... is a research project which has the aim to develop novel hydropower converters for very low head differences / pressure differences. It is funded under the European Commission’s Framework 7 Programme.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
Hydropower is the oldest artificial power source known to man; it was already employed in antiquity; the Roman architect Vitruvius describes a water wheel driven by a current. In the Middle Ages and during the industrial revolution hydropower was employed on a large scale, with 25 to 30000 water wheels reported in England alone in 1850. The main hydropower machine employed then was the water wheel; this meant that individual installations had – in today’s assessment – very small power outputs ranging from 1.5 to (occasionally) 50 kW. 

unused hydro power: a river weir

With the development of turbines in the 19^th century serious hydropower exploitation started, with the construction of large dams and river power stations. Today, most of the hydropower potential in Europe is developed; there are only three segments of hydropower which are still unused:

(1) Hydropower with very low head differences between 0.5 and 2.5 m
(2) The energy of currents (river or tidal currents)
(3) Small pressure differences in pipelines (< 25 – 30 kPa)

It is estimated that in Germany alone, hydropower potential of 500 MW with head differences below 2m exists, which cannot be exploited for the lack of a cost-effective and ecologically acceptabel converter technology.

PROJECT PARTNERS
The project has 10 partners from five countries of the European Union.

PROJECT AIMS
The project HYLOW has the following aims:

1.    To develop and prove cost-effective and ecologically acceptable energy converters for very low head differences (0.5 to 2.5 m) with power ratings from 50 to 750 kW.

2.    To develop a free stream energy converter for river and tidal currents with velocities from 1 to 2 m/s, and power ratings of 5 to 500 kW.

3.    The development of an energy converter to utilise low pressure differences in pipe systems.

PROJECT COMPONENTS
Finding a solution for problems which have eluded scientists and inventors for a long number of years is not easy. The project HYLOW has been structured into a series of activities in order to address this problem. [...]

HYLOW Project - FP7-Energy-2007-1-RTD  project number: 212423