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Comment by TkTech | Hacker News Reader

10kW to 40kW according to their spec sheet[1], so seems irrelevant as an alternative. A single one of the older dams getting replaced, the Iron Gate Dam, has a capacity of 18MW. One powers a single small farm, the other powers entire towns, heavy industry, foundries...

And to be clear, these are small, old, dams. Modern dams and turbines produce far, far more.

[1]: https://emrgy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Emrgy-Specifica...

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These turbines are meant to be used in a fleet, along a river. They take about 16 feet across per pair, so call it 20 across the normal flow of the river. They also do not block the flow, so more can be installed a little downstream, depending on the pitch of the riverbed. Assuming 5 groups per mile, 10 miles of flow of the Klamath River will give you the capacity to install 1000 of these, for a total capacity of 10 MW to 40 MW.

Saying that these are too small is like saying that solar panels are too small. The module size has nothing to do with the total generation - they're built to be manufactured and placed in bulk.

Source: I listened to the referenced podcast episode when I came out, and just looked at the spec sheet to refresh my memory.

These absolutely cannot be used in these kinds of rivers. Even their own promos only show irrigation channels. These things will chop salmon like sushi and running miles of infrastructure for them up and down a river is fantasy.

Solar is far more practical and far more dense then these things to replace a hydro dam.

The rosy scenario, then, is lots of these little turbines?

Won't there be separate NIMBY lawsuits about every single one of these, claims that they're unstudied and cause ecological damage, ruin the natural enjoyment of the river, etc. etc.?

In the rivers with minimal debris, with long enough stretches to place them all, with enough infra (read: cabling) to supply\gather electricity from them all to the one/two/three substation... All these while providing an efficient way to grind all the fishes.

And canoe or kayak enjoyers.

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