Natural Resources Canada
www.nrcan.gc.ca
Liens de la barre de menu commune
CanmetENERGY > Publications
Menu
Publications
An Introduction to Micro-Hydro Power Systems
Renewable and Electrical Energy Division
Natural Resources Canada
CETC Number ISBN066239914 / 2005-01-01
Introduction
Hydropower technology has been around for more than a century. Hydropower comes from converting the energy in flowing water – using a water wheel or a turbine – into useful mechanical power. This power is then converted into electricity by an electric generator.
Micro-hydropower systems are small hydropower plants that have an installed power generation capacity of less than 100 kilowatts (kW). Many micro-hydropower systems operate “run of river,” which means that no large dams or water storage reservoirs are built and no land is flooded. The majority of these systems only use a fraction of the available stream flow to generate power, and this has little environmental impact.
Download Full Document (PDF document, 247,0 Ko)