Lucid Energy signs deal to deploy in-pipe hydropower system in Texas

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Courtesy Lucid Energy

Portland-based Lucid Energy announced Tuesday it will deploy its in-pipe hydropower system in Texas. Click on the image for more details about how the system works. 

Lucid Energy announced Tuesday that San Antonio Water System will install the LucidPipe Power System, an in-pipe hydropower generation system, as the company's first demonstration site in Texas.

Construction on the 60-kilowatt project is expected to begin in early 2013. The installation will become one of Lucid Power's "centers of excellence" which Portland-based Lucid Energy will use to show off the system to prospective customers.

The system will consist of three spherical turbines inside one section of a 24-inch steel water pipe at San Antonio Water System. LucidPipe uses a turbine to capture energy from fast-moving water inside large pipelines without disrupting operations.

"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," said Steve Clouse, COO and senior vice president of San Antonio Water System.

Lucid Energy was founded in partnership with Vancouver, Wash.-based Northwest Pipe Co. The company began in Indiana but moved its headquarters to Portland last year, where it hired Gregg Semler, formerly a founding partner of cleantech venture capital firm Pivotal Investments, as CEO.

The company is working with several partners, including CH2M Hill, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Honeywell, and Northwest Pipe to commercialize and deploy the technology across North America.

Lucid last year signed a memorandum of understanding to work with Portland on developing and deploying the in-pipe energy technology in partnership with the city. The first commercial installation of the system is up and running in Riverside, Calif.