What is Reddit's opinion of Designing and Building Mini and Micro Hydro Power Schemes?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I would search for "Micro Hydro"/"Hydro power homesteading" on youtube! The homesteaders/off-the-grid crowd in Australia/US are crazy inventive and resourceful!

In essence hydro power is not a complicated subject. The drop/head is the most important factor for a dam-based generator while the flowrate is most important for a waterwheel based one. Not to mention reliability of the stream you're using. It can't dry up or go below a certain rate of flow (ie your intake pipe gets left hanging above the waterline/has a pass-through capacity greater than the streams lowest active flow).

Basically: If you can make enough water go AHHHHH! or PHWEEEE! or both you can generate a lot of power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4iMbYD4MZM

F.ex in this video, I don't know if he's getting 10kW, but he's damn well getting a lot of juice from a waterwheel setup in a rapid river.

The complicated part becomes what's in your generator shed. The equipment is readily available and isn't prohibitively expensive for the common man, but if you're aiming for a setup that powers your whole home full of modern electronics you're going to have to plan the expenses and hire someone to do the electrical work.

I haven't read any books on hydro so I can't recommend any, but amazon has things like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Building-Micro-Hydro-Schemes/dp/185339646X

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Construction-Hydropower-Facilities-ebook/dp/B07PXGT3NB/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?crid=196B17QKVI0AE&keywords=mini+hydropower&qid=1669812844&s=books&sprefix=mini+hydropowe%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C165&a...

https://www.amazon.com/Hydropower-Basic-Concepts-Science-Electricity-ebook/dp/B004NNVLUI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2SAL75DKZWHHL&keywords=hydropower+basics&qid=1669812877&s=books&sprefix=hydropower+basics%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C160&sr=1-1

The last one seems the most relevant for you!