The energy of small head differences in flowing water has been utilised for centuries and was one important driver for the industrial revolution. Many early factories were powered by water wheels. However, low head hydropower became uneconomic with the increasing availability of cheap alternative energy sources and conversion technologies as well as the advent of turbines for hydropower usage. Nevertheless, with rising fuel prices and incentives to reduce carbon emissions, low head hydropower has become an attractive renewable energy solution within recent years.

The Sustainable Energy Research Group's work focuses on developing low head hydropower solutions based on modern hydrodynamic knowledge. Theoretical investigations as well as intensive scale model testing are being undertaken with the incentive to produce optimised solutions with improved geometries and materials. Performance studies are underway in the School of Civil Engineering's hydrodynamics laboratories.

Funding for the work on micro hydropower has come from the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) and the University’s School of Civil Engineering and the Environment. Further information on the FP7 project can be found on the website of the project: Development of hydro power converter for very low head differences.