Excess pressure in water pipes can be used to spin small hydroelectric turbines, providing an underutilized source of clean energy. Some envision a distributed network of small turbines that could serve as reliable storage to back up wind and solar power.
“I think this is a very underutilized resource,” he says. Shannon Ames at the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, an environmental nonprofit based in Massachusetts. “The infrastructure is there. Adding turbines to the infrastructure will yield significant benefits…
Source: www.newscientist.com