Home / Uses / Power for river level and flood monitoring sites

The river gauge has to report in the flood

Flood warnings depend on river level gauges sending readings through the worst of a storm. This page looks at their power needs, and is honest that most gauges are too small for this system.

Most gauges sip power

A typical river level site has a pressure sensor or radar gauge, a logger and a telemetry radio or cellular modem. Together they draw very little and usually run on a battery with a small local charger. A 15 kW hydrogen system is far bigger than that needs. Recommending one for a single gauge would be poor advice, and we would not.

What it would keep running

Flood gate pumps within size
Telemetry radios and modems
Stopbank cameras and lighting
Control room computers
Level sensors and loggers

Where hydrogen could help

Some flood sites are more than a gauge. A flood gate pump station, a stopbank control site with lighting and cameras, or a regional monitoring hub with several radios and a small office all carry heavier loads that need to keep running through days of outage. Those are a more realistic fit for 15 kW and weeks of stored hydrogen.

A cellular modem is only as reliable as the tower it talks to, so flood sites with their own radio links, and their own long backup, are the ones most likely to keep reporting when the rest of the district has gone dark.

How it works →

The H2OME loop: an electrolyser splits water into hydrogen, the hydrogen is stored in a tank for weeks, a fuel cell turns it into electricity for your home, and the water returns to the loop.

Built to sit through a flood

Any system near a river would need to sit well above the highest flood level, in a secure enclosure. It is designed to AS/NZS 60079 and ISO 19880, with redundant leak sensors and automatic venting. Round trip is 30% or less, so it is standby power. Decisions sit with the regional council or the operator who owns the flood network.

Questions

Does a single river gauge need this?

No. A gauge with a logger and modem draws so little that a battery and small charger are the right answer. This system is only worth considering at heavier flood sites such as pump stations or monitoring hubs.

Can it sit near a flood-prone river?

Only if it is installed well above flood level in a secure enclosure. Being inundated would shut it down. Site selection would be agreed with the council or operator who knows the river's flood history.

Can it run flood gate pumps?

Smaller pumps may sit within 15 kW with peak headroom for starting. Large drainage pumps often draw far more and would need a larger setup sized in the pilot, or another solution. We would say so plainly.

Elsewhere

Every use →

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