SBIR-STTR Award

Identification and Significance of the Problem: The United States alone has over 80,000 dams, unused for power generation. The cost of installing conventional hydro power generation equipment would be high and uneconomical. DOE research confirms that at least 165,000MW of untapped hydroelectric power is available in the US alone. The sites would provide de-facto distributed power, relieving the grid load. Most of these dams have a low & quot;head & quot; (under 50ft and some as low as 5ft) and fall in the Small Hydro (0.3 to 40 MW) category. Conventional hydroelectric systems & apos; major drawbacks are: high cost of equipment and installation, low efficiency because of the use of synchronous generators and mechanical controls; high maintenance cost and inability to install in many otherwise suitable locations because of limited space because of unadaptable configuration (no in-line placement). How problem is being addressed A large portion of these dams could produce power economically with low cost, simple-to-install systems being designed and built by ATS. Also, a host of non-dam applications known as run-of-the-river power systems and conduit systems are also possible with the same simple ATS-designed concept. ATS systems are reversible and can function in Pumped Storage plants for power storage and other industrial operations as generators and/or pumps. ATS has built and tested a scale model prototype of this new concept and was successfully validated by the University of Iowa. The ATS concept can efficiently recover power from 5ft head at a cost in most cases of under $2 million per MW. The ATS low-cost mass producible turbines are made with materials and manufacturing techniques known from marine waterjet manufacturing experience that provide an in-line, compact, low weight, efficient power generating unit, has multiple installation configurations and has its own hoist system for service or replacement in one day. The unit requires no power house and installations can be done without touching the existing dam and take 1-6 months instead of years in an ecologically friendly way as no fish are harmed or nature disturbed. The SBIR application asks for DOE assistance to build the first full size unit to be tested and validated for use on these dams in Phases I and II. Phase I will provide the completed design developed from the prototype. The phase II effort will be to build the full scale unit in an actual dam location and the UI Laboratory will validate the operation of the unit. Commercial Applications and other Benefits The untapped hydropower potential in the US is $95 billion and the world potential is estimated to be almost five times that of the US. Major customers will be local governments and owners of existing dams and river tracts. ATS estimates it will grow to $400 million in sales level in five years, providing over 50,000 homes with hydropower and creating 300+ jobs in a HUB zone in Iowa.

There is a manifest need in the US and the world for renewable, lowcost energy. However, conventional and small hydropower systems for (20,000+) low head dams (550ft.) in the US tend to be extremely costintensive due to a variety of configurational issues. These include coffer dams, power houses, complex foundations, complex unit maintenance, large space requirements, and turbine technology requiring major civil engineering work. These factors have severely limited the number of economicallyviable projects in the low head power range. DOE has identified these dam locations and has challenged industry to produce a unit generating clean power at low cost to the public. The ATS turbine/generator answers this challenge as it provides the hydropower industry with a magnitude lower cost power generation system, requiring no power house, with onefifth weight and volume of a conventional system, simple maintenance and not requiring dam reconstruction. The ATS 63 Turbine/Generator is built primarily of composite materials, massproducible and ranges from 100kW to 2.5MW depending on head and flow. The low cost avoids the need for subsidy (unlike wind and solar). It will alter the hydropower outlook for the future in the US. The DOE SBIR Phase I project produced the critically peerreviewed unit design (based on an earlier test of a scale model validating the concept). Material strengthand costanalysis validated the design, and in a Phase II project, ATS will build the first unit and test it on a dam or canal. Mass production manufacture can be started on completion of the Phase II test, eventually employing an estimated 300 people in less than five years. In Phase III, ATS will install multiple units on a large US river dam, confirming a lowcost solution for power generation to all large dams including the Army Corps of Engineers lowhead dams in the US major rivers and lakes. Commercial Applications and Other

Benefits:
A world market of at least $83 billion, excluding China (having 49% of all hydropower) is estimated based on a preliminary market study by an independent leading consulting group. The commercialization plan provides for a pathway to economic success, made in the USA.