Bourne Energy - hydropower innovator

Here’s an interesting hydropower design from Bourne Energy. Bourne believes the future of hydropower, and a potential solution to global energy demand is in small generators that harness power from river currents. Hydroelectric dams produce little-to-no emissions and draw energy from a renewable resource, but they are still plagued with the inherent land use and environmental problems of all large-scale developments. The RiverStar (pictured above) is a small-scale 200-pound self-contained unit that collapses into a man-portable 5-foot long tube. The 5kW and 10kW versions are designed to operate in small, steady, or seasonal streams. The RiverStar is designed to power individual riverside homes in the US and Europe, small remote riverside villages in Africa, Asia and South America and can be used to harness power in canals and aqueducts.

Bourne’s larger power modules are intended to collect kinetic energy from rivers, passing the water through low RPM turbines. They propose that the units can be cheaply mass-produced, won’t harm aquaculture and require no construction on river bottoms, allowing them to be installed quickly and inexpensively even in remote areas. Unlike wind and solar power, which are weather dependent, the steady flow of rivers is unlikely to alter. The company states that the thickness of water compared to air means that the potential energy of the 200,000 miles of major rivers that cover the Earth exceeds what can be gathered from wind turbines.

Hydropower currently supplies about 19% of the world’s electricity (much of it in China) with wind and solar providing a much smaller percentage.

find out more @ bourneenergy.com