A small turbine tucked inside Tualatin's water system is now generating electricity from the same pipes that deliver drinking water to nearly 60,000 people.

The 56-kilowatt micro-hydropower turbine, installed at the City Services Center, produced more than 1.4 megawatt-hours of electricity in its first few days of operation, Mayor Frank Bubenik announced in a July 1 post on the city's website. That's enough to power an average home for about two months.

The system works by capturing energy from water flowing down from the Bull Run Reservoir near Mount Hood. Water arrives at the facility at more than 1,000 gallons per minute through a pressure reduction valve. Instead of that energy being lost, the turbine and induction generator convert it into clean power.

"Our water system has water going through that pipe 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Nic Westendorf, Tualatin's deputy public works director. "It's gravity fed, not dependent on an upstream pump, so this is a constant energy source year-round, every day."

The project is expected to produce about 180 megawatt-hours of clean power annually, enough to zero out the City Services facility's yearly electricity consumption. Through net metering, the power is credited against the facility's energy bill. Any surplus credits are donated to PGE's low-income bill assistance program.

The city estimates $14,000 in annual energy savings starting in year one.

The turbine cost $920,000 to install. A stack of grants and incentives covered more than 85% of that price tag, including an expected $270,600 from the Energy Trust of Oregon, an Oregon Department of Energy grant, a PGE Green Future Renewable Development Fund grant, and a federal direct pay investment tax credit.

Westendorf said he visited the City of Hillsboro's existing InPipe Energy installation before deciding to move forward. InPipe Energy, a company that designs energy recovery systems for water infrastructure, first pitched the idea to Tualatin. Hillsboro's system has been generating more than 200,000 kilowatt-hours per year since September 2020.

The city also installed extra conduits and infrastructure at the site to support future battery storage and a potential microgrid, which could power critical municipal buildings during major outages or emergencies.

The project is part of Tualatin's Climate Action Plan, which sets a citywide goal of net zero emissions by 2050. No upcoming council vote or public comment period related to the turbine was identified in city records; the system is already operational.