Vietnam farmer's turbine offers 'green power'

It’s been a long road to get there though. After the reunification of the country, Quynh returned home to Vinh Cuu district in Dong Nai province to work on his farm.

“In the first days after liberation, electricity was not available across the whole country... we badly needed power. As a mechanic, I nurtured the dream of making a hydroelectric plant. So, I visited various hydroelectric plants to ask people about their experiences,” Quynh said.

Those trips helped him understand how a hydroelectric plant worked, especially the turbine. 

Today, the mechanic impresses visitors as a confident man of action.

When Quynh guided us to a village in the southern part of the Central Highland, we were surprised by the extent of his work. Once the remaining 20 per cent is assembled, the project will be able to generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity. 

Up to US$1.67 billion (Bt49.6 billion) is usually required to complete a hydroelectric plant like this. Yet Quynh insists he only needs $95,600 to generate electricity and $143,000 to complete the plant.

“In my design, the dam’s body is only a metre long. Once a small amount of water is poured into the turbine, the remainder will go over it, turning into a natural current,” said Quynh, pointing at the dam, which is a 60-centimetre high and 30-metre long concrete structure.

The major dam and spinway seemed as he described, but we wondered how a 1.5MW plant could generate power with such a tiny flow.

“Certainly, this small current can barely move a normal turbine, but my turbine is extraordinary,” he said.

His turbine is modelled on the screw propeller of a boat, and can reach a huge spinning velocity, helping to save water. The propeller is  also designed to make back-up natural gas to produce power for the dry season, something other plants can hardly afford. Finally, it receives water from above, so a pipeline is not needed. “That is why I call my invention a green power plant,” he said.

In 1995, Quynh surprised locals living in Ma Da Commune, Vinh Cuu district, by making a 20kw plant by hand and using it to make ice for his family. Yet, after five years, his project was shut down to make way for a communal economic programme.

“Ten years of research were wasted. I realised I would have to go somewhere else to keep building plants,” he said. After coming to the Central Highlands to test the water and terrain, he decided to move his family to Dak R’Moan Commune in Dak Nong province.

“Just as in Dong Nai, he left all crops and livestock to me and our kids, while he stuck to those projects. Though he had worked on hydroelectricity for over a decade, we still did not have enough money for our daily livelihood, as he spent everything on buying material and machinery and doing research,” his wife, Vu Thi Dau, said.

After five years, Quynh built his second hydro plant, run by his “green water power”. This 1MW plant supplies power to over 150 homes in Tan Hoa and Tan Phong villages and the People’s Committee in Dak R’Moan.