There is considerable electricity production potential in small streams and rivers over 52 GW of capacity in the US alone). The main reason this clean energy resource has remained mostly untapped is that the initial cost has been too high for a suitable return on investment. Existing products are either onesizefitsall with low energy returns, or specially engineered products with high investment cost. Emerging manufacturing techniques, namely near net shape technology also known as additive manufacturing or 3D printing) will be used to build efficient turbines specifically designed for each river and stream. To this end, the team is developing both the fundamental physical understanding and the design tools necessary to engineer and manufacture lowcost turbines with these new processes and attendant materials. The project will
Benefit: Small dam owners in need of refurbishing an existing, but old structure, or wanting to develop new ones local communities, especially in remote locations, which can leverage an available source of energy the country as a whole, from a new source of energy American industry, from the development of new manufacturing techniques and, last and not least, from a humanitarian perspective the possibility to help thirdworld communities with no access to electricity but located in the vicinity of a stream.
