Dr. Igor Palley, a former senior research scientist at Allied Signal Corporation and Honeywell, is the principal developer of the large-scale prototypes and GHT technology for Lucid. He has 27 years of industrial design and mechanical engineering experience developing new commercial products, and holds 25 U.S. patents. Dr. Palley received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Civil Aviation Institute of Riga (Riga, Latvia) and a Ph.D. in Mechanics from Latvian Academy of Science. Dr. Palley has been involved in the development of Lucid’s turbine-based technologies for the past three years.

Dr. Alexander Chudnovsky, a world-renowned expert in materials science, is part owner of GCK, a member of Lucid’s Board, and the Director of the Fracture Mechanics & Materials Durability Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in Thermodynamics from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, USSR.

Dr. Alexander Gorlov is a founder of GCK and inventor of the turbine that bears his name. He served for many years as the Director of the Hydro-Pneumatic Power Laboratory at Northeaster University, where he is now professor emeritus. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Mechanics from Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers.

He has created and managed long-term financial forecasts for more than a dozen businesses and is accustomed to linking strategic initiatives with annual operating plans and budgets. Mike has raised capital in excess of $10 million. Mike earned a BS in accounting from University of Portland.

Josh is a frequent presenter at national water works conferences and has provided testimony to local legislative bodies in support of in-conduit hydropower. Before joining Lucid, Josh spent 14 years developing and executing strategies for growth, recruiting and building sales teams, and driving market share expansion in B2B sales, marketing and business management roles. His professional experience is primarily with start-up companies focused on sustainability. He earned a BA from Purdue University.

During his 20-year career in the automotive industry, Rod gained extensive experience in working in conjunction with manufacturing to cost effectively design and build products. He has several patents and patents-pending both for Lucid and previous employers. He earned his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Tri-State University in Indiana.

Lucid Energy was originally formed in 2007 as a joint venture between the original inventor, investors and tech team that developed the Gorlov Helical Turbine, and an entrepreneurial manufacturing firm in Goshen, Indiana specializing in sustainable solutions for industry. Lucid used its knowledge of hydrokinetics and turbines to develop the idea of a turbine generator specifically designed to go into fast-moving water transmission pipes.

In 2008, Lucid approached Northwest Pipe Company, the largest manufacturer of water transmission pipe in the United States, to collaborate on the development of its in-conduit hydropower system. One month later the engineering team from Lucid Energy and Northwest Pipe invented the lift-based turbine design that is the foundation for LucidPipe.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Waterpower Division has been very supportive of Lucid’s efforts, often including LucidPipe in its presentations to waterpower audiences nationwide. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Lucid a phase 1 SBIR grant to field test LucidPipe.

Lucid successfully piloted the LucidPipe Power System in an in-line water pipeline at the Western Municipal Water District in Riverside California. Lucid’s pilot system fed over 20 megawatt hours of renewable electricity to the grid without any impact to WMWD’s operation. After successfully completing the initial pilot project, the DOE awarded Lucid a Phase II SBIR grant to commercialize the technology – this time for $1 million.

Lucid received its first patent in May 2011. Lucid has filed continuations of this first patent and has filed subsequent patents on more recent innovations to the technology.  Lucid is also filing patents outside the U.S., in the countries where hydropower is a rich and important component of their economic future.

PARTNERS

Partners with the Largest Pipe Manufacturer in U.S. and Canada
Lucid’s most significant relationship to date is with Northwest Pipe (NWP), the biggest supplier of large diameter steel pipe to water transmission and treatment facilities in the United States and Canada (NASDAQ: NWPX). NWP’s CEO, Richard Roman, and President of the Water Transmission Group, Gary Stokes, both sit on Lucid’s Board of Directors.

• 6% of energy consumption in the US and 20% in California goes to move water;
• Power is purchased at great expense from a fossil-fuel dependent grid;
• Cost of power often represents 40%-50% of a water agency’s annual operating budget.

Upgraded Water Transmission Systems Needed
Increasing water scarcity, population movements and growth trends necessitate new and upgraded water transmission systems. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the U.S. population will increase by over 90 million people between 2010 and 2050. 50 million new residents are expected in the southern and western regions of the U.S. alone.

Water Infrastructure Needs Modernizing
Most transmission lines are significantly deteriorated – their average age is 70 years, with many over 100 years old. According to the EPA, approximately 17 percent of treated water in the United States is lost through leaking transmission pipes; Boston loses 30 percent of its water through transmission leakage, and it is estimated that the City of London loses almost 50 percent.

Creating a Smart Water Grid
The idea of a smart water grid is well known in electrical utility circles and being brought to market by the likes of GE Water, ITT and Siemens. LucidPipe can provide a cost-effective, process-driven means of powering the various monitoring devices and control systems to create this smart water grid. Often located in remote areas, LucidPipe can provide the energy to power these devices by recovering energy found within the pipeline.

Lucid is currently applying for new patents to protect recent innovations.

LucidPipe extracts very little head pressure per turbine, often 1-5PSI. This unique feature allows the modular LucidPipe system to be placed in series, while allowing for uninterrupted water flow. LucidPipe does not need to be placed in a pressure transient zone or where extreme differential pressures are needed. The modular nature of the system and the operational flexibility it affords makes it truly unique.

Less Government Red Tape
LucidPipe does not require impoundment construction and rarely a FERC hydropower license, avoiding the extensive civil works, elaborate bypass systems, substations, and powerhouses of other energy sources that can take months or even years to permit and construct. LucidPipe requires the least amount of ancillary hardware/infrastructure of any hydropower system; it needs no bypasses, dams or complicated hardware and infrastructure.

No Negative Effect on Wildlife
Unlike many conventional hydropower energy generators, LucidPipe operates within a pipe, so does not interrupt the movement or migration of wildlife.