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Peter Cann has a real gem in his backyard. No, it doesn’t shimmer. But it does spin. It’s a micro hydro turbine, or small water generator.

Cann’s property is filled with gadgets and pipes that aid the device in producing power non-stop, as long as water is available.

“The turbine is capable, I believe, of up to 1,500 watts. I have 60 gpm of water available coming out of my pond that I can spare without drawing the pond down. My tubing from the pond goes down into the valley below the pond about 300 feet, which gives you about a 75 foot head. So the two variables are the head and the GPM,” Cann said.

Other than a model at Morrisville College, the turbine is the first of its kind in New York State. The water collected in this pond is piped down the hill into the turbine. That energy turns the turbine that produces electricity.

Cann said, “It’s a small peloton wheel that had a couple of nozzles that impinge on a wheel which has spoons on it that catch the water coming out of the nozzles and then transfer that kinetic energy into the wheel and that goes into a generator that produces electricity.”

From there, the power is combined with electricity produced by his solar panels and windmill, all of which goes toward running the household appliances.