Via: HydroWorld
Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada, is the first Canadian city to use an in-pipe hydroelectric generation system within a pressurized water distribution pipeline.
Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada, is the first Canadian city to use an in-pipe hydroelectric generation system within a pressurized water distribution pipeline, according to Halifax Water. On Nov. 13, a 32-kW generating system within a drinking water distribution control chamber for Halifax Water began providing power.
Stakeholders for the Halifax project hope the system will power about 30 homes and produce US$29,000 in revenue annually. Officials said the project cost US$443,000 and Halifax Water; Denver, Colo.-based Water Research Foundation and the provincial government provided the funding.
Halifax Water serves the municipality’s 355,000 residents. The regulated municipality contracted Rentricity Inc., a New York-based renewable energy company, to install the in-pipe system that is rated “safe for drinking water.” The device’s viability for placement in a system from which people consume drinking water is based on Canadian and international safety standards.
According to Rentricity the company designs and installs Flow-to-Wire, their trademarked, unique energy recovery system. “The system harnesses excess pressure within water mains and uses it to generate clean electric power,” said the company. “A single Flow-to-Wire system produces between 30 and 350 kW of clean, renewable, electricity that can then be sold back to the grid.”
Water in the Works 