From Pressure to Profit: How Your Brewery's Water Lines Can Generate Electricity

For years, the sustainability conversation in the brewing industry has been dominated by a single metric: water-to-beer ratio. While water stewardship is a critical goal, this narrow focus misses a powerful, untapped resource flowing through your pipes every single day: pressure.

Behind the scenes, your brewery's entire operation relies on a complex water system. But what most brewers don't realize is that the municipal water entering their facility often carries far more pressure than they actually need—and managing that pressure holds the key to a new source of clean energy.

It’s time to look at brewing through a new lens: not just the water-energy nexus, but the pressure-power opportunity.

The Hidden Energy Potential in Your Water Main

Municipal water providers deliver water at high pressure to ensure it can reach every customer, from fire hydrants to the top floor of a skyscraper. When that high-pressure line connects to your brewery, you are forced to use a Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) to step it down to a safe, usable level for your equipment.

That PRV does its job, but it does so by wasting energy. It dissipates all that excess pressure potential as friction and heat. You are essentially throwing away free energy, 24/7.

But what if you could harness that pressure instead of just wasting it?

The Tap Energy Solution: A Power Plant in Your Pipes

At Tap Energy, we see excess pressure not as a problem to be eliminated, but as a resource to be harvested. We've developed compact, in-line hydroelectric turbines designed to replace standard PRVs and turn your water lines into a consistent source of electricity.

Here’s how it works:

1. Identify Pressure Drops: We analyze your plumbing to find points of high pressure, most commonly where the municipal water main enters your building before branching out to the HLT, chillers, and CIP systems.

2. Replace Waste with Production: Our in-pipe turbine is installed inline with a traditional PRV. It uses the force of the excess pressure to spin a generator, creating electricity while simultaneously delivering water at the precise, lower pressure your operations require.

3. Offset Your Operating Costs: The clean electricity generated is fed directly back into your facility's grid. This power helps run your pumps, chillers, lights, and packaging lines, turning a necessary mechanical function into a productive, power-generating asset.

You are not changing your water consumption. You are not altering your brewing process. You are simply capturing the value of an energy source that you were already paying for but letting go to waste.

Closing the Loop on Your Utility Bills

True sustainability is about creating a circular system. By generating electricity from the pressure already present in your water lines, you are closing the loop. You transform an invisible, wasted force into a tangible financial return that lowers one of  your largest operating expenses: your electricity bill.

This creates a powerful hedge against rising utility rates and turns a piece of standard plumbing into an in-house power plant. The future of brewing isn't just about making great beer. It's about making it efficiently, sustainably, and profitably by unlocking the hidden potential within your own walls.