Facts:
- There are still 940 million people without access to electricity (mostly rural population)
- 40% of the world does not have access to clean cooking energy (~3 billion people)
- 2014 UNdesa: 1child out of 3 goes to a school that lacks energy or has no electricity to study at home. (e.g. Yearly 80.000 children in South Africa are injured due to kerosene ingestion, fire,…)
- EU green deal specifies carbon reductions with min 40% (lots of countries have similar programs to fight climate change)
Decentralized renewable energy solutions are recognized as the least-cost way to providing power, especially with the upcoming micro grid infrastructure (Ref UN sustainable development scenario’s). In a global context of energy transition towards low-carbon sources and rising energy demand, hydropower is to take an important role as it is already the world’s largest source of renewable electricity generation which can provide flexibility and reliability at the same time.
The energy demand is expected to rise with 48% over the coming 30 years. The main expansion will come from Asia, Africa and Lat. America, while energy efficiency is higher on the agenda in Europe, Japan and the USA. The remaining hydropower potential is coinciding with the region of energy demand increase.
A new market study sept 2020 finds the following:
“Less than 1 MW: A growing sector with very little of its full potential being realized, micro hydro power plants can negligible impact on its environment and are an excellent source of power generation for use in the immediate vicinity of the plant. UNIDO is currently implementing these projects throughout Africa, China and India.
Gravity: This turbine coverts rotational energy generated from a liquid vortex. It is ideal for low head applications for typically small energy generation. The rotation improves water quality as well. Perfect for villages and houses next to moving water sources, this is a segment that is growing”
Ref:
https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/hydropower-turbine-market-8224(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)Recognizing the drawbacks of traditional hydropower, the International hydropower association is recognizing as an upcoming trends in hydropower involving technologies to address very low head sites and specifically fish friendly gravitational turbines like the Turbulent vortex turbine (Iha, April 2020).
The objective of this work is to become just that. An excellent decentralized microhydropower solution, without environmental impact on its surroundings. At the same time, supplying stable and reliable energy for on and off grid systems at a very competitive cost.
