How much would all this cost in 2019? I'm wondering because I see many more people turn towards solar panels, or alternatively windmills. First time I see a hydro plant of this size.
Besides the legality of it, in Northern Ontario, the land I had there had a fair sized creek running through it but over the 400 meters that the creek intersected the property the height difference was only about a meter and a half. You'd have to do major engineering to make usable power from that, the cost of the tubing and the turbine might be just low enough that it would compare favorably with a windmill.
It definitely is a great way to make power though, as long as the creek does not freeze (and as long as your precious tubing and Pelton wheel don't freeze) they'll make continuous power and that is really neat.
> Another restriction is that there is no power at this place. Bringing power here would require a 350 meter long transmission line through dense forest, or else installing a solar panel, battery and regulator. Due to the low head available between the intake dam and the forebay, a picohydro system to provide some power is hardly feasible. Solar power is quite restricted too, because the place is in a deep valley and gets only about 3 hours of sun a day. Furthermore, in winter there is often no sunny day for a full month! So panels would have to be dimensioned to run on diffuse light from the clouds, and that needs big panels to produce only a little bit of power.
On a direct-sun day, they generate 4 kilowatts, but under heavy cloud I'm lucky to get 500w
I would expect a lot of red tape, but depending on local jurisdiction that might be very doable in Europe if you're willing to buy the right place for it.
On the other hand, older mills are often covered by the protection of historical monuments and can therefore not be altered as you like. This should really be looked into before buying anything as it will be an absolute showstopper with no way around it.
And if you try to do what the guy here did you'll most likely run into water way authorities with requirements for fish ladders and so on.
It's doable but it's not as easy as laying some pipe through your garden.
And the communes take the state of their waters very seriously as well.
You'd likely also upset various environmental groups due to a lot of protected species living around.
From a UK perspective theres quite a lot of paperwork. You have to get surveys for flow rate over the year, and theres limits to how much you can divert.
Both those combine to mean that it isn't really worth it unless you're off grid, and in the right location, with enough land, and water.
So solar wasn't an option here though likely would have been cheaper and definitely easier.