So 25mm/hour (1") is a fairly heavy sustained rain. Terminal velocity of rain drops is on the order of 10 m/s. Volume of a rain drop is on the order of .5ml.
Total rainfall volume per m^2 is .025 m^3/hour. This is approximately 500,000 randrops/hour or about 14 drops/second. Each drop has 1/2 * m * V^2 = 25 mJ of energy.
So putting it all together, this is generating 25 mJ/drop * 14 drops/second = .35 W/m^2, and that's only when its raining. (Edit: and this is assuming 100% conversion efficiency, which....no. Don't know anything about this technology, but probably cut that number in half again).
Sounds a lot like Solar Freakin Roadways.
Edit: Just a sidenote; back in college the best course I took was billed as a "Renewable Energy" but was really just a weekly set of unit conversion problems like this that proved how absolutely stupid most energy proposals are.
We did focus a fair amount on real technologies like Wind and Solar (and analyzing the shortcomings like storage, which haven gotten better since ~2009). The professor took a lot of joy in shooting down ideas like this though.
Total rainfall volume per m^2 is .025 m^3/hour. This is approximately 500,000 randrops/hour or about 14 drops/second. Each drop has 1/2 * m * V^2 = 25 mJ of energy.
So putting it all together, this is generating 25 mJ/drop * 14 drops/second = .35 W/m^2, and that's only when its raining. (Edit: and this is assuming 100% conversion efficiency, which....no. Don't know anything about this technology, but probably cut that number in half again).
Sounds a lot like Solar Freakin Roadways.
Edit: Just a sidenote; back in college the best course I took was billed as a "Renewable Energy" but was really just a weekly set of unit conversion problems like this that proved how absolutely stupid most energy proposals are.
We did focus a fair amount on real technologies like Wind and Solar (and analyzing the shortcomings like storage, which haven gotten better since ~2009). The professor took a lot of joy in shooting down ideas like this though.