SBIR Topic 6b: Advanced High Power Density Generators for Hydropower Systems

Today, conventional hydropower generation accounts for 75% of the United States renewable energy generation (over 270,000 GWH) despite utilizing less than 20% of the usable hydropower available for development. Recent studies indicate that advances in lower cost higher performing generator technologies can substantially increase this resource utilization. Just a 5% increase in market penetration would represent nearly 14,000 GWH of new generation, enough power to serve over 1.2 million households. This program will evaluate the use of a high efficiency high power density generator technology in micro, small and large hydropower systems. QM Power generators can significantly improve the power output and/or efficiencies and reduce the costs of existing and planned hydropower systems. This breakthrough technology uses permanent magnets in a novel yet simple design that significantly increases power density and efficiency. Phase I funding will be used to design prototype QM Power generators in order to reduce capital costs 10-20% while demonstrating efficiencies greater than 95 percent and to create preliminary designs for large scale generators. These designs will be assembled and tested during Phase II of the project to design and test a full weight optimized system for installation in a large scale hydropower system.Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Commercialization and adoption of QM Power enabled hydropower systems would significantly increase the likelihood of use in small, medium and large scale hydropower applications. In addition, this generator technology is applicable to other renewable generation systems, including hydrokinetic and wind applications that would benefit from the associated increased efficiencies. These advantages would likely promote rapid adoption in the commercial sector and result in significant expansion of the countrys generation of power from renewable sources