Kelvin hydroelectric generator no relation Kelvin electrostatic generator
The Kelvin water dropper, invented by Scottish scientist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) in 1867,  is a type of electrostatic generator. Kelvin referred to the device as his water-dropping condenser. The apparatus is variously called the Kelvin hydroelectric generator, the Kelvin electrostatic generator, or Lord Kelvin's thunderstorm. The device uses falling water to generate voltage differences by electrostatic induction occurring between interconnected, oppositely charged systems. This eventually leads to an electric arc discharging in the form of a spark. It is used in physics education to demonstrate the principles of electrostatics.Francis Hauksbee "Physico-Mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects". (1719)
William Watson, "Experiments and Observations Tending To Illustrate The Nature and Properties of Electricity".  (MDCCXLVI) (1741)
John Theophilus Desaguliers, "A Dissertation concerning Electricity" Innys and Longman, London MDCCXLII (1742)
Joseph Priestley, "The History and Present State Of Electricity with Original Experiments by , Volumes I, II, and III (MDCCLXVII) (1747)
James Ferguson, "An Introduction to Electricity", W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London  MDCCLXX (1770)
George Adams, "An Essay on Electricity", London (1785)
Tiberius Cavallo, "A Complete Treatise On Electricity in Theory and Practice with Original Experiments", Volumes I and II (MDCCXCV) (1795)
John Cuthbertson, "Practical Electricity", J. Callow, London (1807)
George John Singer, "Elements of Electricity and Electro-chemistry", Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster Row 1814
George W. Francis, "Electrostatic Experiments" (1844)
Henry Minchin Noad, "A Manual of Electricity" in two volumes (1857)By the 1840s it was able to be demonstrated that streams of water could carry electric charge, that streams carrying like charge were repelled and that streams carrying unlike charge were attracted. It could also be demonstrated that physical charge separation, that is, separation of charge into different regions, could be induced in a body of water by a static electric field.
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) used this foundation of accumulated knowledge to, in 1859, create an apparatus involving the interaction of a stream of water with the Earth's static electric field to cause charge separation and subsequent measurement of charge to make atmospheric electricity measurements.
no relation