There are times, however, when as much as 10,000 watts are needed, as when a refrigerator or well pump is started. An A.C. system cannot store energy and must be sized to meet this peak demand, requiring up to 40 times as much water as a similarly useful D.C. system.
Smaller size saves money.
Micro-hydro systems are matched to the average demand and extracts power the way that nature provides it, slow and steady. The Harris system is an efficient, durable battery charging pelton turbine. It is especially well suited to produce usable power from springs and creeks that are too small to sustain the same level of useful power from a conventional A.C. generating system. Water is collected upstream from the hydro and piped downstream to where the turbine is located. The multiple nozzle arrangement allows much more water to impact the runner resulting in greater output at any head, and more usable power at lower heads.