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Ty Cooke

Gross Head:      61 mPB140512

Design Flow:     23 l/s

Rated Power:    9.2 kW

Following client’s brief, this scheme was designed and installed in 2015. A proportion of the flow in a tributary of the river Usk is diverted through a fine screen to a small intake tank. The powerhouse is situated 900 metres downstream near to the lower boundary and buildings. The system employs a fully stainless steel Hydromatch Turbine HF200 with twin motorised spear valves, direct drive 4 pole generator and G59/3 connected via an SCS mk2 control system.   Online energy monitoring enables mobile review of generation, load and export status. Installation  costs were minimised through the development of clear design and construction documents, client appointed building and electrical contractors and close supervision of the works.

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Environment

Hydropower is a widely understood source of renewable electricity with the opportunity of continuous, reliable generation over many years a key benefit.  Many hydro stations operate with a high capacity factor, generating at maximum power for long periods each year.

It is vital that hydro schemes are carefully planned so that the environmental benefits of clean renewable energy generation are realised with minimal disruption to river ecology. At many ‘low head’ sites, the installation of hydropower provides an opportunity for local environmental improvements such as the installation of a fish pass at locations which were formerly barriers to fish movement.

It most countries hydropower schemes are strictly regulated and require appropriate environmental permissions.

In the United Kingdom and other European countries, The Water Framework Directive and Eel Regulations (2015) have new implications for how all hydropower is implemented.

Design of intake systems involving flow splits, fish passage and self-cleaning screening systems are now key project elements which we will help you implement.

In the UK regulatory services are provided by the Environment Agency (England)Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

Intake

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Hydromatch Consulting will  navigate the regulatory system to achieve the best results for both the environment and your hydro project.

Our project documentation is concise and clear so that the design proposals are illustrated in a manner which can easily be interpreted by all stakeholders including regulators.

We have extensive experience of modelling hydro system behaviour under changing river conditions and under different regulatory principles. We use software found at Hydromatch Online to rapidly predict changes to energy generation and illustrate impacts for river flows.

 

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Projects

We use our experience of scheme optimisation and planning to implement projects that maximise return on investment.

Whatever scale, all hydro projects require a detailed and rigorous approach to design and development.  For new proposals, we will give you an informed and objective view on viability, rapidly identify potential challenges and help to streamline the development.

Where possible, we will provide a range of alternatives and enable the client to take a lead in design decisions.

Hydromatch Consulting provides the following project-related services and we can join your implementation team at any stage of the project.

  • Viability assessments and feasibility studies
  • Detailed hydro energy resource investigations
  • Scheme design and comparison of alternatives strategies
  • Project budgets and financial modelling
  • Environmental applications
  • Fish pass design
  • Planning applications
  • Flood defence consent
  • Flood risk assessments
  • Detailed design
  • Construction drawings
  • OFGEM and Feed-in-Tariff registration
  • Project management and sub-contracting
  • CDM safety planning and implementation
  • Mechanical and Electrical installation
  • Scheme commissioning
  • Operator training and handover
  • Remote monitoring
  • Project maintenance and optimisation under changing conditions

Turbines

High quality turbine-generator units suited to medium and high head locations up to 20 kW have until recently  been difficult to source.

After lengthy development, a new turbine system has been engineered to fill this gap. Key features of the Hydromatch HF200 are as follows:

  • Turbine optimisation for excellent peak and part flow performance
  • Head range:   20 m – 100 m
  • Flow range:   to 40 litres per second
  • Power:             to 20 kW
  • High quality stainless steel turbine runner and casing
  • Stainless steel spear valves or fixed nozzles
  • Automatic operation
  • Grid connection or Off-grid controls
  • Online monitoring

Turbine

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The turbine has been designed by Hydromatch Consulting and manufactured in England to the highest standard in collaboration with CKT Engineering Ltd.