I guess the big question for anyone wanting to harness a creek for power is how much will it cost. Not everyone has a big bank account and the up front costs can be a bit daunting. There’s tons of off the shelf micro hydro generators available, from cheap Chinese stuff to reliable, quality built units. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Are you a handyman? Got some cool junk laying around? How about your local landfill, will they let you “shop” there? That’s how I started. Was it pretty? Nope. Was it efficient? Nope. Did it work? Yup.
I found an old exercise bike (the solid rubber tire kind), a mountain bike, a big pulley on a couple of pillow block bearings and some sheet metal. From that I cobbled together my first “pelton wheel”. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing, but I just kept experimenting, adapting and learning as I went. It only took me a year and a bit but one day it worked! I was making electricity from my creek!