"Semler is the founder and CEO of Bay Area-based InPipe Energy. He says InPipe's technology is a first of its kind in California. The team installed the miniaturized turbine in a pipeline connecting part of the East Bay Municipal Utility District's water distribution system. It takes the place of the normal water pressure regulator, housed in a small building next door. But instead of just controlling the flow, they say it harnesses it to produce electricity, spinning the turbine-driven generator."
""So water under pressure in pipelines happens everywhere in the world," Semler said. "There are literally millions of miles of water pipelines in cities, in agricultural facilities and hydropower facilities, data centers where they're receiving water in pipelines. And when the water is moving through the pipeline, that's hydraulic electricity. And hydroelectricity is the lowest cost source of renewable energy.""
A miniaturized turbine was installed inside a pipeline in the East Bay Municipal Utility District distribution system, replacing a conventional water pressure regulator and using flow to drive a generator. The unit transfers power to the PG&E grid via a control center. The pilot project produces roughly six times the power a comparable-area solar setup would generate. The technology targets widespread deployment across millions of miles of pressurized pipelines in cities, agricultural facilities, hydropower sites, and data centers to create many small, distributed sources of hydroelectricity.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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