OK - as we all learn from it.

To be honest, we still do not advise it as this pipe type is:

Note robust and subject to pin hole leaks and pressure bulges
Difficult to join and seal at fittings
Difficult to calculate pipe friction losses

How Not to Install a LH Turbine

A corrugated pipe can be used to supply a LH turbine with water, but never use corrugated pipe for a draft tube . Draft tubes need to be airtight and as close to vertical as possible. This video is a reminder to us all.

Failed Hydro Turbines - Lesson We Can Learn

Over the last few weeks I have become aware of two failed hydro schemes that use our hydro turbines.

One was an AC coupled PLT350 with SMA SB and SM SI inverters in Vanuatu.

The other is a simple system using a PLT14 direct turbine in Rwanda. Both have run for at least 5 years.

They both had these features in common:

Put in by Universities on low and stretched budgets
Little if any training of locals to maintain the system
Systems had no revenue from the power supplied to pay for ongoing maintenance
No essential spare parts held on site
No communications on site so locals had no way to seek outside assistance

I did a recent presentation (see next article) for a group of 60 (mainly energy ministerial staff) visiting NZ from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar.
My powerpoint below explains what you need to do to ensure that village power schemes do not fail and then rapidly fall into complete disrepair.

Village Power Schemes in Remote Locations

To view my PowerPoint presentation click here.

5 x TRG70 turbines on a 8.5m static drop doing up to 3.7kW in NZ. The intake and exhaust still needs some work but it is close. This is not a low cost job, as the pipe is large, heavy and difficult to get in place. I hope to publish a case study on this job for the next newsletter.

Once you have a head >5m, the LH turbine is no longer a suitable solution and stacking a heap of TRG's is a possible option. With 5 turbines it will be very reliable. A good % of the power generated is used to power a large heat pump that heats the home, hot water and pool.

Solis or Soltaro GTI

Please note GTI's branded “Soltaro” are exactly the same as the Solis GTI's manufactured by the same company Ginlong. The only difference is the brand name. A copy of the Certificate of Suitability for the GTI applies whether it has been branded Soltaro or Solis.

Ginlong Solis and SMA SI Getting Along Just Fine

We are often asked can our hydro turbines AC couple to SMA SI's. The answer is often not what you want to hear.

Normally you would AC couple to an SMA SI via an SMA SB, if you were using PV panels. This method was an approved solution in bygone days with older sunny boy and windy boy inverters. Unfortunately, SMA no longer approve this solution and tracking software in new their newer range of SB inverters no longer tracks hydro.

However you do not need to grieve, there is a solution... I will let Hugh Piggott explain:

"As I mentioned, the system I designed and commissioned on Friday was Solis and SMA Sunny Island. They play nicely together. The SMA solar inverters (sunny boy) are nice in that they can gracefully reduce solar power as required to optimise battery charge rate whereas the Solis simply turns off. But the sunny boy does not work with Powerspout. Not nowadays.

I set the Solis to turn off at 53Hz using “user-def” grid settings and then set a diversion heating load to come on gracefully to load the hydro and taper the battery charge rate with rising frequency."

All the best, keep up the good work.