Rentricity, an in-pipe hydropower energy company, has commenced a project in Utah for the Richmond Irrigation Company (RIC), which will use its own irrigation flows to also create clean energy.
Rentricity’s Flow-to-Wire system captures excess pressure and flow within gravity-fed water distribution pipelines, converting it into energy for the electric grid or for the customer’s onsite use.
The RIC project, which is part of a new irrigation pipeline upgrade, involves energy recovery at two sites targeted to generate more than 300 kW. The project will provide conduit-based irrigation water for RIC’s consortium members and make RIC a net exporter of power to the grid.
Rentricity says over 100 billion gallons of water a day flows through pipes for agriculture and represents a huge market for in-pipe clean energy recovery.
Lucid Energy also has an in-pipe hydropower technology. Lucid recently worked with the Portland Water Bureau (PWB), installing the LucidPipe Power System inside a PWB pipeline to spin four 42” turbines that are now producing electricity for Portland General Electric (PGE) customers under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Photo: Irrigation via Shutterstock