Thinking micro hydro...

So as the topic suggest I'm thinking micro hydro. Why, well its a 24x7 power source which compared to solar and wind is outstanding. If you have a known power draw then hydro can (sometimes) flatten the peaks of solar power or wind in terms of battery storage requirements.

Bu the challenge is a regular controlled water source - either a high head or high volume as each type of hydro system is basically tuned to one or the other.

Now the question.... our block has a permanent creek that marks the boundary, which on the map is marked as the middle of the stream. This is in the country style of property boundaries - "about there ish - seems right" rather than the urban model of "your gutter is 2 mm over the boundary for the first 1m " "sigh". So, back to the question.... is the creek "crown land' or can we make use of it for power? I'm finding it difficult to get a straight answer. Does anyone have an answer?

In he mean time I've been thinking of options. The creek has lots of swimming holes that people use and I don't want to disrupt that. Plus in flood, or after heavy rain the creek can change from a 1m wide friendly stream to a 4 m wide monster that would rip anything off the bank.

So. one option is use a ram pump to move water with no power to a higher dam then use the dam as the water source. Problem here is the ram pump works due to water hammer - basic but they just keep going, limited head, small water volume delivery but persistent. I just don't see how it could keep up with a hydro system - sounds too much like a Perpetual motion machine . Which brings me back to the direct creek model.

Round and round the questions go - the creek access is key. Any help appreciated.

Have you contacted your local Council to ask? What is the local Council where you are?

It seems to be very undefined at this stage, I think because hydro is an under utilised power source and they haven't thought to regulate it yet.

It would be worth asking your local council. Our council is pretty lax about most things (if it doesn't effect them or other rate payers too much, its ok). When I rang them about it they said that if we had legal creek access (we do, we have creek frontage as a border much like you) they couldn't see it as being any different to having a pump running from the creek (which we also have as part of our bushfire regulation compliance). Basically if our neighbour has no issue we're good to go.

That sounds promising, Jo. The only problem, Jove, is that the creek is about 100ft down a cliff. Or are you thinking of a separate shed with batteries, closer to the water source?

We were discussing this (again!) today. Other half reckons there isn't that much leakage, depending on the size of the cable, so you could just have a very long cable

We'll get there....one day