HydroPinPoint - Optimising the site selection of micro-hydro turbines in rivers in the UK and Overseas

With the energy trilemma upon us (how to address energy sustainability as described by three core dimensions: security, affordability and environmental sustainability), there is an increasing focus on renewable sources of energy. While hydropower is the world's largest source of renewable energy, accounting for a fifth of global electricity, equipment and installation are usually costly and focus on large scale sites with obvious potential (weir or dam). Among all surveys, micro and pico hydropower installations are not considered, leading to non-viability of most lowlands and poor adoption in the developing world due to lack of adequate infrastructures and cost of surveys.

The ISMORTASED project (Joint NERC / Innovate UK feasibility study "Solving business problems with environmental data") led to the creation of an innovative working prototype of a satellite-based earth observation software allowing to remotely identify suitable sites on rivers for successful micro "run-of-river" hydropower installations, taking into account a range of environmental, ecological and social parameters and providing additional information such as connectivity to the grid, cost model and return on investment analysis.

This pathfinder will allow us to conduct a market assessment aimed at informing how to successfully commercialise the results of the ISMORTASED project.

A thorough market review will be conducted, involving a combination of desk based research and sub-contracting, to highlight markets to prioritise and target (size, accessibility, demand). In-depth knowledge of the chosen market (purchasing behaviours, customer supply chain, channels to market) will lead to initial engagement with main stakeholders to identify specific needs and requirements. In addition, competitors and existing products will be analysed to help refine and develop our product specifications and define the nature of the service we will offer: commercialisation via software licences, consultancy, capacity building, development of web portal, mobile application.

The gathering of this information is of crucial importance to underpin the application for follow-on funding, which will support the planning of the business model and structure for delivery. Further field trials, fine tuning and market dependent datasets and specifications will be required and developed in order to build a hard evidence base to support decision on investment and resources allocation and guide the development of a successful marketing plan.

Keywords: energy, micro hydropower, innovative, satellite-based earth observation

The successful commercial exploitation of the working prototype of HydroPinPoint, a satellite-based earth observation software allowing to remotely identify suitable sites on rivers for successful micro "run-of-river" hydropower installations, has the potential to open the market for the exploitation of a considerable source of renewable energy currently overlooked (lowland rivers), and to enable the identification of sites suitable for hydropower in remote communities, removing the cost of expensive site surveys, which would be particularly valuable for application in a developing world context.

While hydropower is the world's largest source of renewable energy, the UK alone has 25,500 km of rivers that are not exploited, at a time of increasing need for ensuring security, affordability and environmental sustainability of our energy sources. By focusing on micro/pico devices (in the 10kW - 20kW range) we obviate the need for grid reinforcement even in semi-rural areas The field trials of the prototype revealed 12 possible installation sites on a three-mile section of river that had already been surveyed by the industry and found to be of zero viability because of the absence of weirs. A conservative estimate of similar potential, extrapolated from knowledge of the UK river network, points to a doubling of the currently acknowledged potential of 2.3Gw. That estimate excludes the 13,000 locks on the canals systems of England & Wales, each of which have at least a 2m head and the required constant flow of water from overflow "leats" or "washways". Our proposed market survey will offer more detail on this and on other EU territorial markets.
In a developing world context, the World Bank states that sub-Saharan Africa has 300 gigawatts of undeveloped hydro potential-enough to quadruple sub-Saharan Africa's total generating capacity of 80 GW. Among all the major surveys and assessments of hydropower, there is no consideration of micro or pico hydropower. Yet new technologies offer the potential to access hydropower in remote areas which otherwise might not benefit from traditional large-scale hydropower developments. The impact that micro hydropower will have in such a context goes far beyond those estimates of energy production. Its impact will be measured in terms of economic growth, via investments in roads, social infrastructure, communications, and capacity building. There will also be new "internal" employment benefits within the micro hydropower industry (installation, sales, maintenance, manufacture).