Tualatin's New Microhydro Turbine Turns Water Pressure Into Clean Power
A turbine installed inside the city's drinking water pipeline is generating 250,000 kWh per year — enough to power Tualatin's Services Center buildings — from energy that used to be wasted.
A sustainable innovation has come to Tualatin’s streets. The city installed a microhydro turbine inside our drinking water pipeline which captures energy from water pressure that previously went to waste, and converts it into clean electricity.
How It Works
Every water system uses pressure-reducing valves to ensure safe, consistent service to homes and businesses. Traditionally, the excess pressure those valves bleed off simply dissipates — energy lost forever as heat.
Tualatin’s new system changes that equation.
“It takes an existing valve in our water system that we use to reduce pressure… and that energy that is generated when we reduce the water pressure turns into electricity.”
— Nick Westendorf, Deputy Public Works Director, City of Tualatin
The turbine replaces a standard pressure-reducing valve, capturing that spent energy instead of releasing it. No new water source, no dam, no disruption to the pipeline — just a smarter use of infrastructure already in place.
The technology was developed by Portland-based InPipe Energy, whose CEO Greg Semler describes the core idea:
“Valves do a great job of managing flow and pressure, but they waste potential energy… so what we did was couple a valve with a micro hydro turbine and generator… so instead of wasting energy you can generate electricity.”
A smart control system continuously monitors flow and pressure, automatically adjusting turbine speed as water demand shifts throughout the day — boosting output by roughly 60% compared to a fixed-speed system.
The Numbers
The turbine produces approximately 250,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year — enough to fully offset the energy use of the city’s Services Center campus: five meters across two buildings.
The $920,000 project was supported in part by state incentives coordinated by Energy Trust of Oregon.
“There are dozens of opportunities like this throughout Oregon.”
— Dave Moldall, Energy Trust of Oregon
What’s Next
City leaders say the system could eventually be paired with battery storage, giving the Services Center the ability to operate independently during power outages — a resilience benefit on top of the sustainability gains.
For TOGN, this project is a model worth watching. It demonstrates exactly the kind of sustainable, infrastructure-smart thinking we advocate for in Tualatin’s growth: solutions that work with existing systems, not against them.
“It’s existing infrastructure that we already have… and it’s existing potential that we haven’t unlocked.”
— Nick Westendorf
Pennies for Climate Action
Tualatin residents support climate adapatations and smart infrastructure like this via the Pennies for Climate Action funds. The City’s investment in creating a Tualatin Climate Action Plan and through this modest pennies program enables the City staff to apply for State, Federal, and other grants supporting this type of work now and into the future.
Source: KGW News