Flow of Water in Pipes can also Generate Electricity using Lucid Pipe Power System

Portland, Oregon based, has developed a Lucid Pipe power system to generate electrical power from water flowing within the drinking water supply pipes that goes to homes and industries in cities and towns around the country.

Lucid Pipe Technology works on using wind energy principles. By installing huge size turbines inside water utility pipes, Lucid Energy Inc. Generates electrical power using water flow through pipes. Turbines will produce electricity as long as water flows through the pipes.

One major benefit of the Lucid Energy system is that the conditions needed to create electricity are much more stable and predictable and, for the most part, highly controllable, unlike solar and wind power. There is no concern of disrupting aquatic animals inside a water utility pipe.

A single lucid pipe containing three or four turbines could generate electricity of about 1,100 Megawatt-hours per year which could be sufficient for about 150 homes.

Water flows through Lucid Pipe’s lift-based turbine, generating electricity as the turbine rotates. The hydrodynamic turbine has been designed by Lucid Energy Inc. to maximize efficiency and electricity generation while limiting the onset of cavitation. As velocities of water flow inside pipe increase, electricity production increases. Due to the lift-based design of the Lucid Pipe turbine, the system generates power across a very wide range of velocities.

The below animation shows how Lucid Pipe Power System works.