The extensive network of pipelines, canals and other types of water conduits crisscrossing the U.S. offers opportunity to expand hydropower generating capacity. According to U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers, such infrastructure has the potential to add 1.41 GW of electricity to the power grid, sufficient to power more than a million homes.

This conduit hydropower taps into existing infrastructure with minimal environmental impacts, promising to streamline the permitting process. No new dams must be built, enabling facility operators to install hydropower generators at locations with excess hydraulic head. These developments could be coordinated with planned facility upgrades that replace aging infrastructure with more energy-efficient systems. Rural communities may also benefit by adding small hydropower generation to their existing infrastructure for net metering, making them less dependent on the external grid.

The potential for conduit hydropower is highest in California, Colorado, Washington, Nebraska and Oregon, all of which have a large number of water conduits and the hilly terrain needed to provide the greatest hydraulic head. Agricultural conduits such as ditches and channels for crop irrigation show the greatest potential in Colorado, Washington, Nebraska, California, Oregon and Idaho.

Conduit hydropower potential based on drinking water supply and wastewater systems in the municipal sector is highest in California, which had twice that of the next-highest state, New York. Opportunities for conduit hydropower from industrial conduits, such as industrial pipelines or canals used at thermoelectric generating facilities, were identified in California, Texas, Missouri, New York and Maryland.