Joint Venture to Provide Hydropower to Arizona, California Railroad
Cadiz Inc., a California land and water resources development company, and Lucid Energy Inc., a provider of in-pipe hydropower infrastructure, have entered into a joint venture collaboration to create power for the Arizona & California Railroad Co. (ARZC) as a component of the Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery & Storage Project. Through the installation of the LucidPipe Power System in the Cadiz Water Project’s planned 43-mile water conveyance pipeline, new green power will be generated for expanding existing transloading operations and for other railroad purposes.
“We continue to look for ways to innovate and accomplish our project objectives in an environmentally benign way,” said Scott Slater, Cadiz president and CEO. “With the advantage of the LucidPipe Power system, we found our answer to the question of how we would provide power to meet ARZC’s requests for power with a green, efficient power source.”
With the objective of minimizing and potentially avoiding adverse environmental impacts, in 2008, Cadiz leased a portion of the ARZC Railroad Right-of-way (ROW) to construct a 43-mile pipeline within this existing transportation corridor. Cadiz’s proposal to utilize the ROW is currently under review by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. An average of approximately 50,000 acre-ft of water per year will be conveyed through this pipeline via gravity flow downhill to the Colorado River Aqueduct, a main conduit for water distribution in southern California. As a condition of making available its ROW for the Cadiz Water Project, the ARZC required that Cadiz Inc. provide certain improvements in furtherance of railroad purposes for the benefit of the railroad, including making power available to ARZC.
The ARZC operates a shortline railroad that originates in Cadiz, Calif., and runs to Matthie, Ariz., near Phoenix. Due to the remote nature of sections of the ARZC route, the railroad desires cost-effective and routine access to power for its operations, including potential transloading at a siding location in Rice, Calif. Access to electric power for lighting, refrigeration and heating would allow for an expanded transloading operation at this location. By installing in-line power turbines in the Cadiz Water Project pipeline as proposed, the pipeline can generate low-cost, renewable energy and meet ARZC’s local business objectives.
“The Cadiz Project will provide critical benefits to our operation and provide us with a valuable and unique opportunity to enhance our rail line,” said Brad Ovitt, president of ARZC. “This innovative hydropower technology will provide a great benefit that we could not access but for the existence of the Cadiz pipeline.”
LucidPipe is a patented, in-pipe turbine generator that captures the energy of moving water inside large pipelines and converts it to a continuous source of low-cost electricity. Water passes through spherical, lift-based turbines and causes them to spin, generating electricity from the water flow and pressure head inside the pipe. Because the system operates inside of pipelines, it creates no environmental impacts and is not subject to intermittency issues caused by weather conditions.
The LucidPipe turbines have been tested and certified by NSF Intl. to NSF/ANSI Standard 61 for use in potable water systems. Only ministerial permitting will be required to incorporate these turbines in the Cadiz Water Project pipeline.
Source: Lucid Energy