Scottish Water is trialling what project partners describe as a ‘plug and play’ hydropower technology at its Shieldhall Wastewater Treatment Works in Glasgow to assess its potentialto generate renewable energy from existing water and wastewater flows.
The publicly owned utility is working with Fish Friendly Hydropower Company (FFH) and WGM Engineering to test a floating turbine designed to produce electricity without requiring significant modifications to existing infrastructure.
As part of the trial, FFH’s PicoStream turbine has been installed at Shieldhall, one of Scotland’s largest wastewater treatment facilities. The system captures energy from water already moving through treatment processes, generating electricity from flows that would otherwise not be used for power generation.
The project emerged from a collaborative innovation programme facilitated by the Hydro Nation Chair and involving Scottish Water, WGM Engineering, Zero Waste Scotland, RMAS, and the universities of Edinburgh and Stirling.
The partners explored circular economy opportunities within the water and wastewater sector and identified the PicoStream turbine as a technology that could provide continuous renewable energy generation with limited installation requirements.
Fraser Simpson, Product Owner, Major Projects at Scottish Water, said: “Scottish Water is committed to exploring innovative solutions that help reduce our carbon footprint and contribute towards the energy resilience of our sites, while continuing to deliver high quality, reliable services on our journey towards Net Zero.”
Sam Maitland, Managing Director of Fish Friendly Hydropower Company Ltd, said: “This trial is a major step forward in demonstrating how simple, low-impact hydropower can play a meaningful role in the transition to net zero. There is huge, untapped energy in water infrastructure, and technologies like PicoStream allow us to capture that energy quickly, cost-effectively, and with minimal disruption.
“It is great working with WGM Engineering in close collaboration with Scottish Water who, I believe, are leading the charge to Net Zero within the UK water sector.”
Jason Cramb, Director at WGM Engineering Ltd, said: “WGM are thrilled to be partnering with FFH to deliver this pioneering and sustainable technology to the water industry and showcasing how innovation, engineering expertise and new technology can come together to unlock practical renewable energy solutions.”
If the trial proves successful, Scottish Water said the technology could be deployed at other sites to increase renewable energy generation from existing infrastructure and support its net zero targets.
