Anicet Mbida 06:52, February 13, 2023

Anicet Mbida delivers to us every morning what is best in terms of innovation.

This Monday, he is interested in a new kind of turbine for hydroelectric power stations which is no longer dangerous for fish.

The innovation of the day is a new generation of turbine for hydroelectric power stations.

Turbines that fish can finally cross without risk.

It's the dirty little secret of hydroelectric plants.

We are talking about green electricity, abundant, without emissions and which does not depend on the weather.

The whole panoply of perfect energy.

Except that dams have a major environmental impact, especially on migratory fish such as eel or salmon.

You have certainly heard of it: these are fish that must go up or down rivers to reproduce.

And if they have a dam to cross, often it's carnage.

Fortunately, Natel Energy engineers have developed a new turbine that is more fish-friendly.

How ?

Thanks to a new propeller design without any sharp edge, all in curves and roundness.

And it is installed in such a way that the fish can cross it without ending up completely shredded.

And does it really work?

Has it been tested?

Yes, first in the lab and then in real conditions.

The turbine was launched at very high speed (11 rotations per minute, faster than a mixer).

We then pushed a school of 130 eels to cross it.

And they all survived.

None were injured.

It was important to test this system with eels, because they are the ones that suffer the most from the dams.

Do you see their morphology?

With their elongated body, they can very easily become trapped.

Aren't there already devices to protect the fish?

In general, we try to prevent them from reaching the turbines with grids or by passing them through bypasses.

But it's not everywhere.

And that doesn't always work.

To retain baby eels, for example, would require too fine grids that would eventually clog up and turn into walls.

All these devices act on the flow of water and therefore on the profitability of the dam.

Which is often the main criterion.

So it's rather good news to finally have turbines that are permeable to fish… and that preserve the profitability of the dam.