Scott DeNeale is a water resources engineer whose work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Water Power Program centers on how hydropower research can be applied to water-energy systems. His specialty is bridging the gap between the intellectual products, like data and theory, and real-world infrastructure solutions. Recently, he has been studying in-conduit hydropower, a type of largely unutilized energy production that harnesses the water flowing through water pipes in municipal settings and industrial plants to make energy, no dam required.
In-conduit technology is one of several under-the-radar sources of hydropower that ORNL is studying, which are being highlighted as part of a series called "Hidden Hydropower." As of last year, there were 337 in-conduit hydropower facilities in the U.S., which produced a total of 836 megawatts (MW) of power, according to a 2025 report by ORNL . That's a small fraction of in-conduit hydropower's total potential capacity. ORNL conservatively estimates that new conduit hydropower could add a total of 1.41 gigawatts of electricity to the U.S. power grid, enough to power 1 million homes. About half of this capacity lies hidden in agricultural irrigation systems, which could contribute around 662 MW of electricity. However, there is much untapped potential to be found in industrial conduits (378 MW) and municipal water systems (374 MW).
With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office, DeNeale has embarked on his latest project, Conduit Hydropower Engineering, Evaluation, and Technology Acceleration (CHEETA), which focuses on aiding in-conduit hydropower development in the industrial and municipal sectors. He shared his thoughts on how this promising technology can be used to strengthen the nation's energy portfolio by leveraging pre-existing infrastructure to produce reliable electricity with a minimal investment of time and money while avoiding environmental disruption.
Q: What is conduit hydropower and how old is this technology?
A: Conduit hydropower is a type of turbine that you can put in the water supply and wastewater systems, such as pipes and open channels. It generates electricity by using the pressure of flowing water to spin a turbine. The technology is well-established. Most of what's used for these systems are called "pumps-as-turbines." So, they're basically pumps that you can run in reverse to generate electricity.
Q: What's the main advantage of this type of system?
A: It's free energy, right? In a lot of cases, existing water supply systems waste the energy of the water when managing pressure through valves. It's getting lost as heat or vibration. The beauty of these systems is that you don't have to build anything enormous, you're not disrupting the operation of the system and you're getting reliable energy out of it.
Q: How much electricity might these devices produce?
A: In-conduit hydropower projects are generally small. Most are less than one megawatt, and the smallest generate about 10 kilowatts with development costs as low as $100,000. In hydropower, the economics are generally worse the smaller you go, but there are some compelling advantages. It's fast to install because it goes into existing infrastructure and can run almost around the clock, so it generates pretty much continuously. For that reason, the payback period is pretty short. For a lot of traditional hydropower, it takes 12 to 20-plus years to get the money back on the project. In this case, a lot of these companies or municipalities we're talking with are seeing payback periods of less than 10 years, and often more like three to five years.
Q: What's the perfect setting for this type of device?
A: In the ideal situation, you have excess pressure and high elevation differences between the source of the water and the turbine, a distance referred to as the "hydraulic head." The higher the flow and the higher the head the better the economics become. It also depends on the configuration of your infrastructure. In some cases, all they had to do was drop the device into the joint where the pressure reducing valve was.
Q: Why is ORNL pursuing this topic? What does the lab bring to the table?
A: ORNL is uniquely positioned to advance in-conduit hydropower because this technology sits at the intersection of water and energy, two areas where we bring deep expertise. Our researchers understand water systems and infrastructure, hydropower technology, and hydraulic performance, which helps us work effectively with utilities, municipalities, and technology innovators to identify practical opportunities and address real-world deployment barriers. That combination allowed ORNL to lead the first national assessment of conduit hydropower potential, identifying where meaningful opportunities exist across U.S. water systems. Through CHEETA, we are now building on that foundation through active stakeholder engagement, practical tools, best practices, and technical assistance to help turn that potential into real projects.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science . - Clare Kennedy
