The micro-hydro industry holds enormous potential for renewable energy generation. Inpipe Energy empowers water distribution facilities to tap into wasted energy at pressure reduction values by installing Pumps as Turbines (PaTs) using off-the-shelf pumps run in reverse. Pump manufacturers do not provide performance curves for their machines running in reverse mode and thus require conversion models. Using information from pump characteristic curves and existing equations derived from statistical experimental data, we simulated three existing conversion models with two pumps. Our research established two low head high flow PaTs capable of providing an economical rate of return. Subject: Microhydro, Pumps as Turbines, PaT, Renewable energy, water distribution
