Water Vortex Power Plant Debuts in Switzerland

Re: Water Vortex Power Plant Debuts in Switzerland

What I find particularly intriguing is the comment that a 20kW turbine can produce enough energy for 20 Swiss households. I wish we could do as well.

Re: Water Vortex Power Plant Debuts in Switzerland

BB. wrote: »

Actually 1 kWH * 24 hours * 30 days per month = 720 kWH per month... The number I have seen thrown around for US/North American homes is ~903 kWH per month--Which should include summer A/C in the south. Main is ~531 kWH per month average--Closer Switzerland in Latitude.

Not that different...

-Bill

Yes, living in the Colorado mountains, I do not need air conditioning, and the average monthly electricity use for last year was 285 kWh. This does not include space heating, water heating, and cooking, which averages 631 kWh/month (21 CCF/month) worth of natural gas. The net source energy used (including the natural gas usage) averages around zero annually using a modest-sized PV system (3.15 kWh).

Re: Water Vortex Power Plant Debuts in Switzerland

peakbagger wrote: »

I am missing something, it looks to me like a vertical pit turbine which was the standard turbine used on low head high flow rivers. There are several plants with 20 minutes of my house that have been up and running for 90 plus years.

Do vertical pit turbines leverage the high ratio of inlet radius and discharge radius and also actually operate the rotor in the air space formed by the vortex?
The vortex technology lets you concentrate the fin surface over a relatively small area without worrying about the flow patterns around a central hub.