Micro Hydro Power

Micro Hydro Power

Abstract

The ever increasing demand of the electric power with the increase in population has put all the pressures. To tap each and every source of power generation the conventional method of power generation need to be reinforced with different alternatives.

Micro hydro power was once the world's prominent source of mechanical power for manufacturing. Micro hydro is making a come back for electricity generation in homes. There is also growing market for micro hydro electricity in developing countries. Hydro power is the conversion of the kinetic energy in falling water into electricity. The vast majority of hydro power today is being generated at huge facilities with large dams and reservoirs. Reliable, low-cost, emission-free, renewable energy is produced in this way, but the environmental and social costs of large scale hydro projects, from the damming of rivers and flooding of large tracts of land to the displacement of people from the affected areas has led to increasing opposition to further large scale hydro power development.

Micro-hydro is hydro power generation on a small, even tiny, scale. Recent improvements in small turbine design allow for the efficient generation of power from even a low-volume stream with only a short vertical drop (known as "head").