Comment by wbl
1 day ago
Depends on the canal. The UK narrow boat network has locked everywhere so minimal current in most sections similarly the Netherlands. In fact most canals. But then you have something like Suez which is just open to the ocean.
The UK locks themselves are water movement though, so if you wanted to power something for "free" on those, you'd attach it to there. Oh man did I love watching those as a kid. You wouldn't do a fan though, you'd have a line and a buoy and use the up and down motion to drive a linear electromagnetic generator to harvest energy.
Yeah but it's not really a lateral flow of water when the locks fill up and empty.