POWER FROM GROUNDWATER

Power can be generated from groundwater by pumping water from one or m ore bores and passing this discharge to a hydro power station located at an elevation below the bore water level. Given a suitable hydrogeol ogical environment, a small groundwater power system should be more ro bust against dry periods than a stream-based scheme of the same size. This is relevant, for example, for isolated islands where no single st ream may provide a sufficiently large and consistent discharge for nor mal hydropower generation. Large groundwater power schemes may be poss ible in particular topographic and geological configurations in high-r ainfall environments. The aquifer here plays the role of a storage lak e so land inudation can be avoided. Potential groundwater power sites will have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis using numerical mode ls, but simple expressions for preliminary power estimates can be deri ved for situations where the Dupuit approximation applies.