Microhydro How To Guide

You can build your own Turgo Powerplant!  Produce electricity from your natural water source!

You need to know a few things about your property and water source;

• What is the available head? (Elevation difference between water inlet and outlet locations)
• How long is the proposed or existing pipe?  What size?
• What is the available water flow? (typically measured in gallons per minute gpm, liters per second l/s or equivalent volume per time units)
• What do I want to do with the power?  (Use it on my site, or sell back to the grid)
• What type of generator do you want to use, AC or DC? (Synchronous, Induction, Permanent Magnet Alternator, Permanent Magnet Motor, etc…)
• Target generator RPM?

Microhydro powerplants are simple and consist of the following key elements;

• Intake structure
• Penstock, or pipeline
• Turbine and nozzle manifold piping with shutoff valve
• Nozzle
• Turgo Runner
• Turbine Housing
• Generator (motor, PMA, etc…)
• Electrical Controls (battery charge controller, electronic load controller, etc…)

The tools and resources available on this site will help you evaluate the power potential at your site!  (See Getting Started and Technical Information pages)

How to select the right turgo runner?

• We offer pre-sale engineering support to select the right runner based on;

                 Runner diameter
                 Site head
                 Spoon material
                 Target RPM

Pick from 50+ different runners

Spreadsheet file or PDF