An industry challenge to you: Low cost 500 KW hydropower module.

DOE says that any dam with less than 2 MW of hydro capacity is not cost effective. In the US that is roughly 70,000 of the 89,000 dams that exist, but are not powered. That is 70 GW of potential electricity that DOE has decided is not worth the effort at reviewing. In addition that is 180 GWH of pumped storage that will never be utilized. From many small efforts a larger whole can be wrought.

The challenge is:

1) Create a uniform 500 kW reversible system that can produce electricity or be reversed to put water back up behind the dam.

2) Create it in such a way that a simple uniform method exists for installation

3) Achieve an 80% round trip efficiency for pumped storage

4) Installed cost needs to be less than $4 per watt of capacity

5) System is safe to be built at an unstaffed locations, without fear that unauthorized people will not be hurt with simple tampering.

6) System uses no rare materials in the construction

7) Post installation that the dam will meet or exceed all safety considerations for a dam

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”

Good Luck…