Several Spanish companies have jointly developed a modular system that can generate electricity by taking advantage of water supply and distribution networks. This will be the first system of its kind installed in Europe.

The Spanish system works like a small hydroelectric plant, which takes advantage of water’s potential kinetic energy in municipal storage sites. It consists of a generator with capacity to produce 700,000 kilowatts of electricity per hour. The first unit will be installed in the town of Mieres, in Spain’s northern region of Asturias, in mid-2016.

The modular system was developed by the Prodintec Foundation, the town of Mieres, engineering firm Ingeniería Manutención Asturiana, the company Servo Ship and the Asturias Energy Foundation. This will be the first system of its kind installed in Europe and perhaps the world: while the United States has several such systems in place, they function differently.

The major advantage of this Spanish model is that the equipment involved, which is mainly composed of a small turbine and electric generator, is manufactured in modules that do not require specialized bulk transportation. What’s more, installation only takes a matter of hours.

Spain’s northern mountain chains are ideal for this type of process because most municipal water storage facilities are at high enough elevations to produce water currents that can move the turbines. The generator is installed on a bypass channel where the water enters the storage facility, and produces electricity thanks to the pressure of the flowing water. Until now, this potential energy was wasted.