As recently as a year ago, Seattle renewable energy startup Hydrovolts planned to sell its turbines primarily to irrigation districts for use in canals. But the company now sees a more promising initial market for a “waterfall turbine” that can be bolted onto systems within wastewater treatment plants and other industrial facilities.
“We made that pivot,” explains Hydrovolts president and chief operating officer Mike Layton. “We realized after looking at the markets, that is the fastest one to revenue.”
Wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities have mechanisms—usually an industrial waterfall—to release heat and chemicals from water before it is expelled from the system. “What we’re doing is capturing the energy out of that falling water,” Layton says.
Source and full article: Ben Romano, Xconomy, February 5, 2013.