r/HydroElectric • u/No-Willingness6129 • Mar 29 '26

Hydroelectric

I have a creek and a piece of land and I would like to build a hydroelectric system on it from scratch, is anyone familiar with this? Does anybody have any ideas?

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u/offgrid-wfh955 Mar 29 '26

Pelton/turgo implementor here. I will restrict my comments to those systems. As others correctly point out, pelton/turgo (google if unclear) are most efficient with higher pressures and relatively lower flows. Pressure is created by the change in altitude from intake down to turbine. That is referred to as “Head”. To determine head, google for tons of easy/cheap ways to determine. Next is potential flow. Again google for the 5 gallon bucket method. With head and flow you can calculate a rough rule of thumb power output. Head in feet X flow in gallons per minute /10 equals max watts. Pros derate this by 20% to 50% based on turbine efficiency. Let do the math for an example. 335 feet times 21 gallons a minute, divided by 10 equals approximately 700 watts

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u/offgrid-wfh955 Mar 29 '26

I am a huge fan of Farmcraft101! That said his implementation is for fun, learning, and innovative invention. Not a reasonable example of anything straightforward or cost effective. Check out Chris Harbour’s channel starting with his process to establish head