Quote:
Originally Posted by Krases
I was also wondering about another idea. Is there a sort of dam that doesn't actually block the rivers flow, but still produces energy? Kind of like how a water wheel doesn't have to block the river, but produces energy. Is there a name for what I am describing?
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That is called "run of river" hydo and quite a bit of it is planned for British Columbia (BC). The real problem with it is that while the flow of the river isn't entirely interrupted, so much is diverted that salmon cannot swim up stream. One run of river hydro project near Squamish BC, on the way from Vancouver to Whistler, diverts 95% of the river for the distance of several kilometres. The dam company, since it is a private project, has promised to not divert that much during the salmon spawning season, which is good, but there is another problem with scouring of the river bed where the penstock returns the diverted water to the main channel. The other big problem with run of river hydro is that because it does not store up water in a dam, which does make it more environmentally friendly, the peak output times for the project are during and after major rain events during the winter and spring months. In BC this is when we need new supplies of electricity the least. The last problem with run of river hydro is that local opposition to several of the first projects prompted the Province of BC to change the municipalities act to prevent them from acting as an obstacle to the development of private run of river hydro projects within their jurisdiction. Run of river hydro is contentious, to say the least, in BC.