This is an aplidyne and MG Set and I know where there’s one thats sitting unused that I would love to get my hands on if I had a micro hydro installation with a water wheel.
With care and attention these machines will make DC into AC, back and forth and can be very precisely controlled for speed and power output.
No electronics inside to fry in a thunderstorm.
But they were big and bulky and required care and attention to function properly ( very woman like machines )
Ya the hydro inspector would flip his wig if he saw this wired up to a Small hydro electric installation feeding power to a grid connected home and I WOULD LOVE to see that wig keep on flipping as he tried to tell me how it works and what was required by code to use it HA HA HA.
Ya that would be fun.
I would do stuff like that just for the novelty if I had the resources