Energy floater water power plant - Technologiekompetenz Fluss-Strom

Energy floater water
power plant
Waterpower without dams
RENAISSANCE The Transition from fossil burning to
renewable energies is helping the small waterpower to
get started again. In contrast to wind energy or solar
energy waterpower allows the production of a certain
base load of electricity which is available reliably.
ENVIRONMENT The small waterpower is at the
moment locked in an ecopolitical dilemma. By building
the conventional types of dams that produce energy
from water, it is
mandatory necessary to
dam up the water. These
dams are barriers for local
fish, which makes it nearly
impossible for them to
climb up the river and get
to their spawning grounds.
The “biological patency“ is
one of the main criteria for
the good conditions of a
natural streaming water.
These good conditions
have been formulated as main targets by several
European Union laws containing the quality of streaming
waters. This also affected the german law for renewal
energy which only allows small changes in the system of
waters while building hydro electric power stations. In
other words: a complete impoundment of water from
one side of the bank to the other will not be approved.
ENERGY Thats why we made it our primary objective
to use the energy of flowing rivers without neither
impounding the water nor building physical structures to
sustainably produce electricity. By doing so, our
equipment keeps being mobile and doesn’t endanger
the fauna. The idea of hydro electric power stations
arose in the 6th century and lasted until the late 19th
century. It ensured the extraction of mechanic energy
for a lot of areas and emerged from the classic mills. This
type of energy formed the basis for crafting activities like
milling and grinding. For the application of water mills
and the need of a certain immersion depth of the
paddles, the river stage has to be higher than 1,25m.
The shortfall of these depths is possible, but maybe the
business of the equipment has to be discontinued at
that time. By trend the site should feature an average
stream velocity of at least 1,5 m/s. Depending on the
area being floted against (for example 3‐6m²) such a site
guarentees an electric potential between 2 to 10kW. If
the average stream velocity raises from 1,5 to 2,5m/s,
the electric potential boosts to about 15kW.
The performance of a water mill located on a ship is
calculated out of the stream velocity of the water and
the area being floted against. Out of this we can easily
define the hydraulic potential and the electric power.
Approximatly we can calculate the electric power of a
ship mill with Betz formula:
P (kW) = 1/2 * p (kg/l) * A (m²) * v³ (m/s) * cp
© NEMO‐Netzwerk Technologiekompetenz Fluss‐Strom; 2011 – www.flussstrom.de
where P el stands for the electric
power [W], ρ for the density of
the water [kg/m 3 ], A for the
area being floted against [m²], v
for the stream velocity [m/s] and
Cp for the coefficient of yield ,
which is about 0,4.
TECHNOLOGY The backbone
of every ship mill (nowadays river
water power plant) before and
nowadays are displayed by two
or more floating bodies which are carrying an undershot
paddle for free positioning. The fixing of the equipment
is ensured by wires going from ship to bank or riverbed
depending on the ships position.
To systematically prepare water mills for the power
generation, it was necessary to transfer the concept of
the waterwheels to the modern time. The waterwheels´
rotation speed which is conditionally low (typically
around 5‐10 rounds per minute) has to be converted
into a for the generator typical rotation level. Normally
this goes up to 1500 rounds per minute, so that a
flexibility ratio of 1:100 to 1:300 is needed.
If the rotation speed is that low, it is necessary to install
high performance transmissions, which can stand input
torques of 8000 – 25000 Nm permanently (where Dwheel
= 4,5m). Modern planetary gears are performing this
task with a degree of efficiency higher than 90%. That
kind of constellation is not cost effective. This is why we
invented a special direct coupleable, integrated ring

segment generator for the project “Energy floater” to
convert energy without gear!
CONSTRCTION Also the production‐ and material
technology have made a large step forwards. High‐
quality steel, aluminium, FBE/CFL and CNC‐based/
controlled manufacturing processes are replacing the
carpenters work. Very expensive special editions to
adapt to geographical circumstances of a specific
location are not necessary anymore. In the sense of
customized clothing our modular system, based on
standardized elements (pontoons, Fluss‐Strom‐TEC‐
Teflon‐Polyamide‐plain‐bearing; generator, stator
segments etc.) allows the individual batch production of
modern and cheap ship mills to produce electric current
economically.
BUSINESS This includes the unmanned operation
with remote monitoring and ‐control. State enquiries
and changes of operational sequences like stopping the
wheel can be performed easily from home via mobile
phone, PC, or internet.
In hydrological institutes you can find for virtually all
streaming waters in Germany and Europe a certain list,
in which the flow rates are shown. The feeding of
electric current into the open electric grid and its
compensation is guaranteed by law for 20 years. With its
last amendment, the compensation for electricity fed
into the grid coming from small hydro electric power
stations (under 500kW) has been raised to 12,67
Cent/kWh. Based on these numbers it is possible to
make investment decisions.
PROFITABLENESS Assuming a rate of availability of
85%, which corresponds to an annual operating time of
44 weeks or 7400 hours, you should take a look on the
following example:
Clamshell‐waterwheel: Example I
Width = 5m; depth of immersion = 1m; area to be floted
against = 5m²; continuous output at a stream velocity of
1.8 m/s (1,17kW/m²):
5m² * 1,17kW/m² = 5,85kW, generator power * 7400h/a
= 43.290kWh/year; annual income guaranteed from the
law for renewable energy: 43.290kWh/year * 0.1267
Euro/kWh = ~ 5485,‐€/year
Investment (bases on batch production of all
components): ~6500,‐€/kW (generator power), 5,85kW
(generator power) * 6500€/kW = 38.000,‐Euro total
investment leading to an amortization time of 6,9
years.
Clamshell‐waterwheel: Example II
Same overall size, but faster stream velocity: Width =
5m; depth of immersion = 1m; area to be floted against
= 5m²; continuous output at a stream velocity of 2.2 m/s
(2.13 kW/m²):
5m² * 2.13 kW/m² = 10.65kW, generator power *
7400h/a = 78.810 kWh/year; annual income guaranteed
from the law for renewable energy: 78.810kWh/year *
0.1267 Euro/kWh = ~9985,‐€/year
Investment (bases on batch production of all
components): same kit as in Example I, but 2 pieces of
stator segments for a bigger energy extraction = 38.000,‐
EURO + 2 * 4.000,‐ EURO = 46.000,‐ EURO total
investment leading to an amortization time of 4,6
years.
500‐1000€ have to be used for Maintenance and
business.
Fleet of water mills for about 100 kW at 2.5 m/s
© NEMO‐Netzwerk Technologiekompetenz Fluss‐Strom; 2011 – www.flussstrom.de