Abstract
Hydropower utilizes the "renewable energy" for electrical power production, providing 9% of electricity in Japan. Micro hydropower is in most cases "run-of-river", without dam or water storage. It is one of the most environmentally benign energy technologies and is useful for local independent power supply. However, the cost performance is the greatest obstacle to disseminate micro hydropower widely. In this study, for price-reduction of micro hydropower, a propeller of outboard motors was applied to a turbine blade. The blade was improved to achieve high efficiency and increased output. The lkW micro hydropower performance was examined by experimental study. As a result, the best performance was obtained as the output of 1.54kW and the efficiency of 31.8%.
