Mahon Hydro
This project was funded by Leader +
 Renewable energy is capturing much public and political interest at present and there is every indication that this will only continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Water power has been and remains a robust source of electricity and abundant potential remains for its further exploitation in Ireland. However, the preferred style of scheme has changed since the days when dams and reservoirs were integral parts of these projects. Now they operate like windmills, working when the river flow is sufficient but not when flows are low. The fact that power may not always be produced at times of highest consumer demand is less important now than the fact that less fossil fuels are being burned whenever they are able to operate and the much reduced environmental impact and lower capital cost are also important points. For this type of hydro scheme, some of the natural flow in a river is abstracted when the flow exceeds a specified threshold, the amount increasing as the flow increases until the maximum required is reached. At all higher flows the abstracted amount is constant. A simple river weir arrangement achieves this division with no moving parts, the abstracted water being fed to a buried pipeline which supplies the turbine. Since power output is directly proportional to the pressure at which the turbine is supplied and the water flow rate, there is a strong economic case for basing these ‘run of river’ schemes on upland rivers where the lesser flows available are more than compensated for by the height or pressure which is available. In addition, smaller flows mean smaller and hence cheaper pipelines and turbines and higher pressures mean faster and hence cheaper machinery. The Mahon Hydro project utilises the pressure flow of the Mahon river as it cascades from its source in the Comeragh mountains. Funding was approved towards the cost of the civil works associated with the project.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 25 September 2008 14:14 |
