Comparative life cycle assessment of micro water Turbines: Evaluating potential for remote power generation

Abstract

The growing interest in sustainable energy solutions, coupled with recent technological advancements, has led to increased exploration of ultra-low-head hydropower systems. This study focuses on micro water turbines, particularly zero- to low-head turbines, for off-grid power production. The primary objective is to assess the operational dynamics, performance-influencing variables, and utility of three specific turbine types: the Archimedes screw turbine (AST), water wheels (WW), and zero-head (hydrokinetic) turbines (ZHT). This article rigorously compares the life cycle assessments of these turbines, with an emphasis on energy, economic, and environmental analyses. In the context of rapid technological advancements and increasing sustainability challenges, adopting turbine technologies with over two decades of service life and desired outputs has become critical. Users now place greater importance on economic, energy, and environmental factors when selecting micro-turbine technologies. This paper introduces a new Selection Index (SI) based on life cycle assessment (LCA) to aid in selecting and adopting micro-turbine technologies for long-term operations. The selection index values of AST, WW, and ZHT are 2.532, 2.371, and 2.324, respectively, demonstrating that AST outperforms the other two in terms of energy intensity, economic viability, and environmental sustainability for low-head, off-grid power generation.