Water Flow-Down Method for Micro-Hydropower System Starts at Doshi Dam

A micro-hydropower station began operations at Doshi Dam in December 2006. Construction of the dam station was started in July 2005 by the Kanagawa Public Enterprises Agency of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. By harnessing clean energy through water flow-down, the reduction in CO2 per year is estimated to be the equivalent of about 350 tons.

Water in Doshi Dam has been electrically pumped up from Lake Okusagami for discharging to the Doshi River below the dam since 1979 in order to maintain ecology along the river. Instead of using the existing electric pump, the agency decided to let the water flow down by itself and effectively utilize the down-flow by installing a micro-hydropower system with a maximum power output of 50kW.

The agency expects the following effects and benefits: adequate and stable flow of river water is ensured using the natural flow-down system; no additional power is consumed because the electric pump was removed, resulting in a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions; and natural energy is effectively harnessed to generate electricity using the micro-hydropower system (approximately 280,000 kWh per year.)

Thirty percent of the costs necessary for the project were provided by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development (NEDO) in the form of construction grants for medium-and-micro-hydropower systems.

http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/osirase/kokusai/tagengo/index.html
- Micro Hydro Power Generation with Treated Sewage (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/276-e
- Micro-Hydropower Promotion Council Established (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1107-e
- Micro-Hydropower System Lights Up Bridge in Kyoto (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1320-e

Posted: 2007/05/07 12:21:31 PM
Japanese version