How do you know if you have a site suitable for generating electricity?

To establish if your site is suitable for generating electricity you need to have flowing water and you need to know the three key components, which are WATER VELOCITY (in metres per second), AREA (in square metres) and HEAD (in metres).

Water Velocity

The more flowing water you have, the more potential power you can generate. The water velocity can be estimated by recording how long (in seconds) a 'floating object' (such as a ball) takes to travel over a given distance (in metres). Divide the distance by the time taken and you will have the flow rate (in metres per second).

Area

The area is calculated using the simple equation of:
Depth (in metres) x Width (in metres) = Area (in square metres).

Head

A head of water needs to be available or created between 0.5 and 5 metres in height.

Generated Power

To calculate the power generated by the above figures use the following equation which will estimate the potential power:
Area (in square metres) x Water velocity (in metres per second) x Head (in metres) x 9.81 (Constant for Gravity) = Potential Energy (in kilowatts).

Most water wheels work on an efficiency of between 30 to 70%, however our Poncelet Wheel can generate efficiencies of up to 80%, using this value would give you the expected output from the site.

Please contact us for further advice and information.