Prototype Archimedes Screw Microhydro on a River without Head

Abstract

Archimedes screw turbine (AST) is the optimum energy source for rural non-grid connected villages of Sarawak because it is located between 1–5° north of the equator and therefore has among the highest rainfall volume of earth. There is also a long mountain range between Sarawak and Indonesia. This provides flow and head required for hydroelectricity production. This research focuses on a village named Long Luyang which only has a fast flowing river without head. Therefore a prototype AST system was developed to iron out all the nuances of hydroelectric production at that site. Despite the interest in AST these days, there is a research gap as most hydroelectricity research is done for high flow and high head regions found near mountains which are not conducive for human settlements due to the high energy needed to live under the constant influence of gravity. Currently in Sarawak, villages where the grid cannot reach are supplied with solar PV. But the high cloud cover, high heat of the equator plus the empirical fact that villagers tend not to manage the battery banks well renders most of these systems a failure beyond two years.