Services
Optimized Solutions
To Meet Your Unique Needs
From backyard installation to rigidly specified government and utility projects, Pacific Hydro has the experience and capacity to provide efficient, cost effective and reliable hydropower systems to meet your unique site requirements.
Our Services
Full Range of Scale and Scope
Site Assessment
With over 30 years experience performing site assessments and feasibility studies on every island in Hawaii it is likely that we are already familiar with your site or surrounding area. With ready access to topo maps, gaging station records, drainage basin studies, plantation water system schematics and other historic records we can use this information, and/or the data that you provide, to create a preliminary site assessment and engineering report with estimated design flow and potential power output.
Feasibility Study
This preliminary engineering report includes budget estimates for your turbine, generator and control package and preliminary specifications for the intake, penstock (pipeline), powerhouse and tailrace. This will include a detailed estimate of power output, your projected annual energy production/revenue, interconnection or off grid control requirements, energy management recommendations, water conservation options and regulatory requirements.
Design
After preliminary engineering and budget estimates we move into the final design stage and provide a firm price quotation for the turbine, generator, controls and intake works or any of these individual elements as required. Our experience has shown that a properly designed intake and screen are critical to an efficient operation. If poorly designed, intakes are the number one cause of high maintenance costs, down time and lost revenue. We then complete the final design and engineering estimates for the penstock [pipeline], powerhouse and tailrace.
Permitting
We can provide all county, state and federal permits. One of our primary design goals will be to engineer your system with minimal environmental impact and permitting requirements thus reducing costs and lead-time. For example, we always try to place intakes at exiting or naturally occurring weirs and diversions to minimize or eliminated in-stream permitting. Hawaii’s streams hold an abundance of these structure left over from the plantation era and many are prime small hydro sites.
Equipment
Whether you are a first time do-it-yourself owner or an experienced hydropower professional, specifying and sourcing the proper equipment is essential for efficient and sustainable operation. The turbine is the heart of a hydro system and we work closely with Canyon Hydro, America’s leading Pelton, Francis and Crossflow turbine manufacturer with more than 35 years experience. From homeowner power plants to rigidly specified utility systems for public and independent power producers, we deliver highly efficient designs, premium quality components and superb customer support.
Construction Management
We can perform the overall planning, coordination, and control of your hydro development from inception through completion to produce a functionally and financially viable project. We also provide independent inspection services and quality control for all phases of construction.
Maintenance
Our experience with turbine rebuilds, runner replacements, control upgrades, pipeline and intake re-designs gives us the background to meet your maintenance and repair needs. If designed and built properly, hydros can generate electricity with lower operation and maintenance costs that any other power source. Poorly designed pipelines and intake works are one of the leading cause of hydro revenue erosion and downtime. Our designs for diversions, intakes, screens and pipeline cleaning/flushing ports are uniquely suited to Hawaii’s tropical conditions and minimize costly repairs and maintenance.
Existing Water System Integration
Due to Hawai‘i’s steep terrain there are exiting pipelines, tunnels and ditches throughout the islands—potable, irrigation and waste water—that have low cost/high return hydro potential. Often called “conduit projects,” these systems take advantage of the excess pressure developed as water is piped from higher elevations. Conduit projects commonly use a turbine to perform the function of a Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV). As with a PRV, a hydro turbine reduces pressure. Instead of dissipating this surplus energy like a PRV, however, the turbine converts it to electricity. With an existing water supply system, most of the infrastructure for hydropower is already in place. Permitting is not an issue and the relatively low incremental cost of the turbine means the system can pay for itself much earlier than an all-new hydro project. A good time to evaluate a conduit project is when an aging pipeline is replaced. A new pipeline can be designed with hydropower in mind, using modern design from end to end.
Hawai‘i’s Advantages
For many Hawaiian hydro sites fish are not an issue. We have only one migratory species native to Hawai‘i, the o‘opu, and many of our best hydro sites are above natural barriers such as high waterfalls that prevent o‘opu from migrating further upstream. Hawai‘i’s exceptionally steep terrain works to the advantage of streaming hydro projects allowing high pressure to be developed in short distances, dramatically reducing the costs.
