Power from water in a new way

Water. We use it all the time in our daily lives — cooking our meals, bathing, drinking straight up or as tea or coffee for example. Putting out fires and irrigating crops are just a couple more uses of this life-giving liquid. There is another use: generating electricity.

The traditional way is from huge dams that channel water through turbines to produce electricity on a large scale. Another, newer method is to put small impeller-type generators in our rivers and bays. The running water from tides and river flow produce energy. I wrote about this method in a column published March 16, 2013. The turbines are smaller-scale but very exciting in their potential. Now there is another way to produce electricity in a different way that borders on genius.

Lucid Energy of Portland, Oregon has come with a way to generate energy from water pipes — straight from the pipe or, to be precise, from within it. The Lucidpipe as it is called is pipe section with vertical axis spherical turbines built into it. Sections are designed for large-diameter pipe in the ranges of 24- to 96-inches for use in gravity-fed water systems as a water main for a city. The city of Portland has partnered up with Lucid to try out this new method of electrical generation this month.

Here is the genius part: all that city had to do was dig up a section of pipe and replace it with section of the Lucidpipe. That section contained four 42-inch turbines within it. Those are connected to four generators attached to the pipes exterior via the turbines’ vertical drive shafts. After all the connections are made, water will flow through it, spinning the turbines, thus spinning the generators via the drive shafts and creating cheap electricity to that section of the city.

The project is being called “Conduit and Hydroelectric Project” and will come to full capacity this March. According to Lucid it will be a first to secure a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement for a project producing energy by in-pipe hydropower in the U.S.

It is expected that once fully operational it will generate about $2,000,000 worth of energy over a 20-year period. That is based on an average 1,100 megawatt hours of energy per year. That is enough to power up about 150 homes, according to an article in Good Magazine by Rafi Schwartz announcing the project to the public. It can also be found on Lucid’s website.

The potential of this kind of technology is stunning. As long as gravity-fed water flows though the Lucidpipe, it will generate electricity cheaply and easily as the water flows by on its way to consumers’ faucets, toilets, showers and baths. I think more towns and cities should take a serious look at in-pipe hydropower generation. Maybe it could be adapted up here. Now wouldn’t that be something?

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.