As part of the MSc in Renewable Energy Systems & the Environment, students are required to undertake a group project pertaining to a particular area of the course. The outcomes of such a study can include feasibility tools, recommendations, cost evaluations and environmental impact assessments. The group projects aim to contain high levels of technical content and analysis whilst expanding students collaborative working skills and enhancing presentation techniques through an exigent schedule of technical critiques.

Our project group chose to study the area of small scale power generation and transmission. From the outset we believed that the topic provided scope for demanding technical work combined with the challenge of developing novel solutions in what is one of the most mature renewable technologies available today. After considering at length the possible outcomes from such a project, the group agreeded to focus on the areas outlined in the project aims below.

Project Aims

The study intends to focus on aspects relating exclusively to the generation and transmission of power from small scale schemes with high heads and no available means of storage. The project will investigate the combination of multiple flows of water into a common pressure header utilising previously dismissed hydro resources while potentially reducing capital costs through facilitating economies of scale. This is of particular interest given that feed-in tariffs have been available in the UK since April 2010. As these previously dismissed resources tend to be found in more remote locations, a novel solution to the transmission of power to the national grid will also be evaluated where existing, non pressurised water supply tunnels and conduits are used for the routing of transmission cables.