Menu
Menu
Menu
HYDROSTADIUM supports local authorities and operators in harnessing the energy potential of drinking water, wastewater and snowmaking water networks.
Our teams provide support from feasibility studies and equipment sizing through to implementation monitoring. We analyse hydraulic, regulatory and operational constraints in order to integrate reliable turbining solutions that are compatible with network operations.
Water networks operate under pressure or with significant elevation differences. To ensure distribution or treatment, this energy is often dissipated using valves or regulation devices.
Hydropower generation involves installing a turbine on the network without disrupting its primary service. The electricity produced can be self-consumed by the network’s equipment or fed into the public grid.
Turbining drinking water networks makes it possible to recover the energy currently dissipated in pressure-break tanks and pressure-reducing valves, while guaranteeing the sanitary quality of the distributed water.
The principle is simple: water is captured at altitude and then conveyed to an area located lower down. The difference in elevation generates energy that, in most cases, is not harnessed. By installing a suitable turbine on a pressurized pipeline, it is possible to produce local renewable electricity without modifying the operation of the network or impairing water quality.
Sewer networks and wastewater treatment plants also offer energy potential: drops upstream of or at the inlet to the plant. Turbining makes it possible to harness these flows while accommodating the specific constraints of effluents (flow-rate variability and the presence of suspended solids).
In mountainous areas, ski resorts have been operating pressurized water networks for many years to supply snowmaking facilities. These infrastructures, sized to meet winter requirements, operate on average only 10% of the time. Outside snowmaking periods, these networks can be harnessed by installing a hydroelectric turbine.
This fully bespoke solution optimizes the use of the equipment, limits additional investment and helps improve the energy balance of ski resorts by harnessing a local renewable energy source.
Turbining in water networks does not require any major modifications to existing infrastructure. It relies on facilities already in service and limits environmental impacts. The electricity generated helps reduce the energy consumption of public facilities and strengthen the energy autonomy of sites.
Turbining water networks offers local authorities and operators a concrete opportunity to make use of their existing assets. These projects help control energy costs, often with very short payback periods, reduce emissions associated with electricity consumption and achieve energy transition objectives, while securing network performance.
Access the details of a project by selecting a point on the map.
Sort projects
