On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:58:19 -0000, "jhar1945" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Aesthetic arguments aside for the moment, I've often wondered what >power potential there is in the downflow on the Llangollen - 19m litres >a day, average 6' fall on about 20 locks (not counting Hurleston). The Ardnacrusha power station in Ireland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardnacrusha), which is on the navigation, has four turbines and an average fall of 28.5 metres = 93.5 feet (the lower end is tidal so the drop varies). Neil Arlidge has photos on www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk The maximum flow through the Ardnacrusha power station is, I believe, 400 cubic metres per second. If we take that as 100 m^3 per turbine, that's 8 640 000 m^3 per day which is 8 640 000 000 litres: 8.64 billion litres (although I'd be grateful if someone would check that please). Wikipedia puts the generating capacity of the entire station at 85MW, although one of the turbines is more powerful than the others. The Ardnacrusha headrace canal is slightly larger than (what I've seen of) the Llangollen canal. I can't find the figures (I have them somewhere) but I think the Ardnacrusha canal is 7.5m deep, 22m wide across the base and rather wider at the surface. Oh, and I am not an engineer: I may have misunderstood something. bjg
