Colorado Examines Hydropower in Irrigation Ditches

[TalkingDog]

http://www.govtech.com/technology/Colorado-Hydropower-Irrigation-Ditches-030111.html

Engineering firm Applegate Group Inc. and Colorado State University have received a $50,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Agriculture to look into generating hydropower from the 3 million acres of irrigated land in the state. The grant is part of the Advancing Colorado's Renewable Energy Program to promote energy-related projects beneficial to Colorado's agriculture industry.




This sounds interesting.

[Hoopla Phil]

1. It sounds interesting but. . .

I don't think the irrigation runs fast enough or long enough to be practical. Now I'm not a farmer but I have fished a number of irrigation ditches and the ones I fished ran very slow.

[TalkingDog]

2. I think re-reading the article might help. They do mention the slow movement

and how that is accounted for with the type of generator.