In the US, Vancouver, Washington-based welded steel pipe producer Northwest Pipe Company (Northwest Pipe) and Goshen, Indiana-based Lucid Energy Technologies clean tech firm have announced the successful completion of preliminary testing of a renewable power-generation prototype called Northwest PowerPipe (TM), designed for installation in new or existing water transmission pipelines.
When fully developed, Northwest PowerPipe(TM) will enable utilities to capture untapped energy from normal pipeline operations without disrupting water flow by transforming excess head pressure into electricity.
The new systems are expected to be available in 2010.