The City of Johannesburg is looking to Portland, Oregon, to evaluate the feasibility of its in-pipe hydropower system to generate energy.

Mayor Parks Tau’s visit comes after announcement during the State of the City Address that the City was exploring harnessing energy from water flowing through the citywide pipe system using in-pipe turbines to mitigate load shedding in the economic hub of South Africa.

The idea stems from the City’s basket of Blue Economy initiatives designed to transform local resources’ scarcity to abundance – with help from internationally renowned systems engineer Professor Gunter Pauli and a network of 130 international experts.

Mayor Tau was accompanied by the most critical City leaders to the project, who include the Member of Mayoral Committee for Environment, Infrastructure and Service Delivery, Matshidiso Mfikoe, Joburg Water Managing Director, Lungile Dhlamini, and City Power Managing Director, Sicelo Xulu.

The Johannesburg delegation met with Portland officials, including Mayor Charlie Hales, the Lucid Energy company representatives and other experts linked to the installation of the hydropower system in the Oregon city.

The consideration of the Portland hydropower system by Johannesburg is the City’s effort to leverage on its existing gravity-feed water pipeline infrastructure, which presents an opportunity to develop in-pipe hydropower as a source of renewable energy.