Lucid Energy in deal with San Antonio Water System

23 August 2012


The SAWS installation, which is slated for construction in early 2013, will provide a demonstration site around which Lucid Energy will bring together prospective customers, partners, academics and others in the water and energy sectors to learn about in-pipe hydropower.

The LucidPipe Power System is a water-to-wire system that produces renewable energy from fast-moving water inside of large-scale municipal, agricultural and industrial water pipelines and effluent streams. The new 60kW in-pipe hydropower system will include three LucidPipe spherical turbines inside of one section of 24” steel water pipe at SAWS. The LucidPipe installation at SAWS will be part of the Regional Carrizo Water Supply Project that will deliver up to 17,200 acre-feet of water per year from the Carrizo Aquifer to the city of San Antonio.

“We are very pleased to be one of the first water utilities in the US to evaluate in-pipe hydropower using the LucidPipe technology,” said Steve Clouse, Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice President of San Antonio Water System. “Utilizing our water infrastructure to generate renewable energy fits our philosophy of environmentally smart solutions because it taps an existing resource – water moving through our pipelines – to provide low-impact, low-cost, renewable energy.”

The LucidPipe Power System, which was developed in conjunction with Northwest Pipe Company, utilizes a patented, spherical, vertical axis turbine that recovers otherwise untapped energy in the form of excess head pressure in large, gravity-fed pipelines. One or more turbines can be installed inside sections of large-diameter (24” – 96”) steel water pipe.

In 2009 the US Department of Energy awarded Lucid Energy a $1M phase 1 SBIR grant to field test the LucidPipe Power System. Riverside Public Utilities in California, where the technology was piloted in three phases over two years, is currently operating the first commercial installation of the system, which has been operational since January 2012.




Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.