turbine Archives - Easy Hydro

Easy Hydro exhibits at the 2023 ACCADUEO H2O fair in Bologna

Posted on October 17, 2023October 19, 2023 by Easy Hydro team

The biennial ACCADUEO H2O exhibition has been the reference event for the Italian water sector for the past 30 years. Its 16th edition was held in Bologna in October 11th-13th and featured a busy schedule of events and conferences alongside two halls hosting hundreds of international exhibitors. Among them was Easy Hydro, who shared a stand with our partner Tecnidro.

This was the perfect opportunity to present a full-scale prototype of our hydro energy recovery solution for pressurized water networks. Instead of just dissipating the excess available pressure via throttling valves or tank inflow valves, the adoption of an Easy Hydro system allows the network operator to generate some valuable green electricity as a byproduct.

A big thank you to Tecnidro, SAER Elettropompe, to the organizers of the event and above all to the many who stopped by our stand during the three days! Stay tuned for the upcoming Easy Hydro events.

Recovering Invisible Waste (a.k.a. “Can you really put a hydro there?!!”)

Posted on June 19, 2023June 18, 2023 by Easy Hydro team

Our Commercial Director Mike has recently published an article on the UK’s EMA (Energy Managers Association) Magazine issue 2/2023, pages 35-37 which describes a number of pioneering hydropower energy recovery applications that the Easy Hydro team has designed over the last few years. These installations span across several industries (drinking water, hydropower, underground mining, mineral processing) but they all share the same design principle: how to generate electricity from the excess pressure of process water flowing inside existing pipes?

Large businesses are getting good at spotting their waste and minimising it: Reducing it; Recycling it. Yet for many of these, if they are large water users, there may be another waste that they don’t see: the excess water pressure in their pipes…
Mike Pedley

The full article can be read online on the EMA Magazine web page (no registration required) or via the viewer below:

Easy Hydro commissions a new turbine in snowy Ireland

Posted on March 16, 2023March 17, 2023 by Easy Hydro team

Despite the snowy weather, our team has recently commissioned a new turbine at an enchanting remote location in Ireland. The Easy Hydro generation equipment has allowed our customer to refurbish a previously existing hydro site and to re-start producing electricity for self consumption. The system is capable of working autonomously and with minimal upkeep, thanks to the presence of a control panel operating the in-series flow control valve according to the amount of water available at the intake.

Easy Hydro offers a unique knowledge to design and implement small-scale hydropower generation, in a way that is cost-effective and modular. Get in touch with the team for a free-of-charge assessment of your project!

New Easy Hydro turbine deliveries in January

Posted on January 30, 2023January 31, 2023 by Easy Hydro team

The latest two Easy Hydro turbines are now built and ready to be delivered to new customers. These units will power a run-of-river scheme in Ireland and a hybrid micro-grid in rural Colombia.

Get in touch with Easy Hydro by emailing us at info@easyhydrosolutions.com to discuss your hydro project with the team, and to get a free budget estimate and equipment specifications to bring your renewable energy design to life!

Easy Hydro delivers new turbines

Posted on August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 by Easy Hydro team

After a busy beginning of the summer, the Easy Hydro team has shipped out to our customers several new hydro turbines due to be installed in the second half of the year. For example, the one shown in the picture is a 36 kW unit for a project in France.

Our team has an unique knowledge on the design and supply of modular and low-cost water turbines which are ideal for a variety of hydropower and energy recovery projects. In order to know more, contact us at info@easyhydrosolutions.com.

New control system: a more robust, reliable and resilient solution for our turbines

Posted on May 16, 2022May 16, 2022 by Easy Hydro team

During the last weeks, our team has been testing a new control system for the operation of our Pumps as Turbines (PATs). As a company build out from many years of research, R&D remains one of our main pillars. In this case, the new control system will offer a more robust solution for our hydropower equipment. Additionally, it will increase the peak efficiency of the system whilst reducing maintenance. It will also enable us to offer a fully integrated cloud monitoring interface, where the operator can visualize and download historical data.
The tests were successfully completed on the laboratory test rig, confirming the technical feasibility of the new control equipment, as well as satisfying all the safety conditions for the right operation of the equipment.
The tested control panel will actually be installed in one of our coming installations soon.

A new (green!) Easy Hydro turbine on St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2022March 17, 2022 by Easy Hydro team

A 20 kW Easy Hydro turbine is now ready to be delivered to our customer in Italy, where it will be used to generate clean renewable power at a run-of-river hydro scheme. This new unit will replace an older Francis turbine whose design parameters no longer met the flow rate and water pressure available at the power station.

For any information request on affordable, modular and reliable hydro turbines for power generation or energy recovery get in touch with the Easy Hydro team now!

Why is micro hydropower a viable and competitive solution?

Posted on June 11, 2021June 11, 2021 by Easy Hydro team

Renewable energy sources are experiencing impressive growth due to the economy’s decarbonization targets. In order to reach the goals set by the EU, it is very important to foster the application of different solutions to maximize green energy production. Micro hydro potential from water networks stands out as an untapped source of green energy, mostly wasted during the operation of water networks. But how competitive is micro hydropower when compared to other RES? A simple comparison of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) between a 100kW PV array and different sizes of micro hydropower is presented below:

The annual energy yield of a 33 kW Easy Hydro turbine operating for 4,500 hours per year would be similar to the annual energy yield of a 100 kW PV array. The operational time of the water turbine could be even greater in most circumstances, surpassing the annual energy yield of the 100 kW PV array with just a third of its nominal capacity.
The LCOE obtained for these two systems was: 0.042 €/kWh for the water turbine and 0.05 €/kWh for PV.
When comparing the same nominal power output (100 kW – 4,500 hours of operation) this difference increases, decreasing the LCOE of the 100 kW hydro turbine down to 0.033 €/kWh.

This shows how micro hydropower, despite presenting a slightly greater capital expenditure, presents a greater value from the investment point of view with a more competitive LCOE.

Multistage Pumps as Turbines

Posted on May 19, 2021May 19, 2021 by Easy Hydro team

Common single-stage, centrifugal Pumps as Turbines are a very versatile family of devices suitable for a large variety of flow rate and head conditions. However, these machines can have poor efficiency when used at sites with low flow and high head where traditionally a Pelton turbine would be the preferred choice.

Instead, for those locations Easy Hydro can design and supply a multistage Pump as Turbine which consists of a number of impellers arranged in series. By distributing the head drop across multiple impellers, the turbine can therefore run in a flexible and efficient way at just a fraction of the price tag of a custom-made Pelton wheel.

Energy recovery from break pressure and storage water tanks

Posted on May 5, 2021May 5, 2021 by Easy Hydro team

How Easy Hydro turbines recover energy from on/off or ballcock inflow valves

Most large industrial water consumers are required to connect to the mains through a break tank in order to avoid backflows into the water distribution network. The inflow into such tanks is commonly regulated by a pilot or ball-operated inflow valve according to the level in the break tank itself. However, this approach is energy wasteful and highly inefficient since a stream of pressurized water is being brought to atmospheric pressure in the open-air tank before being distributed to the various industrial processes either by gravity or by further pumping.

An alternative method consists of using small-scale and modular hydropower turbines which can be placed in a bypass of a tank inflow valve and thus transform the dissipated pressure into usable electricity that can be consumed locally or exported to the grid. The type of turbine proposed is reliable and widely tested and consists of standard pumps running in reverse as turbines which only cost a fraction of a conventional custom-made hydro turbine.