How Portland plans to turn water into juice

The city of Portland, Oregon, has partnered with a company called Lucid Energy to generate electricity from the flow of drinking water through its underground pipes. 

Lucid, which has developed a turbine that can be installed in water pipes, will fund a $1.5m project to install four of them in the conduit flowing under the city’s Powell Boulevard. Portland General Electric will then pay Lucid and the Portland Water Bureau for the electricity they produce. 

Each year the pipe will generate enough electricity to power about 150 homes.

The LucidPipe’s turbine (Youtube)

The project is expected to create $2m in its first 20 years, after which the Portland Water Bureau will take it over. 

The system can also monitor the condition of the city’s network and the quality of its drinking water. 

Watch a video describing the process involved and the benefits. 

Photographs from the Lucid Energy Youtube video.