• last year
Ultra-small water power generator

Hydroelectric generation uses water power to drive turbines and is an important means for producing the electricity so essential for modern life. Facilities have been becoming smaller, with generators able to use diverse water power sources. We’ll look at an ultra-small generator developed in Gifu that’s highly portable and works even with shallow, slow moving water. Already tested powering street lights, it promises to allow people in the world’s remote regions to generate their own electricity for the first time.

VIDEO BY MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF JAPAN

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Transcript
00:00 [ Music ]
00:10 >> It's not just the lights that brighten our city streets at night.
00:15 Electric power is so essential today, it's hard to imagine life without it.
00:20 Electricity is produced by a number of methods,
00:23 one of them being hydroelectric generation.
00:25 [ Music ]
00:29 Conventionally, a dam is built to hold a large reservoir of water.
00:32 The energy created by water falling from high to low levels turns the blades of a turbine.
00:38 This rotates a generator to produce electricity.
00:41 Recently, there's been a growing interest in smaller scale methods,
00:48 using slight differences in the levels of flowing water.
00:51 Underneath this bridge over a river in Tokyo,
00:55 a small scale hydroelectric generator has been installed.
00:59 Although the water drop is just one metre,
01:03 this generates enough power to light the bridge.
01:07 [ Music ]
01:12 Ena is a city in Gifu in central Japan.
01:15 Masaya Sumino, an engineer at a metalworking factory here,
01:21 has developed a revolutionary water power generator that's gaining international attention.
01:26 [ Music ]
01:30 This is Sumino's ultra small water power generator.
01:33 [ Music ]
01:38 A one metre by 28 centimetre casing encloses the spiral blades of the turbine.
01:43 [ Music ]
01:49 All flowing water has energy, and I always thought it was a shame
01:53 that we weren't fully using this resource.
01:55 That's what inspired me to come up with this concept for utilising unused energy from nature.
02:01 Weighing just 18 kilograms, this is the first ever generator of its kind
02:07 that can be easily carried by one person.
02:09 It's already being used in roadside irrigation channels to power street lights,
02:16 and for electrifying fences to protect farmland.
02:21 [ Music ]
02:27 To spread his message about water power, Sumino often gives presentations
02:31 to primary school children like these.
02:33 Today he'll show them how to generate electricity
02:37 from a small river in their school grounds.
02:40 [ Music ]
02:49 >> Okay, now I'm going to put it in the water.
02:51 His generator works even with the gentle flow of this tiny stream.
02:59 The spiral blades are angled so they rise slightly towards the upstream side.
03:07 A 15 centimetre high metal plate blocks the stream.
03:13 This makes the water run over the top of the plate and flow down through the spiral blades.
03:18 [ Music ]
03:24 The force of the water on the blades turns the turbine to generate electricity.
03:30 This concept works anywhere there's flowing water, even if it's very shallow.
03:34 [ Music ]
03:39 Three, two, one, now.
03:44 [ Applause ]
03:48 That was amazing.
03:49 Such a small machine and it made electricity.
03:53 In Japan, schools are often used as evacuation shelters during disasters.
03:58 This device could provide emergency power.
04:01 Sumino's generator promises to transform life in remote areas
04:07 of the world that still lack power.
04:10 [ Music ]
04:13 There are many places where individuals or whole areas have no access to electricity.
04:19 If we can provide them with the means to make their own power,
04:22 they'll be able to change their lives.
04:24 That's my hope.
04:27 An ultra small generator that could provide environmentally friendly electricity
04:32 for any place on earth where there's even a slight flow of water.
04:36 [ Music ]
04:39 [ Silence ]
04:45 [ Music ]

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