Students to present at Techxpo on Silver Lake pipeline microhydropower project

Three students will present a senior project at Montana Technological University’s Techxpo Design Showcase on April 24, 2025 that explores the feasibility of generating energy from the Silver Lake Pipeline that delivers industrial water to various industries throughout Anaconda, Ramsey, and Butte.

The project is one of more than 86 entered by 165 students into Techxpo. Techxpo is a campus-wide event aimed at showcasing the hard work, innovation, and excellence of students. Exhibits will include projects in science, engineering, and mathematics. A panel of industry professionals judge the students’ projects, and the top project in each category is awarded a cash prize.

The event is free and open to the community, as well as industry partners, alumni, and local area high school and middle school students. Opening remarks begin at 1:30 pm, followed by judging and an awards reception at 4:30 pm. For more information, visit https://www.mtech.edu/techxpo/.

The team presenting the microhydropower project includes Halle Cogley, a senior environmental engineering student from Idaho; Sara Nehring, a senior mechanical engineering student from Colorado; and Emily Routen, a mechanical engineering student from Absarokee. The project was created as part of Dr. Robin Bullock and Dr. Rick Ladouceur’s Senior Design Capstone class. It proposes retrofitting already existing infrastructure with turbines to generate electricity from water that is transferred from Silver Lake to Butte via a system of mostly underground pipes.

“It could generate close to $30,000 worth of power per month,” Nehring said. “It’s a substantial amount.”

When the team first took on the project the potential amount of power it could generate was only four kilowatts.

“At the beginning, we were just looking at the water that was already within the pipe,” Cogley said. “That was the water that was going to the industrial users. It was not going to be economical because we would have to add in pumps.”

The team worked out a way to increase the volume of gravity-fed water in the system, so pumps don’t have to be used.

The capacity for power generation soared to 350 kilowatts, which made it more economically viable.

There are also Endangered Species Act concerns the team had to take into account.

“There's a bull trout population up at Meyers Dam, which is where the pipeline starts,” Nehring said. “They’re a threatened species.”

The project could one day become a reality, if a company agrees to undertake it.

The team is glad it had the opportunity to work on the project.

“It was definitely interesting, and we learned to overcome a lot of challenges,” Routen said.