Major Micro-Hydro cost savings with new Ham Baker/SPP Partnership

A new worldwide Micro-Hydro partnership between Ham Baker Group and SPP Pumps promises to bring affordable, effective energy generation for water treatment inlet works and service reservoirs (typically 50m head, flow rate 2500m³).

The Pump as Turbine (PaT) solution from SPP, which benefits from Ham Baker’s expertise in control systems, will provide micro-hydro technology at one third to one half the cost of complicated traditional systems, offering major reductions in maintenance time and spares.

“Feed-in tariffs may seem off-putting for some hydro initiatives,” said Ian Goddard, Ham Baker Group’s Business Development Director, “but water companies can generate from as little as 10kW to as much as 250kW of energy from a PaT which they can then use on site. The industry’s mindset with hydro always seems to have been to think big, but with renewables now so important, the considerable opportunities with a PaT for Micro-Hydro should no longer be overlooked”.

Stuart Wallis from SPP Pumps added: “This forward-looking new partnership with Ham Baker well and truly opens the door for UK water companies to generate the same energy values from Micro installations but at the same time drastically reduce their Hydro TOTEX. The lifecycle costs for PaT win hands down – and by creating a simple by-pass at most treatment works’ inlets/outlets, there’s no disruption or change needed to existing equipment such as valves”.

This new agreement with SPP Pumps follows Ham Baker Group’s recent launch of a new Screw Generator system for hydro power. Made with a low-cost reinforced plastic screw for existing sewage outfalls (1m to 4m head) with flow rates of up to 900 litres per second, it has the potential to generate up to 30 kW.