Dec 15 2010
A Eureka grant of more than €1 million has been endowed to Leviathan Energy for further improvement and testing of its hydro power turbines inside the city’s pipes. Leviathan’s Benkatina turbine produces hydro energy inside the pipes that are found underneath the city carrying municipal waste water.
This turbine has not been patented yet. It can make power in wide ranging conditions, carrying different liquids such as rain water, waste water, industrial run off, fresh water and water sweeping through drainage canals and gutters.
The grant has been bestowed for developing a prototype, which would be verified in the Alps in Northern Italy. This hydro turbine could be incorporated into any downhill flow system either planned or existing. Leviathan would be partnering two companies. Fontana , a heavy duty industrial equipment manufacturer and ENCO Engineering, which is a global civil efficiency consultancy firm. Both the firms had been seeking products, which were apt for their specialty market and in Leviathan they see a great opportunity.
The target was to produce and then observe or monitor the production from a scale model, which would have the capacity to produce 50 kW per hour, so that they could be marketed in the vast European market. EUREKA has 40 EU member countries enrolled and it is committed to share industrial R & D among its members for accelerating the development of innovative technology. Israel was invited to join in the year 2000 and is the only non EU member of the group.
Prior tests in Israel had revealed that the Leviathan turbine would cost-effectively produce electricity at approximately $2000 per kW but till now only small prototypes have been installed. This turbine could produce electricity sufficient to power the system in Mekorot’s National Water Company System and such a system has been purchased by a city in the Philippines. This innovative idea from Israel proves to be an unswerving and as yet an unexploited hydroelectric resource.