A new micro hydro-turbine that uses excess pressure in the city’s water system to generate power is set to produce nearly 250,000 kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually.
Tualatin’s project cost the city a little under a million dollars and aims to start providing energy in April, after regulatory state permitting and an easement with Portland General Electric are completed.
“My hope is that as soon as we get through the infrastructure constraints and the regulatory stuff, we can turn it on as soon as possible,” Tualatin Deputy Public Works Director Nic Westendorf told Tualatin Life.
Initial ideas for the project came to fruition in 2023, when the City of Tualatin partnered with microturbine manufacturer InPipe Energy and began strategizing where microturbine technology could be implemented into the city’s energy arsenal.
“It began very organically,” Westendorf told Tualatin Life. “InPipe, the manufacturer of the turbine, initiated the conversation with the city. They have a similar project at the Hillsboro Hops Stadium that the Hillsboro water system has had in place for a while now.”
Hillsboro’s partnership with InPipe Energy’s microhydropower equipment was commissioned in 2020, and according to a 2023 informational published by the city, their turbine has been “operating successfully for over a year” and that “it has exceeded its energy generation goals by producing 203,000 kWh of electricity in its first year.”
Tualatin’s new turbine is expected to produce 250,000 kilowatt hours of energy every year, which, according to Tualatin Mayor Frank Bubeik, is “enough to power our Tualatin City Services facility on Herman Road.”
“The turbine will replace an existing pressure-reducing valve,” reads a Mayor’s Corner published on the Tualatin City website in November of 2025. “Once operational, it’s expected to produce more than 250,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year—enough to power our Tualatin City Services facility on Herman Road.”
Westendorf shared Bubenik’s sentiment and said that the microturbine’s relatively urban location at the Tualatin City Services Center was one of the main reasons the project appealed to city staff.
“That was really one of the compelling reasons that this was able to work so well,” Westendorf said. “This sight is right outside of our building, so the energy that we generate here, we are able to use to offset the energy used on the site.”
Westendorf said that once logistics are worked out with elected officials, stakeholders and other individuals intimately involved with the project, the city would start planning a definitive date for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
